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Rep. Marcia Fudge didn’t sugarcoat her feelings about the fact that President Barack Obama has not yet chosen any African-Americans to fill open high-level positions in his second term. “The people you have chosen to appoint in this new term have hardly been reflective of this country’s diversity,” the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus wrote in a terse letter to Obama this month. “Their ire is compounded by the overwhelming support you’ve received from the African-American community.” The letter’s tone and tenor typifies the blunt, hard-charging style of Fudge, an Ohio Democrat, and signals a shift in how the...

OTTAWA, March 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canada’s government-funded broadcaster is under fire after one of its popular comedy shows ran a skit mocking the Eucharist last month. On Feb. 19th, This Hour Has 22 Minutes ran a sketch to satirize how a Canadian Pope might “change the Church,” premised on the speculation that Cardinal Marc Ouellet is one of the leading contenders in the conclave, which begins Tuesday. The skit depicts a bishop leading Mass, but changing the words to make them more suited to Canadians’ stereotypical politeness. “Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins,” he says. “But don’t...

The chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus said she is concerned that President Obama has not yet appointed African-Americans to his second-term Cabinet. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) said Obama's appointees do not reflect the nation's diverse population — at least, so far. “I am concerned that you have moved forward with new cabinet appointments and yet, to date, none of them have been African American,” her letter to Obama states. “You have publicly expressed your commitment to retaining diversity within your cabinet. However, the people you have chosen to appoint in this new term have hardly been reflective of this...

Responding to Republican criticism of UN Ambassador Susan Rice for claiming that the Benghazi attack on the US mission and annex there had been caused by a photo of a stuffed teddy bear named Mohammed, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus and Chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on 40 Acres, an Obamaphone and a Mule denounced any attacks on Rice as “horridly and unspeakably racist.” While Fudge could not point to any single word that was racist, she insisted that every single word used to criticize Rice was a racist code word. “If the language is...

Rep. Marcia Fudge (D.-Ohio), the incoming chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, is accusing Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) of "sexism and racism" because the criticism leveled at U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice for telling the American people that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was a spontaneous reaction to a video posted on YouTube. “There is a clear, a clear in my opinion, sexism and racism that goes with these comments that are being made by, unfortunately, Senator McCain and others,” Fudge (D-Ohio.) said Friday at a Capitol Hill press conference. On Thursday, the Congressional Black...

House Democrats opened Wednesday’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing by attacking Republicans for cuts to embassy security funding — cuts that only happened thanks to overwhelming support from House Democrats, INCLUDING House Oversight Committee Ranking Democratic member Rep. Elijah Cummings. In fact, more House Democrats – 149 of them — voted for the cuts than did House Republicans, of which 147 voted for them.

House Democrats on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee used their opening statements today to blame Republicans for the lack of security in Benghazi, Libya, during a hearing on the security breaches surrounding the attack on the U.S. consulate last month, which killed four Americans, including the ambassador, and occurred on the anniversary of 9/11. “The chairman has said that our committee will examine not only the Libya attack but security at outposts across the Middle East,” said Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) to Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who called the hearing today on Capitol Hill. “Mr. Chairman I fully...

CHICAGO — Battling mental illness and personal financial troubles, Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) is a heavy favorite for reelection Nov. 6 despite a surreal campaign from which he has been absent for almost four months. Jackson, 47, who disclosed this summer that he has bipolar depression and has undergone weeks of hospitalization, is convalescing in Washington and meeting occasionally with aides. He has been absent from the House of Representatives since June 8. Whether he will campaign at all is in question. His reelection bid is being led by his wife, Sandi Jackson, who turned down interview requests....

(VIDEO AT LINK) The Congressional Black Caucus used National Voter Registration Day to launch a new voter protection initiative. On Tuesday members of the CBC partnered with community leaders as well as local and state elected officials in a series of events throughout the country to unveil “For the People“. The initiative draws attention to voter suppression efforts, like restrictive voter ID laws, that could prevent many minorities from voting in November. The goal of “For the People” is to provide information on what documents and procedures are needed to vote so that no eligible voter is turned away from...

CNS News: If blacks don't vote, 'snatch' the 'color back,' says CleaverBy: Devonia Smith September 22, 2012 Friday, CNS News surfaced a C-SPAN video of Chairman Emanuel Cleaver of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) passionately demanding that African-Americans who don't vote, "ought to give us their color back." The video was taped the evening before when Cleaver was speaking to a CBC forum on the subject of voting rights. There was no laughter from the audience when Cleaver angrily declared, "They (blacks) aren't worth the color if they don't vote; they ought to give us their color back." Apparently, that...

If you are black and you don’t vote, you do not deserve the color of your skin. That’s at least how Congressional Black Caucus head Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) put it during a recent speech on voting rights. After explaining the struggles blacks had to go through to get the right to vote, Cleaver launched into a tirade against those who decide not to exercise it. “That’s why I become so angry at any African-American who refuses to vote,” he said. “They are not worth the color if they don’t vote. They ought to give us their color back. Their...

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you so much. (Applause.) Thank you. It is truly a pleasure and an honor to be here with all of you tonight. Thank you so much for having me. I want to start by thanking Congressman Cleaver and Shuanise Washington for their outstanding work and for their introduction. I also want to recognize your terrific CBC Foundation President and CEO, Elsie Scott. (Applause.) And of course, I want to congratulate this year's Phoenix Award winners -- Attorney General Holder, Congresswoman Brown, Mayor Gantt, and George Lucas. Thank you all for your outstanding contributions to our nation, and...

[snip]Take Congressman John Lewis, for example. He was the son -- (applause.) Yes, indeed. He was the son of sharecroppers. [snip] And then there's Congressman Louis Stokes who was raised by a widowed mother in Cleveland's public housing. [snip] But from so many unlikely places, members of this caucus rose up and lived out their own version of the great American Dream. And that is why they came here to Washington. They came because they were determined to give others that same chance;

OTTAWA - CBC may be willing to take $1 billion from taxpayers each year to produce its news content, but the state broadcaster is tight-lipped about what it earns selling that same material to some of the biggest companies in the world. In a move that continues to pit the government-subsidized CBC against other privately owned media companies, CBC recently renewed an agreement to sell its news stories to Microsoft. Microsoft then posts CBC news stories on its website. An access to information request for details of the contract included several pages that were close to blank with all pertinent...

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) is someone I really like. I like that he says what he thinks and doesn’t mind if it ticks off the left. Apparently he made a nice gesture of providing free food for the Black Caucus. Instead of the Black Caucus being thankful that someone else provided food for them, they were offended. Why? Because what Rep. West sent them were Chick-Fil-A biscuits! Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) said that it was a deliberate attempt to offend the members of the Congressional Black Caucus. “We have a rotation in the Congressional Black Caucus where every member provides...

A Democratic lawmaker says Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) offended the entire Congressional Black Caucus by delivering Chick-fil-A chicken and biscuits to their weekly meeting — and then walking out — when it was his turn to provide the group with a formal lunch.

Rep. Allen West's Chick-fil-A Treat Gnaws at Black Caucus By Amy Bingham | ABC OTUS News – 1 hr 13 mins ago Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have lunched on their fair share of fried chicken, but when the group's only Republican member, Rep. Allen West of Florida, brought Chick-fil-A for his turn to provide lunch, "every member" of the group was offended, caucus member Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., told the Huffington Post this week. West provided the now-controversial chicken sandwiches about six months ago, but Hastings' recollection of the delivery carries fresh potency in light of Chick-fil-A CEO...

Florida Republican Rep. Allen West said liberal Democrats in Congress — including many members of the Congressional Black Caucus — who walked out on the bipartisan votes to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal and civil contempt of Congress did so because Holder is black. “Today the Congressional Black Caucus and other liberal Members of Congress judged the Attorney General by the color of his skin, and not by the content of his character,” West said of their walkout in a Facebook post. “I am disappointed my colleagues would rather engage in a political stunt to distract the American...

The Congressional Black Caucus has called a members-only "emergency" meeting on Thursday to plot a "walkout strategy" ahead of the scheduled contempt vote of Attorney General Eric Holder later in the day. The plans, detailed in an email from the executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus obtained by the Alley, include circulating a letter disapproving of the vote and having lawmakers walk out of the Capitol to hold a press conference during the roll call. The letter, a draft of which is being circulated for signatures, accuses the GOP leadership of "rushing recklessly to a contempt vote." The letter...

Race riots could ensue if George Zimmerman -- the shooter in the Trayvon Martin case -- is found not guilty of second-degree murder by a Florida jury, the Congressional Black Caucus' executive director allowed yesterday. "I think a 'not guilty' verdict is extremely problematic in 2012," said Angela Rye, the Executive Director and General Counsel for the Congressional Black Caucus. She said, "I don't know," when asked what would happen in the event of an acquittal. "I know that folks have talked about race riots -- I don't know that. I think that we live in a day and...