Congressional Black Caucus Racist?

Please read the article at the link below, read the comments that follow and then submit your comments.

Jamie Greenberg submitted the following link:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0107/2389.html

Prof. Inniss replied:

*Very* interesting. Do you think that members of the Congressional Black Caucus should be allowed to exclude Representative Cohen?

Jamie Greenberg wrote:

Well as a representative of a majority African-American district I
think it is in his constituents best interests that he join the
caucus, and furthermore I could only imagine the uproar if the
situation was reversed (an African-American member of congress
rejected from an all-white caucus).

On the other hand, it does seem anachronistic having a "white" member
of a "black" caucus, especially (and I'm inferring here) because rep.
Cohen is likely Jewish may not consider himself "white", and very
likely may be unwelcome in a "white" caucus should one ever
hypothetically exist.

I'm not sure what I think of this, except that it seems to be aimed at
maintaining a boys club, and not acting in the voters' best interests,
which would be to include a non-"black" house member who is ostensibly
involved in the "black" community and represents a mainly "black"
riding.

Prof. Inniss wrote:

Thanks for your opinion; I'm torn myself for some of the same reasons. The history of blacks in the U.S. Congress and in other government leadership positions in the U.S. has been one of exclusion. Even when blacks were included, they remained on the periphery and continue in that position today. The CBC is meant to be a "safe space" which exists in response to such problems, and I sympathize with the desire of the members to remain all black.

On the other hand, if Representative Cohen's desire to join was to serve his majority black district, I understand his efforts to join, assuming that he believed that the primary goal of the CBC was to provide constituent service and not to serve as a vehicle to support blacks in Congress. Over time, the goals of many such groups evolve. So, for example, in many Canadian and U.S. law schools (maybe all), the Black Law Students Association now welcomes students of all backgrounds who are interested in and support issues of concern to black law students. Also, I'm concerned with what appear to be some of the tactics of the CBC. The article seems to suggest that they have in the past and will continue in the future to support black candidates over non-black candidates based mostly on race, even where the white candidate is the incumbent. If a goal of the the CBC is to promote the interests of blacks overall, they should ideally look first at how a particular candidate serves black constituents.

In the end, though, I think that the CBC, while perhaps having a broad mandate, is principally a "safe space" type of organization that exists in response to the continued racial separations that exist in the halls of power in the U.S. I'm surprised (and maybe concerned) that Rep. Cohen did not "get" this before trying to join. The big problem here as I see it is not that Rep. Cohen was barred but that there are legitimate, significant reasons for a group like the CBC to desire an all black "club" even in 2007.

Jamie Greenberg wrote:

I guess I'm looking at this from a Canadian perspective, I didn't even
think of the black caucus acting more as a "safe space" then a
lobbying vehicle.