Brooklyn U.S. Consultant Yvette Clarke was elected to chair the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) for the 119th Congress and was sworn in on Friday, Jan. 3.
The swearing-in ceremony kicked off early within the morning on the Anthem, a music venue and auditorium on the southwest waterfront of Washington, D.C. The occasion was attended by household, buddies, racial justice advocates, and Black elected officers from everywhere in the nation.
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries thanked earlier CBC Chair U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford for his tenure and enthusiastically welcomed his colleague from his hometown as the brand new chair.
“We’re grateful to your calm, cool, and brave management throughout difficult occasions,” he mentioned of Horsford, “and we all know that Black America is in a greater place at present due to Steven’s management of the Congressional Black Caucus. Let me additionally congratulate Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, Her Excellency, my sister from Brooklyn — Yvette is an unbelievable chief who will function a catalyst for change and lead us ahead unbought and unbossed.”
Clarke will serve for a two-year time period and is the tenth lady to serve within the place. She beforehand served as first vice chair of the CBC, specializing in legal guidelines concentrating on disparities that hurt underserved communities.
“It’s such an honor and a privilege to have 62 members in CBC sturdy, and 61 of these members elect me by acclamation,” mentioned Clarke.
Contributed by Congressional Black Caucus Basis
On the swearing-in ceremony, a number of audio system recounted the deep historical past of the CBC. Throughout the late Nineteen Sixties, Michigan Congressmember Charles Diggs created the Democracy Choose Committee (DSC) in an effort to convey Black Congress members collectively. Diggs observed that he and others typically felt remoted, and wished to create an off-the-cuff area to debate points they shared. Initially, that they had irregular conferences with no impartial workers or price range.
This modified because the Civil Rights Motion continued into the early Seventies. The CBC was formally established in 1971 by 13 founding members, together with New York Congressmembers Charles B. Rangel and Shirley A. Chisholm, to make sure that Black People and different marginalized communities within the U.S. have been empowered and supported by the federal authorities. Former President Richard Nixon refused to fulfill with the group, prompting the CBC to boycott the 1971 State of the Union Handle. Their battle gained nationwide press protection. By 1973, the CBC have been among the many first members of Congress to name for Nixon’s impeachment.
Combatting apartheid in South Africa was additionally a serious concern for the founding members of the CBC at the moment. California Congressmember Ronald Dellums launched the CBC’s first anti-apartheid invoice in 1972, incomes the group the nickname the “Conscience of the Congress.” The Complete Anti-Apartheid Act (CAAA) finally handed in 1986.
“We stand right here at present on the shoulders of giants. We owe an incredible debt to all of the founding members of the CBC; and to everybody whose blood and sweat and tears made the expansion of this group potential,” mentioned New York State Legal professional Common Letitia James, who facilitated the swearing in and took the members’ oath. “This historic occasion helps be sure that the CBC continues to excel and supply the management that our nation so desperately wants, particularly now.”
For the 118th Congress, the CBC had 60 members within the U.S. Home of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The present CBC has a report 62 members. This contains historic firsts of two Black girls U.S. senators — Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware — and two Black Home officers from Alabama — U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures.
Many members additionally spoke about sustaining the CBC’s objectives within the face of newly elected Republican President Donald Trump and his congressional allies. Clarke mentioned she desires to be laser-focused with the chief committee on negating any laws and insurance policies coming from the “extremist ideologies of Mission 2025” over the following 4 years.
“It’s essential to keep in mind that the ugly reactionary forces and the racist white supremacist forces we face are nothing new,” Clarke mentioned in her speech. “100 fifty years in the past, there have been others who tried to show again the arms of time and undo the victories that had value so many American lives, so many Black American lives. They espoused racist insurance policies and enacted legal guidelines and taxes to power discrimination and inequality on our individuals.”
In her remarks, Clarke issued a name to motion: “Our adversaries at present have embraced comparable measures: proscribing voting rights, denying equal alternative, selectively rewriting American historical past, banning Black historical past books, defunding the Division of Training,” she mentioned. “You may all look this up — it’s of their odious manifesto referred to as Mission 2025. Nicely, 2025 is right here, and we imply enterprise. We don’t have time to mess around. We don’t have time to shuck and jive. Now we have to be singularly targeted on the liberation and the elevation of Black individuals.”
For her district again in Brooklyn, Clarke mentioned she’s targeted on aiding Black immigrants and assuaging issues about Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
