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Congressional Black Caucus

The Black Caucus’ Relentless Pursuit of Insubstantial Symbolism

Wed, 03/13/2013 - 08:25 — Glen Ford

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

If only the Congressional Black Caucus would pay as much attention to the substantive areas of government policy – “how government policies affect the great mass of Black people” – rather than huff and puff over the symbolic trappings of power. Unfortunately, for the Caucus, “it’s the appearances that count.”

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Just Like Crack in the 80s, the Police State Thrives on Gun Hysteria

Wed, 02/13/2013 - 00:53 — Glen Ford

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

African American politicians and activists implored President Obama and others in authority to “do something” about gun violence in inner cities. Be careful what you ask for. The current gun hysteria will serve as an excuse to expand the police state, through a new wave of “mandatory minimum sentences and adoption of New York-type stop-and-frisk policies.”

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The Shameless Vacuity of Susan Rice's Black Boosters

Wed, 12/05/2012 - 14:35 — Glen Ford

 

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

Africa doesn’t matter, U.S. wars don’t matter, nothing matters to the Black Misleadership Class except the sickly prestige of basking in the (distant) glow of power. Susan Rice’s “Black boosters embrace an abettor of genocide and endless military interventions as one of their own – and indict themselves.”

Is Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett the One Who Keeps Barack from Dealing with Black Issues?

Tue, 09/18/2012 - 15:56 — Dr. Boyce Watkins

 

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

“We can no longer live in a world where anyone who asks President Obama to do something is defined to be an enemy of the administration.” Yet, it appears the president’s top advisor, Valerie Jarrett, believes her job is to silence Black critics. “It’s as if we’re being told to ‘stop snitching’ on the White House, while Obama Administration officials sit back and laugh at how stupid we are.”

Many Years Too Late, the Black Caucus Turns on Artur Davis

Tue, 08/28/2012 - 21:19 — Glen Ford

 

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

Former Alabama congressman Artur Davis’ name is mud with Black Democrats, for speaking to the Republican National Convention. They say he’s flip flopped on his old “progressive” policies. But Davis “was always among the worst, most right-wing members of the Congressional Black Caucus.” That’s why the Rahm Emanuel-Barack Obama wing of the party once considered him a “friend.”

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The Need for a Black Agenda

Wed, 02/22/2012 - 13:18 — Glen Ford

 

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

The African American Left’s failure to formulate a Black Agenda has made it “largely irrelevant during the greatest crisis of capitalism since at least the Great Depression, and the worst economic and social crisis for African Americans since the death of Reconstruction.” The default Black Agenda is Obamaism, which is corporatism, and the death of Black politics. “If all that matters is Obama, then there is no need for a Black political agenda – except four more years of Obama.”

Freedom Rider: Silence on Cynthia McKinney

Tue, 07/07/2009 - 22:45 — Margaret Kimberley
cynthia mckinneyby BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
The shallowness of what passes for Black leadership reveals itself most dramatically at times of outrage and death. “While Cynthia McKinney languished in an Israeli jail, black leaders mobilized to say and do absolutely nothing,” preferring to make themselves part of the Michael Jackson story. “The only national action requested by” Rev. Al Sharpton, “the president of the National Action Network, was a demand for a Michael Jackson postage stamp and a national day of mourning. 

A Sincere and Painful Apology to the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus

Wed, 05/20/2009 - 01:36 — Anonymous

Alberto Jonesby Alberto N. Jones
Mainly white Cuban exiles in Miami, Florida, and Union City, New Jersey, who have never been friends of Blacks in either Cuba or the United States, now claim to be champions of racial equality on the island. The author, an Afro-Cuban whose roots go back to Jamaica, apologizes to Black U.S. lawmakers for the antics of the hypocritical Cuban rightwingers. Afro-Cubans, who have the most loyal to all of Cuba's revolutions, need no assistance from "mercenaries" from Miami.

Obama Pulls U.S. Out of UN Conference on Racism, But Congressional Black Caucus Should Attend Anyway

Wed, 03/04/2009 - 07:31 — Cynthia McKinney

Cynthia McKinneyby Cynthia McKinney

When Eric Holder, the new U.S. Attorney General called the nation to account for its historic reluctance to honestly talk about race and racism, its manifestations and consequences, he could have been talking about his boss the president.  By withdrawing from the UN Conference on Racism he is leading backwards, in the direction of Clinton and Bush rather than forward into the 21st century.  The fact that the President of Change wan't bring himself -- or us --- to an honest discussion about race says a lot for his willingness to lead on the subject.

 

But Obama's willingness to cave in the face of white racism and business as usual is no excuse for the Congressional Black Caucus, supposedly among the best and brightest Black America has to offer.  It's time for the CBC to step up where the president has stepped back.

 

CBC Monitor Report Card: Black Caucus Adrift

Tue, 10/21/2008 - 18:00 — Leutisha Stills
BlackCaucus

by Leutisha Stills, CBC Monitor

Financial meltdowns and election tensions have had a negative effect on CBC Monitor Report Card scores. Under tremendous pressure to "buckle to party discipline and to align with standard bearer Barack Obama," the Congressional Black Caucus performed generally badly, this past grading period. Not one member made a perfect score, and six were rated as "Derelicts." Most dramatic were the two votes on Pelosi-Bush-McCain-Obama Wall Street bailout bills. Obama's intervention doomed the resistance. Ten members topped off the class with B+.

Black Caucus Pitches Fit at Union Over Wynn Loss

Tue, 02/26/2008 - 18:00 — Leutisha Stills

CBCEdwardsHeadShotby Leutisha Stills, CBC Monitor

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are "seething" with anger over Rep. Al Wynn's Democratic primary defeat at the hands of Donna Edwards, in Maryland earlier this month. The Service Employees International Union did what unions are supposed to do: financially support a progressive challenger over a corporate-bought incumbent. But enraged CBC members see the handwriting on the wall: they too can be ousted by BlackCBCseiuLogo progressive campaigns energized by labor dollars. Given the CBC's continuing drift to the Right, members feel threatened. In typical fashion, they insinuate that the heavily Black SEIU is meddling in intra-Black political affairs - when the truth is, Caucus members increasingly rely on corporate funding for job security, and vote accordingly. The CBC's panicked reaction to Donna Edwards' victory speaks volumes about their growing capitulation to Big Business.

The Tavis Smiley Presidential Forum: "Showtime At The Apollo!"

Wed, 07/04/2007 - 01:50 — Leutisha Stills
by Leutisha Stills, senior correspondent, CBC Monitormontage_037
 
Tavis Smiley's presidential forum, before a black audience, with questions by black journalists, focusing on the issues ignored or bypassed in the mainstream media, but vitally important to the African America community, was billed as a historic occasion.  But what we got was something else --- a game show format, driven by shallow sound bytes, all of it summed up for us by the same Republican pollster who gave us the "Contract For America" and the "death tax."  Tavis Smiley's presidential forum shows what we get when we confuse black celebrity with black leadership, and marketing with journalism.

Congressional Black Caucus: Divided on Trade, Immigration

Tue, 03/13/2007 - 18:00 — Leutisha Stills

CBC Monitor Report Card, Second Session 109th Congress

by Leutisha Stills, CBC MonitorCapitolBlackCrowd

There is still reason to believe that the Congressional Black Caucus can be rescued from its slide into irrelevance - but only if energized constituents mobilize behind "bright line" issues that members dare not cross. The new CBC Monitor Report Card documents the Caucus' inability as a body to resist massed corporate power on trade issues, and a retreat by a quarter of its members in the face of mounting police state pressures. Nevertheless, the CBC's overall grades are up - most likely because only a few bills challenged them on matters of principle.

“Black Leaders…or Leading Blacks?”

Tue, 02/13/2007 - 18:00 — Leutisha Stills

by Leutisha Stills, CBC MonitorTavisAtMic

"Are you empowered by this conversation?" Tavis Smiley asked the thousands drawn to the annual State of the Black Union conference. The crowd roared back in the affirmative, but power - and a plan to use it - was precisely what was missing, this past weekend. The most important lesson learned from the event, was the awesome absence of coherence in a Black politics that is no longer fueled by a mass movement. Tavis, the hugely talented impresario, can't fix that.

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