title:  So Much For Outreach: Black Staffers Are Jumping Ship From The RNC
text: When Republicans examined why they lost the 2012 Presidential Election, leadership concluded that they needed better outreach to groups such as women and African-Americans. And it s not going well.As it turns out, the Republican National Committee began by hiring some black employees to head up the outreach program in order to bring more black voters to the party.But as Donald Trump soars in popularity among white supremacists and gets ever closer to capturing the Republican nomination, the national director of African-American Initiatives at the RNC appears to have decided to throw in the towel on that effort to work for Maryland Governor Larry Hogan instead.In a statement to Huffington Post, Kristal Quarker-Hartsfield failed to mention why she chose to leave the RNC, saying only that she enjoyed her time working there and praised Reince Priebus as a good leader. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the RNC. she said. It has been an honor to work for Chairman Priebus during an exciting time in politics. It has been exciting to have a front row seat to a national Republican movement to maintain the House and win back the Senate. Chairman Priebus is an innovative leader who empowers his team, and serves my Party as a humble servant leader. It could merely be a coincidence that Quarker-Hartsfield just happens to be abandoning her post at a time when it s likely the racist Trump has destroyed just about every effort the GOP has tried to attract minority voters.But when you consider that three other black staffers have jumped ship over the last few months, it becomes less of a coincidence and more of a sign.Huffington Post reports:Quarker-Hartsfield joins several other staffers of color who have departed the RNC recently. Orlando Watson, communications director for black media, left earlier this month. Tara Wall and Raffi Williams, son of Fox News political analyst Juan Williams, both left their press positions at the RNC late last year.Though Williams denies that he left the RNC because of Trump or the racist rhetoric that has taken over the GOP, one can t help but wonder if it bothers him and the other black staffers on any level.Clearly, the RNC is experiencing problems reaching out to minority voters and Trump is making that effort even more difficult as Hispanics, women, African-Americans, and Muslims have all been targeted by Trump supporters and Trump s nasty rhetoric.It certainly appears that with Trump in the lead, some black staffers at the RNC just didn t want to waste their time trying to reach out to voters because it is kinda hard to convince minority voters that your party isn t racist when a racist has been all but crowned as the Republican nominee. It also makes one wonder how these staffers could be Republicans in the first place. Featured image via Flickr