Every Spring, Summer, and Fall, the White House offers an internship available to young adults who aspire towards a life as a civil servant or as someone who works in  public service. The program boasts an array of young adults coming from all reaches of the United States, hosting anywhere between 90 to 100 interns.

If the White House interns for the Summer 2018 season truly represented the youth of the U.S. in its entirety, as it should, a minimum of 40% of them should be non-white.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. Out of 91 interns, only two are apparently non-white. Adding insult to injury, they’re pushed to the outer reaches of the group photo, which was released March 30. Meanwhile, dozens of smiling faces surrounded President Donald Trump, who is placed in the center of the picture.

A brief glance at the group photo of one of former President Obama’s internship seasons will reveal a significantly greater number of non-white interns, approximately 30-40%. In other words, a more accurate representation of the general American public.  

There are two main possible causes for this group of interns being as un-diverse as they are. One being the hiring process having bias towards caucasians, two being that people of color who may have been interested in the program simply didn’t apply.

Taking everything Trump has said as well as where he stands on his treatment of other ethnicities into account, it seems logical (however still extremely immoral) for him and/or his administration to favor white applicants over minority applicants.

But if a significantly larger number of white applicants applied for the internship, then it is logical that more white applicants would be admitted. There is most likely a population of minority people that do aspire for a life in public service, but maybe less than enthusiastic to be interning for our current president and his platforms.

“He probably didn’t set out to include more white people, but I bet he was more lenient towards them in the application process,” commented Grace Rotti, 9. “This definitely doesn’t make him look good.”

Whether or not Trump’s administration intended on the lack of diversity, this is a wake up call for our entire country to support people of color in high ranking government positions.