Will the Black Caucus put African-Americans back to work?
OPINION - The CBC is in the unique position to provide this kind of direction, and I believe they have the vision and capacity to make it happen...
This week the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) launched a five city “For The People” jobs tour from Cleveland, Ohio. The real question I must ask coming out of the first stop is, who will actually lead the people during the “For The People” Tour?
On Monday, thousands of would-be employees flocked to the campus of Cleveland State University as early as 4 am to pitch themselves to one of over 200 employers. In addition to the job fair, the CBC provided job readiness counseling and an area where those looking to transition to a new profession or to the next level in their present one, could receive options on continuing education.
Over the next month, more than 30 members of the CBC will travel to Detroit, Atlanta, Miami and Los Angeles to replicate and hopefully expand their engagement with communities that are in need of education, direction, opportunity, and most importantly, employment.
WATCH CBC’S EMANUEL CLEAVER TALK ABOUT THE TOUR:
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In addition to the job fair activities, each tour stop includes a town hall meeting to discuss jobs and the related economic issues of the day. As the moderator of the Cleveland town hall, I made several observations:
First, if there was a demon in the room that received the brunt of the blame for all that is wrong in America, it was the Tea Party. I don’t think that many on the left or in the progressive movement would argue with the assertion that the Tea Party tactics during the debt ceiling debate and their overall methods of engagement have created an environment where compromise and bi-partisan cooperation is nearly impossible. Furthermore, the Tea Party’s war on the federal government is actually weakening the capacity of states they claim they want to empower.
But there I go, sounding like a partisan patriot. The real issue as I see it is that despite the reality of the damage caused by the Tea Party, productive politics has always been about casting a vision further than the net of fear and negativity toward your opponents. This is the largest challenge for the CBC.
As many in the black community and beyond challenge their relevance and effectiveness, many in the CBC are actually pushing within their districts and in Washington D.C., for policies that are in the best interests of the poor and middle class. The issue however, is that their messaging is weak, and the troops that would gladly fight that battle with them keep waiting for President Obama to lay out an agenda that, for a multitude of reasons that can be debated at another time, is not coming. This tour is a prime opportunity for the Caucus to communicate to “the people” what they should be doing to support the fight to increase jobs, promote responsible spending, and challenge all of Washington to operate in the best interest of the entire country. But if the focus of the traveling roadshow becomes the rhetoric of “blame the Tea Party and the president,” the people will be left waiting for direction.
I am not one who believes the president should not be politically challenged when appropriate. But I do believe the president should be personally defended against the blatant racism that continues to rear its ugly head from not just the Tea Party, but from other Democrats using this period in history to fling personal remarks about this president in ways that are historically unprecedented.
“The people” should be taught to do both: productively challenge the president on policy and direction they disagree with, while fighting those who would further advance white supremacist ideology by using terminology to describe the president in ways that are not just offensive, but yes, also racist.
The CBC is in the unique position to provide this kind of direction, and I believe they have the vision and capacity to make it happen.
However, they must step out of the current political matrix that encourages them to blame, and transition to a higher ground, using this tour as a moment to lead: to lead their constituents and direct them to help create the political environment that encourages job creation; lead them to advocate for their own political power as so many states are “under attack through voter ID legislation”:http://www.thegrio.com/politics/are-voter-id-laws-a-new-form-of-jim-crow.php; and lead them to be engaged as an electorate in 2011 and 2012 in ways that they failed to in 2010.
The CBC has the vision and capacity to provide this type of leadership, the question is do they have the will to do so and make this tour more than a lost opportunity.
Lead the people, and those who are ready will follow.
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