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If elected in November, Love would be the first black Republican woman in Congress and Utah's first black representative. She said she would join the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C., should she win. "Yes, yes. I would join the Congressional Black Caucus and try to take that thing apart from the inside out," she said.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said Tuesday that President Obama "absolutely" should use his executive power to continue the unemployment benefits and payroll tax cut extension and said she hoped to discuss the option with the White House later in the day. "It is extraordinary, don't get me wrong. But I'm feeling the pain of the constituents I left [at] home," Jackson Lee said, speaking on the progressive Ed Schultz's radio show. "I consider this a crisis. I consider leaving Americans without unemployment insurance for January and February a crime. I consider not extending the payroll tax cut ... a...

When the Civil War ended, and after Republican President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, Democrats initiated Jim Crow laws to keep the black man down. Democrats didn’t much like blacks. In fact, the KKK, as you know, was founded as the the terrorist wing of the Democrat Party. Setting the Record Straight A group of black activists led by Wayne Perryman has filed a brief against the Democrat Party for its long history of racism and discrimination of the black community.

A Democratic lawmaker said Wednesday on the House floor that Republican legislators around the country are purposefully trying to deny blacks the right to vote by pushing for voter identification laws. “It’s no coincidence that a disproportionate number of these affected voters come from communities of color as well as the poor, the elderly and students,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus. “Having been born and raised in Texas, this certainly looks like a poll tax to me, which those of us remember as a way to prevent African Americans from voting. These...

I understand that the NAACP opposes voter-ID laws. Given the long history of fighting against uses of state law to deny blacks and other minorities the franchise until the Civil Rights Movement prevailed, their deep skepticism over proposed stricter enforcement of eligibility laws can’t help but recall echoes of voter suppression in their communities, even if the new laws are innocent of any racial animus. We still have plenty of mistrust that will take generations to undo, especially given that we still have those with living memories of having been denied the right to vote. Still, if the NAACP wants...

I just finished listening to President Obama’s speech at the Congressional Black Caucus dinner and I’m still reeling with anger. Honestly, I’ve never been more afraid for my country or my people than I am right now. In his speech, Obama told the mostly black audience; “Take off your bedroom slippers. Shake it off. Stop complainin’. Stop grumblin’. Stop cryin’. We are going to press on. We have work to do.” As writer Charing Ball noted, Obama may as well have said “take off your head scarf and wave caps, put away the jug of Kool-Aid and grape drink, stop...

MRC visited the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Dinner in Washington to ask attendees if the tea party is racist. The attendees are also asked about Allen West and Herman Cain and what they think of black members of the tea party. One man says they can go to hell, another lady calls them 'oreos.' Here's the video

Barack Obama speech reopens rift with black criticsBy JOSEPH WILLIAMS | 9/29/11 5:03 AM EDT It was a speech intended to be a rousing call to arms for his 2012 re-election campaign and his jobs bill. But when President Barack Obama told a gala dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus over the weekend that it was time to “stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying” and get to work, he instead gave new ammunition to some prominent African American critics who say the nation’s first black president gets tough only when he’s talking to other black people. **SNIP** By the middle...

WASHINGTON -- A rattled tone of desperation has taken hold of President Obama's once self-confident rhetoric as he struggles to rally his party's dispirited political base. With the Gallup daily tracking poll showing his job approval score falling to 39 percent over the weekend, Obama shocked Congressional Black Caucus Democrats at a dinner Saturday with an intemperate scolding for daring to criticize his mishandling of the economy. "I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain," he told the assembled black leaders. "I am going to press on. I expect all of you to...

At a speech before the Congressional Black Caucus this weekend, President Obama told the crowd, “I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain.” He also told the CBC to “take off your bedroom slippers” and “put on your marching shoes.” And he scolded them to “stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying.” I have written before about Obama’s deep, almost desperate, need to portray himself as the opposite of what he is, to conceive of himself in a way that is at odds with reality. We have seen it in all sorts of areas,...

Rep. Waters: Obama ‘got carried away’By Alicia M. Cohn, Daniel Strauss and Mike Lillis 09/26/11 09:19 PM ET Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Monday tried to downplay friction between the black community and President Obama but warned the president might have gotten “carried away” in remarks made over the weekend. Waters, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), appeared in a number of media interviews on Monday following Obama’s speech to the CBC Gala on Saturday, where the president told the audience to “stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying.” Waters said that there was room for improvement in the...

While speaking with Tavis Smiley of PBS, Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee said conservative bloggers should "shut up" and "stop playing racial politics." This from a member of the caucus that does little else but play the race card. Seconds later, Jackson Lee went on to say that buy American should be "buy African American." She also said that if Obama's jobs bill is passed, that contractors who "do not look like" her need to make sure that if they get federal money, their workforce "better be reflective of those suffering double-digit unemployment." "I don't consider it discrimination, I don't...

Nothing is worse for Black Americans, African-Americans, Afro-Americans, soul brothers and sisters, people of color, non-ofays, or whatever you choose to call that particular minority segment of our society than the Congressional Black Caucus. No, I take that back. There are worse things — for all of us — like a national debt the size of the Horsehead Nebula — but it is pretty bad. Like a Boris Karloff mummy escaped from some indestructible subterranean tomb, the Black Caucus has come back to haunt us with an ideology so outdated you can’t even find it on the Rosetta Stone. We’re...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Monday complained that President Obama had unfairly singled out the African-American community and characterized them as complainers over the weekend. "Despite the fact that he's appointed [Sonia] Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, he has an office for excellence in Hispanic education right in the White House, [the Hispanic caucus is] still pushing him," she said. "He certainly didn't tell them to stop complaining, and he would never say that to the gay and lesbian community, who really pushed him on Don't Ask Don't Tell. Even in a speech to AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs...

..."a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, says she found the president's language "a bit curious." She says Obama didn't address Hispanics in such a blunt manner and would never use that language in a speech to a gathering of gays or Jews."

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a fiery summons to an important voting bloc, President Barack Obama told blacks on Saturday to quit crying and complaining and "put on your marching shoes" to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity. And though he didn't say it directly, for a second term, too. Obama's speech to the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus was his answer to increasingly vocal griping from black leaders that he's been giving away too much in talks with Republicans -- and not doing enough to fight black unemployment, which is nearly double the national average...

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Against a backdrop of slipping support among African Americans and widely acknowledged tension with black members of Congress, President Barack Obama delivered a fiery defense of his record at a Congressional Black Caucus gala Saturday night. Judging by the audience’s reaction — the president’s words often brought the crowd to their feet — Obama went a long way toward silencing his critics. Like a minister preaching to a restive choir, Obama used familiar cultural touchstones to remind the audience of his roots, including Biblical references, a rhythmic cadence and his own humble beginnings as the son of a single mother...

Obama Tells Congressional Black Caucus To 'Stop Grumbling' Zeke Miller Sep. 24, 2011, 11:22 PM Image: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta President Barack Obama addressed the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Phoenix Award Dinner Saturday night to send a message to an increasingly restless base that he has not forsaken them. Members of the CBC spent much of the August recess hosting jobs fairs across the country — and on occasion were not shy about venting their frustration with the nation's first black President. But Obama used the occasion to make it clear that while progress has been slow, he has not...

When President Obama takes the stage Saturday for his annual address to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, it is certain to be a warm and festive affair, but probably a little less festive and lot more more urgent than on previous occasions. In the audience will be Rep. Maxine Waters (D), the California congresswoman who has been a lead critic of the president and his administration for not being sufficiently focused on the stubborn problem of black unemployment. Waters says she expects more from Obama on Saturday. “African Americans are very proud that there is an African American man who...