Some funny local news to ease you into the weekend: only rich old white women care about diversity

While I was offline celebrating Thanksgiving, my local news ran this precious headline: “County Seeks Diverse Voices on Race, But So Far It’s Mostly White Women.”

The lede: “Arlington is seeking diverse voices in its Dialogues on Race and Equity, but so far the biggest group of respondents have been middle-aged white women who are relatively affluent.”

It continues:

“Arlington County Chief Race and Equity Officer Samia Byrd and Challenging Racism Director Alicia Jones McLeod, who are promoting a new questionnaire on the topic of race, see this as a sign to keep pushing for broader participation.

“It has been interesting… we are seeing predominantly white women, middle aged, homeowners completing the assessment,” Byrd told the County Board last week. “So we really, really want to encourage everyone — so we can hear all of the voices that we typically do not hear — to complete the assessment.”

The jokes just write themselves.

What’s not so funny, however, are the name choices to replace Lee Highway running through town, revealed in October:

“The 20 names up for community consideration are “based on local historical figures, represent broad ideals, or highlight local flora/fauna,” the alliance said. The names are:

1. Arcova (acronym for Arlington County, Va.)
2. Ella Baker
3. James E. Browne
4. Community
5. Dogwood
6. Equity
7. Green Way
8. John Glenn
9. Harmony
10. Inclusive
11. Innovation
12. Justice
13. John M. Langston
14. Mildred and Richard Loving
15. Main Street
16. Leonard “Doc” Muse
17. Edward T. Morton
18. Necostin
19. Unity
20. Maggie Walker

“The Working Group will consider street suffix options, such as Boulevard or Avenue, in future deliberations,” the Lee Highway Alliance noted in a press release.”

No doubt that these rich middle-aged white women played a part, along with some low IQ counterparts.

Here is some demographic data for the county, if you’re interested in that kind of thing, from the U.S. Census: