Tough Times: African-American Realities Beneath the Breakthroughs: When the Congressional Black Caucus held its annual legislative conference in Washington last month, there was much to crow about.
Since its gathering in the fall a year ago, the Black lawmakers and their nationwide network of supporters had played a key role in helping turn out the vote that helped elect Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as the nation’s first Black president.
With the new Congress, several caucus members had risen to the chairmanships of key committees in the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, more Black people with clout have been appointed to key positions in the new administration, from chief of the Environmental Protection Agency to U.S. Attorney General. The new attorney general, Eric Holder, has since promised more renewed focus on enforcing civil rights laws and reviewing mandatory minimum prison sentences.
Beneath the exciting veneer, however, at various meetings during the conference and as participants went back to their hometowns across the country, the mounting troubles besetting Black America – from HIV/AIDS to the soaring unemployment triggered by the economy’s collapse last year— sobered up even the most euphoric. The test of America’s mettle to survive is fast becoming an acute stress test for Black America on many fronts.
