Does the CBC really care about Black people?

Does the CBC really care about Black people?

Raynard Jackson says that before Black folks continue to complain about what “Whites” are not doing for us, maybe we should look at what we’re not doing for ourselves.

By Raynard Jackson, (NNPA Newswire Columnist)

In last week’s column, I discussed the hypocrisy running rampant within the Democratic Party when it comes to the hiring of Black staffers.  I must have struck a serious nerve, because I received an anonymous email from someone with seemingly high-level Democratic credentials that was most surprising.

I have no idea who this person is, or what his/her agenda may be, but I was able to verify the details of the email I received.

I called several friends who work for Democratic elected officials in the United States Congress and the Democratic National Committee. While not wanting to comment on specific members of the Democratic caucus, they a-greed that the essence of the content of this anonymous email was very accurate.

This email contained such detailed information on each Democratic member of Congress that it had to come from someone with intimate access to this type of sensitive data.

What was sent to me was a listing of every Democratic member of Congress and who their fundraisers were.  What’s ironic is that only one member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has retained a Black fundraiser.  The rest have either a White, Asian, or Hispanic person doing their fund-raising.

Yet, these same members of the CBC have the gall to criticize the U.S. Senate for their lack of diversity when it comes to hiring Black staffers.  Mind you, that most CBC members themselves have very few Blacks in positions of power on their personal staffs or committees.

Maybe, Black Democrats should simply “self-identify” as illegal, transgendered or radical Muslim extremist refugees, because they seem to get all the benefits that only American citizens are supposed to get, but I digress.

Last year, members of the CBC traveled to Silicon Valley to lecture executives from Apple, Google, Intel, SAP, and Pandora about the lack of Blacks in their workforce.

Their then chairman, U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina said, “All of them are deficient.  None of them have African Americans on their boards of directors, and that is very disappointing because African Americans are part of the customer base of all five of these companies.”

Maybe, just maybe, members of the CBC should have a visit to their own members’ offices and determine why most of them have no Black chiefs of staffs and no Black fundraisers.

In the immortal words of Michael Jackson, maybe members of the CBC should take a look at that man in the mirror, and ask him to change his ways.  If they want to make the world more diverse, take a look at themselves and make that change.

So, before Black folks continue to complain about what “whites” are not doing for us, maybe we should look at what we’re not doing for ourselves.

Why should others do for us what the Black members of Congress are not willing to do for us?  Why do they refuse to hire capable Black Democrats with fundraising experience?

The CBC, like Africa in the United Nations, is the largest voting bloc in the U.S. Congress. So, they can stop any piece of legislation presented in the House, thus they have supreme leverage and never use it to push forward any policy that they claim to care about.

Blacks are the largest voting bloc, but have no Blacks in leadership positions in the House.  Why did they turn their backs on esteemed Congressman Jim Clyburn when he got ousted from leadership so that Steny Hoyer could assume a leadership post?

So, let’s get this straight, the CBC goes around the country lecturing Silicon Valley about their lack of diversity, though they are guilty of the same thing. They complain about the lack of diversity on corporate boards, but at least Corporate America takes care of their own — whites.

But the CBC won’t even hire their own when it comes to fundraising jobs.  So, if Whites hire those that look like themselves, why won’t the CBC do the same?

Diversity is not an “either,” “or” proposition; it’s a “both,” “and.” CBC members criticize Silicon Valley for having few Black staffers, they criticize the U.S. Senate for having few Black staffers, but they’re silent when it comes to their own conscious decisions not to hire Black fundraisers for their own campaigns.

So, if Silicon Valley and the U.S. Senate can be labeled “racist” for their lack of Black staffers, shouldn’t the CBC have to wear the same label?