(Lawrence ) Downes Syndrome—At The New York Times, Diversity Is For The Little People
11/29/2012
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New York Times editorials about how Racist Republicans must agree to More Immigrants Now are mostly written by Lawrence Downes.

But how diverse is he? In general, the New York Times Editorial Board is a lot less diverse than you might naively imagine from its rhetoric. (Pictures here.) Here's Downes' Description:

LAWRENCE DOWNES | Immigration | Veterans Issues

Lawrence Downes, who joined the editorial board in 2004, has worked for The New York Times since 1993. He served on the National desk as enterprise editor and as deputy political editor during the 2000 presidential campaign. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Downes was a weekend editor on the Metro desk and, before that, deputy weekend editor and copy editor. Mr. Downes was a copy editor at Newsday from 1992 to 1993 and at the Chicago Sun-Times from 1989 to 1992. Mr. Downes received a B.A. degree in English from Fordham University in 1986. He also attended the University of Missouri School of Journalism from 1987 to 1989.

Articles by Lawrence Downes

Now, if you told me that one of Downes' grandmothers came from a nice family in Manila or Bogota, I could readily imagine that being true. After all, he's no Jorge Ramos or even David Royston Patterson.

But, still ... 

Think of the pressure on Downes. He has a comfy gig arguing for the elite conventional wisdom in favor of the displacement of American workers by foreigners, but what about displacing him with somebody a little more visibly vibrant? 

Call it Downes Syndrome: You'd better be virulently bullying in demanding the crushing of the American worker in the name of fighting racism, or they may come for your job, too.

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