Civil and Voting Rights

Today, President Trump doubled down on his racist attacks against Congressman Cummings and flat-out lied about the African American community being “thankful” for his recent remarks. The President also took this time to highlight what he has done for the African American community during his Presidency. Congresswoman Karen Bass, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus issued the following statement in response to the latest set of lies coming from President Trump: “Since taking office, Donald Tr... Read more

Today, the Congressional Black Caucus will launch a new taskforce that will focus on the upcoming 2020 Census and the legacy of under counting the African American community. Members of the CBC will meet with stakeholders and leading professionals to discuss the current state of play. The Caucus will also discuss the tools required for effective outreach to hard to count communities across the United States. The taskforce will be led by Congressman Steven Horsford (D-NV). Below, Chairwoman Bass ... Read more

Call it better living through politicking. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus emphasized the importance of political power as the key to positive change locally, statewide and nationally Saturday afternoon at the State of Black America Town Hall. The town hall, which drew hundreds of people, was part of the Arthur Ashe Boulevard renaming celebration and hosted by 4th District Congressman A. Donald McEachin of Richmond. As people flooded the exhibits in the Virginia Museum of History & Cul... Read more

Today is the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision. Congresswoman Bass, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congresswoman Marica Fudge, Chair of the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Elections, and Congresswoman Terri Sewell issued the following statement to highlight the current state of voting rights in America and the need for additional protections. “Today marks the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decis... Read more

Thousands of people spilled into the newly re-christened Arthur Ashe Boulevard here on Saturday for a celebration that also marked the unveiling of an exhibit at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture on the struggle for black equality and to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first captive Africans to English North America. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus joined Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and other elected officials on the steps of t... Read more

It’s not about the Confederate statues or the re-emerging debate over reparations for slavery. The struggle for black equality, 400 years after the first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia, isn’t just about disparity in wealth, education and treatment by the criminal justice system, although those are top priorities of the Congressional Black Caucus in a U.S. House of Representatives that Democrats control for the first time in almost a decade. The solutions come down to elections and the po... Read more

The Tri-Caucus – which includes the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), and Congressional Asian-Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) – called on Department of Housing (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson to reverse his decision to target immigrant and mixed-status households by barring them from federal housing subsidies, which would exacerbate the affordable housing crisis and effectively evict hundreds of thousands of families. This letter follows a recent HUD policy change... Read more

The topic of reparations for slavery is headed to Capitol Hill for its first hearing in more than a decade with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and actor Danny Glover set to testify before a House panel. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is scheduled to hold the hearing next Wednesday, its stated purpose “to examine, through open and constructive discourse, the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its continuing impact on the community and the pa... Read more

Rep. John Lewis and several of his Democratic colleagues broke down in tears during a closed-door meeting Tuesday after a historian described the congressman’s reaction when he saw his great-great-grandfather’s voter registration card for the first time. The House Democratic caucus invited Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Henry Louis Gates Jr., who heads the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University, to preview a new film on reconstruction. Gates spoke about Lewis... Read more

What was billed as a town hall for the “State of Black America in Brooklyn” Friday night at Brownsville’s P.S. 156 Waverly, morphed into a panel discussion about criminal justice reform featuring members of the Congressional Black Caucus, local legislators and community activists, including Assemblymember Latrice Walker and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. Led by Congressmembers Yvette D. Clarke and Stacey Plaskett, lawmakers discussed initiatives they’d put forth to make jail a last re... Read more