Formation: March 30, 1971; Motto: "Black people have no permanent friends, no permanent enemies ... just permanent interests."
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a political organization made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress
GOALS: The caucus describes its goals as "positively influencing the course of events pertinent to African-Americans and others of similar experience and situation", and "achieving greater equity for persons of African descent in the design and content of domestic and international programs and services."
Closing the achievement and opportunity gaps in education, assuring quality health care for every American, focusing on employment and economic security, ensuring justice for all, retirement security for all Americans, increasing welfare funds, and increasing equity in foreign policy.
FUNDING: Fundraising events and corporate partners support CBCF programs. The CBCF funds many of its activities by hosting an Annual Legislative Conference each September.[2] The Foundation often works with the Congressional Black Caucus Spouses, a group of wives and husbands of the African American members of the United States Congress.
The New York Times investigated the caucus’s connections to corporate interests and reported that from 2004 to 2008, the Congressional Black Caucus’s political and charitable wings took in at least $55 million in corporate and union contributions.
The caucus says its nonprofit groups are intended to help disadvantaged African Americans by providing scholarships and internships to students, researching policy and holding seminars on topics like healthy living.[3]
In 2008, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation spent more on the caterer for its signature legislative dinner and conference — nearly $700,000 for an event one organizer called “Hollywood on the Potomac” — than it gave out in scholarships, federal tax records showed.
The Dallas Morning News reported in August 2010 that congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson had awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarships to four relatives and a top aide's two children using foundation funds. The recipients were ineligible under anti-nepotism rules of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which provided the money, and all of the awards violated a foundation requirement that scholarship winners live or study in a caucus member's district.[4]
The foundation's former chairman, Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., said that neither the foundation nor the Congressional Black Caucus "will allow unethical behavior in the awarding of scholarships or any programs that are designed to benefit the community."
The bad news is that lately, the growth in the numbers of Black representatives has meant little in terms of the conditions of most of their constituents. This year is the CBCF’s 48th Annual Legislative Conference, and there are 46 CBC members — including two senators — yet there seems to be more news today and every day about rappers with tattooed faces and saggy pants, or with big bosoms and filthy mouths, than about the good works of Blacks in Congress. Is there any?
Among young African Americans, there is a growing sense that there are significant generational differences with the CBC and that the organization may have lost its conscience. Hillary Clinton has taken heat for the 1994 crime bill that led to the disproportionate incarceration of black people, but the bill was only assured passage once the CBC withdrew its opposition. CBC members have clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters. And activists have criticized the CBC Political Action Committee, a separate but associated group, for the board’s ties to private prisons and big tobacco.
If the CBC is to remain the voice of black America, it must find a way to incorporate these new leaders into its work and do a better job of hearing and addressing the concerns of young black Americans, including and especially Black Lives Matter protesters. This should not be difficult; the organization has successfully employed this strategy in the past. In the latter part of the 1970s into the late ’80s, the CBC helped orchestrate the Free South Africa Movement protests. The movement included sit-ins and student protests, and was even featured on popular television shows such as A Different World. The group combined these popular efforts with a successful legislative strategy, leading the passage of sanctions on South Africa and defeating President Reagan’s ensuing veto. This is the power and value of the caucus.
The inauguration of Donald J. Trump has turned a harsh, bright light on the CBC that exposes just how irrelevant and ineffective it’s been in serving the best interest of the black community.
President Donald Trump has announced publicly that part of his administration’s priorities is to focus attention on the inner-cities of America. He set forth a proposal while campaigning in Charlotte, North Carolina, called a “New Deal for Black America.” The New Deal proposes to “grow the African Americans middle-class through safe communities, great education, and high-paying jobs.” By making the black community one of his priorities, he has brought attention to the feckless legacy of the CBC to address these issues in the communities they represent.
A simple observation of the caucus’s activities over the years will reveal that most of their efforts on Capitol Hill are spent advancing the Democratic party’s agenda related to socialized health care, abortion on demand, same-sex marriage, and gender-neutral showers and bathrooms. The caucus seems to be the tip of the spear for the agenda of the progressive liberal in America. It is outrageous that the caucus has made the LGBT’s agenda their priority above the increased poverty level among their constituents. Partisan politics have trumped the needs of their black constituents.
It is blatantly obvious that CBC members are benefiting from their positions personally and financially. Their families are not suffering and are reaping the advantages of having a spouse or parent in Congress. To contrast their success with the condition of the community, we would find a distinction that is utterly breathtaking. In each of their congressional districts, we would find the black unemployment rate unacceptably sky high. Broken families and single parent households are the norm, and increased crime and gang-related violence typify an ugly reality in far too many black congressional districts across America. The plight of black men and failed public education are major problems in communities where these so-called leaders serve.
The communities must ask the question: Why haven’t our elected officials set forth a strategy to address our unique needs? How is it that we keep right on re-electing men and women who have failed to address the urban rot where most blacks live? These questions must be answered; however, we must ask a more penetrating question in light of the new administration’s position of leadership in Washington D.C. How will the CBC work with our new president when they are collectively casting spurious and disparaging remarks about his legitimacy as our president? I submit to you, they are not available to work with President Trump. Their strategy seems to be to obstruct and resist any efforts connected with President Trump’s New Deal for our community.
The failures of the Congressional Black Caucus are both tragic and longstanding. Rep. Lewis, for example, lives off his accomplishments from 50 years ago, but the district he represents encompasses Atlanta, Georgia, which has historically been one of “the most dangerous U.S. cities,” plagued by high rates of violent crime and homicides. This district, which the “civil rights legend” has represented in Congress for three decades, teems with “chronically failing” public schools and high levels of black poverty, with eighty percent of Atlanta’s African American children residing in communities with high concentrations of poverty.
So here’s a modest proposal for the Congressional Black Caucus. Instead of constantly serving as the loyal attack dogs of the Democratic Party, ineffectively barking like Chihuahuas at the heels of President-Elect Donald Trump and his nominees, why not try to work across party lines to pass legislation that benefits the lives of your beleaguered constituents?
SOURCES: newpittsburghcourieronline.com, wikipedia.org, theatlantic.com, blackcommunitynews.com, dailycaller.com
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