Black Caucus Grows in Numbers but not Power

There are four more African-Americans in Congress.  The U.S. House now counts among its ranks Gwendolynne Moore (D-Wisc.), Al Green (D-Texas), and the Rev. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and on the Senate side, Barack Obama (D-Ill.), now the only African-American in the Senate and only the third Black there since Reconstruction. The new additions raise the numbers within the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) from 39 to 43, which CBC Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) has called a ''tremendous achievement.'' ''I think this is the largest the CBC has ever been,'' said CBC Vice Chairwoman Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla. ''I'm excited about the future direction of the CBC.'' ''This is the body that is most attentive to domestic policy and foreign policy relating to the African-American community and the African world,'' Woods said. ''Having additional members and having a U.S. senator in their ranks will do a lot to generate attention on key issues, especially from the media, but also to get greater congressional action on certain issues.'' But other political analysts are not so optimistic, given the wider context of Republican control in the White House and Congress. Despite the increase in Black representation on Capitol Hill, issues important to the African-Americans like joblessness, failures in the public school system, economic parity and racial criminal injustice could likely be ignored. [more]