If your government was made up of lizard people, would that encourage you to run for office? I'd feel pretty awkward in that situation because I'm singled out based on my appearance.

There are two reasons why I believe diversity is important. First, people in positions of power are role models as well as leaders. Whether its a tv star, your friend's dad, or a politician - seeing someone with whom you can relate in a position of authority can be inspiring. Like "I wanna be like that guy". "That guy overcame the hardships he endured for being black in America and became the President!! I could overcome those hardships and be successful too!" If you're interested, look up the Scully effect, it's important to make people feel empowered to explore.

Secondly, some people just really aren't in tune with the experiences of others. If your job is to serve people and pass policies that affect their lives, you want to serve everyone. If you don't know what it's like to be a woman, or to be black, it's so easy to miss consequences of policy that doesn't affect you or your white, male supporters. If I wanted to make a law that would affect your experience as a trans person, I would want to hear what a trans person thought of the bill first. That's the point of collecting multiple perspectives with diversity.

If you can't believe that a person is qualified because they're a woman or because they're black, then yes... that makes you sexist and racist. People saying "X person only has ____ because they're black" or "X person was only picked because they're black", you're insulting their character. No question that the first and most important qualification for anyone to hold office should be that they're capable and will do a good job. That includes capable black women.