How is it remotely possible that with over 500 men and women in Congress, only African Americans are under full-scale ethics investigations, but not a single white person? There would have been eight, but the U.S. Justice Department asked the House ethics committee to indefinitely suspend an investigation on Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill.
“What’s interesting is that they would all be black. That sounds very coincidental at best,” says Dr. William Boone, associate professor of political science at Clark Atlanta University. “You can make a lot of it, but it is of some interest that that would be the case. Some would argue that this is reminiscent of when the Reagan Administration [during the 1980s] was bearing down hard on black elected officials across the country — in terms of making indictments against them.”
To be fair, 29 members of Congress have come under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee, according to the Office of Congressional Ethics, but only the African Americans are under full-fledged investigations. They are: Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.; Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich.; Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; Laura Richardson, D-Calif.; Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.; Donald Payne, D-N.J.; and Donna Christensen, D-V.I.
Gwen Ifill, the distinguished political correspondent who emceed the vice presidential debates last year between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, is highly troubled by the racial implications of the cases.
“Some cases are stronger than others, but it just doesn’t seem right that there would be that high of a percentage of African Americans [under investigation],” Ifill told Tom Joyner. “I was told that I had to be twice as good and I took that very seriously. This idea that we’re in a colorblind or race-transcendent society, we are not quite there yet. And until we get there, make sure that you got everything buttoned up. You’d think that our elected officials should see that as well, but they still have to be treated fairly.”
Ironically, the Office of Congressional Ethics was created by Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, in an effort to police questionable activities of people within their own ranks. Boone says these investigations could actually benefit the black congressmen and women being investigated.
“It can certainly galvanize the support for those people in Congress who are being investigated,” he says, adding, “on the other hand, there are those on the right … and far right who still argue that these people cannot govern. That’s an extreme opinion.”
–terry
shropshire
