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]
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