Democrats don't need "more black faces that don't want to be a black voice," Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley told a liberal Netroots Nation conference on Sunday, according to The Washington Post.
The Democratic representative said “This is the time to shake that table. ... We don’t need any more brown faces that don’t want to be a brown voice. We don’t need any more black faces that don’t want to be a black voice,” emphasizing that she's not interested in bringing "a chair to an old table."
Pressley's spokeswoman told the Post the representative was stressing that “diversity at the table doesn’t matter if there’s not real diversity in policy.”
Pressley’s comment following a turbulent week of party infighting, The Hill reported.
Racial politics are threatening to divide the Democrats as a new wave of elected progressives clash with the party’s establishment.
The most glaring recent example was when Pressley and three other freshmen progressives in the House had a spat with Speaker Nancy Pelosi after they did not vote for a border aid package last month after the speaker put forward a bill approved by the Senate.
In addition, the Congressional Black Caucus has sided with Pelosi against the progressive group Justice Democrats for supporting challengers to incumbent lawmakers of color, especially African Americans.
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