full-fledged investigation by the House Ethics Committee are African Americans.
After the surprise, or even the shock dissolves away, your next reaction is probably the question: Why? Why are so many black lawmakers under such intense scrutiny like Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters, when they make up such a small
percentage of Congress?
Political observers are very skeptical about who Congress has their barrels
pointed at. The only reason we’ve become aware of this is because some
low-level congressional worker accidentally placed the House Ethics Committee’s
investigations on a non-secure file server, which made its way to the media.
Pundits are forwarding several theories that those being investigated could be targeted
for three main reasons:
1. To
etch away at President Obama’s support base in Congress, which he needs to pass
the controversial and historic healthcare bill and other initiatives;
2. To
stop or prevent blacks from heading up Congress’ most powerful committees,
which would lead to more changes and more equitable distribution of wealth and
power in the country;
3. To
neutralize the rabble-rousers and most outspoken members of Congress as they
did with former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.
“In politics, nothing happens independently of anything,” says William
Boone, associate professor at Clark
Atlanta University.
“These kinds of issues can have long tentacles, multiple tentacles, and can
reach into all kinds of areas.”
Whatever the rationale behind these secretive moves, Boone says that nothing
in politics happens by accident. Take Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters, for
instance. Boone says “a lot of these people are fairly outspoken”.
Is it “coincidental” that Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who heads up the House Ways and
Means Committee and is by far the most coveted and powerful of all congressional
committees? “That’s a very important committee,” Boone says. “And you have the
healthcare bill coming up and all that sort of thing. So all of that can be
questioned. … And these people can be counted on to galvanize support for [the Obama] administration.
So there are some possible problems” if Rangel gets indicted and convicted of
wrongdoing.
Waters, D-Calif., has been one of the most vocal proponents
of changing the federal sentencing laws for nearly two decades, particularly
Mandatory Minimums, Three Strikes and Your Out and the disparity between crack
and powder cocaine sentencing. The head of the Judiciary Committee is another
black man, John Conyers, D-Mich.
Following the civil rights movement, blacks began being
elected at exponentially higher rates. “Seniority now works to the
benefit of black members of Congress. And now you have Democrats controlling
the House of Congress,” Boone observes. “There are a lot of implications.
Everything has a connection. The other thing would be — there is talk that these
people have been in Congress too long, that this kind of longevity [breeds
corruption].
Finally, Boone says, “Couple that with ACORN, who is governed by a black
woman who is being looked at very strongly by Congress. So people can add that
all together and say ‘why all of a sudden [do] these things seem to be happening to
these groups that represent people of color.” – terry shropshire
