Civil and Voting Rights

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

United States Congresswoman Terri Sewell and two of her colleagues are heard from infuriated advocates for voting rights on Monday. One of the provisions of the 965 Civil Rights Act was that Alabama and eight other states with a history of discrimination, must report to the Department of Justice before making any election law changes. But in a 2013 case brought by Shelby County, the Supreme Court ruled that provision was outdated and threw it out. Since then, some people say Alabama has made vot... Read more

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) is finding herself in high demand heading into 2020. The new leader of the powerful Congressional Black Caucus received a phone call from Joe Biden, the former vice president and current front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, just the other day. She caught up with Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), another White House hopeful, during a plane ride from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. And Bass regularly chats up Sen. Kamala Harris, a fellow Californ... Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the authorities in southern Louisiana have named a suspect in connection to the recent burning of three historical black churches in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. Congresswoman Karen Bass, the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, issued the following statement in response: “These acts of domestic terrorism serve as a reminder that we must remain focused and determined to further social justice in our country,” said Chairwoman Bass. “I strongly condemn these attacks ... Read more