Jonathan Chait of The New Republic says that the Congressional Black Caucus is trying hard to get into bed with big business and lobbyists.
Why would they want to do that? Probably because instead of being better than the Republicans, some members would secretly rather be just like the Republicans, at least in the way they handle the political process. What these members fail to realize is that it’s pretty hard to find Washington Republicans that have Black folks’ best interests at heart, and even harder to find a major US Corporation that has Black folks’ best interests at heart.
Just as before, we ask that you contact members of the CBC and ask that they turn this trend around and get back to the vision and goals of the original members of the caucus:
to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens
You thought we were done with the CBC, didn’t you?
One Love. One II.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
About Garlin Gilchrist II
I'm from Detroit. I created Detroit Diaspora and am a National Campaign Director at MoveOn.org. I currently live in Washington, DC with my beautiful wife Ellen.
After graduating with degrees in Computer Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Michigan, I became a Software Engineer at Microsoft. By day, I helped build SharePoint into the fastest growth product in the company's history. On my personal time, I sought out opportunities to connect my technical skills with community building efforts across the country.
This led to my co-founding The SuperSpade: Black Thought at the Highest Level, a leading Black political blog. I served as Social Media Manager for the 2008 Obama campaign in Washington, and then became Director of New Media at the Center for Community Change.
Today I work at the crossroads of traditional political organizing and online activism. I speak before diverse audiences on empowerment in revolutionary new organizing spaces, increasing civic engagement & participation though emerging technologies and protecting civil rights in the age of the Internet.
Actually the article has serious defects. The roomful of black millionaires that the author says is pulling the strings of the CBC was headed by BET’s Bob Johnson, a nominal Democrat, but the rest of the known players do not have a tradition of giving lots of political money or bundling checks for political candidates or causes.
There are just not a whole lot of rich black people who do that. Hasn’t been the tradition. Very rich black people will endow a professorship, build your college a building like Oprah and Cosby do, but don’t openly fund political stuff or throw lots of energy at candidates.
The author is projecting the political dynamics of white America onto black America, and in many respects, it does not fit. The money that the CBC is chasing is not black money. It’s white money, an important distinction.
That said, the rest of the piece is solid.