Rep. Marcia Fudge To Serve As Next Congressional Black Caucus Chair

Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge has been elected to serve as the next Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) chair.

"I am humbled by the vote of confidence of my colleagues who have selected me to serve as the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus during the 113th Congress.  Leadership of the CBC will be shared among all officers elected and I will continue to work hard and serve with dedication, the people who sent me to Congress," she said.

Congratulations, Madame Chairwoman Fudge.

Read more here.

Congressional Black Caucus Welcomes Its New Members

In a recent press release, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05) welcomed the incoming members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rep. Cleaver congratulated Donald Payne Jr. (NJ-10), Marc Veasey (TX-33), Hakeem Jefferies (NY-08), Steven Horsford (NV-04), and Joyce Beatty (OH-03).

Cleaver said, “As we welcome our incoming Members, the Congressional Black Caucus remains committed to its role as the “conscience of the Congress”. We are also committed and look forward to working with our colleagues to ensure America renews and delivers its promise of equity and equality of opportunity for all.”

Learn more about these new members here. 

 

Rep. John Conyers of Detroit Reelected For The 25th Time

Representative John Conyers, one of the founders of the Congressional Black Caucus, won his 25th consecutive term in Congress last night. 

Voters reelected Conyers over Republican challenger Harry Sawicki. 

Conyers serves in a heavily Democratic district in Detroit, Michigan. 

The 83-year-old also serves on the House Judiciary Caucus.

Read more here.

Race-baiting Their Way to November

It seems that slavery metaphors are still relevant in 2012. The presidential campaign trail is hot with rhetoric evoking sentiments of the Civil Rights Movement and the pre-Civil War era.

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) gala on Saturday, September 22, 2012. Just as a Southern Baptist preacher is certain to reference fire and brimstone on a Sunday morning, Michelle Obama addressed race at the CBC Gala. Well, she did more than mention race. Some might call it race-baiting. Some might call it pandering. Others might simply call it tailoring her message to her audience.

During the speech, she likened challenges to Voter ID laws as modern day marches:

“This is the march of our time — marching door to door, registering people to vote. Marching everyone you know to the polls every single election...”--Michelle Obama

Not that there is anything to disagree with about registering people to vote, but given the forum of the remarks and other references to the Underground Railroad, the explicit message is that this election is about race.

The Chicago Sun-Times printed a transcript of her speech.

This is not the first time a Democrat used race-baiting on the campaign trail.

Back in August, at a campaign stop in Danville, Virginia, Vice President Joe Biden told the crowd that, "He [Romney] is going to put y'all back in chains."  The Obama campaign clarified that Biden's remark was about how repealing financial institution regulations would affect consumers.

"He is going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, unchain Wall Street. He is going to put y'all back in chains."--Joe Biden

Maybe this was just another instance of "Crazy Joe" inserting his foot into his mouth.  Remember when he described then Senator Obama as articulate and clean back in 2007?

Democrats are not alone with the evocations of race while on the campaign trail.

Governor Romney could not let Donald Trump's birther herring fly away, when he proclaimed, "No one's every asked to see my birth certificate[!]" Certainly his mention of a birth certificate is a racial code word. He claimed he was making a joke.

Don't forget, the Romney-Ryan team was sure to float Ryan's dating history right after he was announced as the vice presidential pick. Ryan dated a Black woman in college. We're still not sure how this is relevant to the ticket. Perhaps, it's the old standard, 'well I dated a Black person, so I can't be racist' sentiment. Check out "The Root's" take on "Does Paul Ryan's black ex-girlfriend really matter?"

Many of the issues facing America have racial implications, but the concern is that politicians are interjecting racial code words into partisan politics to instigate fear and distrust.

Blacks Who Don't Vote Need to Give Back Their Black Cards?

On Thursday, Representative Emanuel Cleaver II, Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, addressed a forum on voting rights at the CBC's Annual Legislative Conference. The Democrat from Missouri expressed his anger about Black Americans who refuse to vote saying, "They are not worth the color if they don't vote. They ought to give us their color back. Their African-American credentials need to be snatched if they don't vote." 

Come again? Is Representative Cleaver asking for their Black Cards back?   

Cleaver continued, "That’s an insult to the ancestors and the people who brought us to where we are right now. There’d be no Black Caucus but for the black men and women who fought and died that we might have an opportunity to gather here in Washington that there would be 42 members of the Congressional Black Caucus.” 

Although Cleaver's comments were not out of the blue, the idea of snatching Blackness definitely caught a few people off guard. Representative Cleaver's pleas to African American voters were in response to the voter identification laws passed by many state legislatures that will make voting in November especially hard for many Blacks. 

There are probably several other reasons to snatch back Blackness. But refusing to vote is a great one. We're talking to you, Lupe!