No economic justice, no peace.
That’s the subtext to the Congressional Black Caucus’ letter to President Barack Obama in which they propose a plan to target communities hardest-hit by the Great Recession.
Frankly, I was surprised that during his Saturday Action Rally, Al Sharpton questioned the CBC’s motives because some members supported Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign:
I’m not against holding Obama accountable. He must deal with the racial disparities. We can’t have folks who have other motives lead the challenge.
If not the CBC, who?
During an interview on TV One’s “Washington Watch with Roland Martin,” CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee said:
There’s no rift between the Congressional Black Caucus, the President and his Administration. We’re members of Congress. Our president is the President. He sets forth the vision for the country and where he wants to take the country. The Congressional Black Caucus, as members of Congress, has a job to do. We have to be advocates for our constituents.
Rep. Maxine Waters added:
We’ve been good team players. But we can’t keep going home to our communities, watching this devastation, when we understand and know that the financial services agencies of government are ignoring our people, period. Not only are they not able to get jobs and contracts. The resources are being directed toward “too big to fail.”
Waters continued:
This is what we’ve been doing all of our lives. We’re not going to stop. We’re not going to change. I want to tell you we’ve taken on president after president, and we’re not “taking on” this president. We want to help him.
If the CBC had not spoken truth to power, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood would not have written a letter to the nation’s governors urging them to “provide small disadvantaged businesses and female and minority workers a fair chance to participate in transportation projects”:
I urge you to take advantage of existing equal opportunity programs and resources and to create innovative strategies to provide opportunities for the underrepresented.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who attended Obama’s jobs forum, also called for a targeted plan (read: innovative strategy) to address black joblessness. Magic told CNN’s Larry King:
What we’ve got to do is come up with a general plan and then we have to come up with a Latino plan and an African American plan, because that general plan won’t affect the African American male or our community.
Magic’s observation brings to mind Ossie Davis’ message to the CBC in 1971:
It’s not the man, it’s the plan. It’s not the rap, it’s the map.
We need a plan to ensure that black workers and African American entrepreneurs are not told to “get back, get back, get back.”
