Richmond elected Congressional Black Caucus chair
5th December 2016 · 0 Comments
U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., was elected chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Wednesday giving the New Orleans native a national platform to push criminal justice reforms and other priorities, USA Today reported last week.
Most recently, Richmond called for a federal investigation of the officer-involved shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and co-authored a bill seeking federal funding for non-lethal weapons that could be used by law enforcement officers to subdue suspects.
REP. RICHMOND
“I’m honored and humbled by the confidence my colleagues have placed in me to serve as the chair of this revered Caucus, the conscience and intellect of the Congress,” Rep. Richmond said. “As we move into a new Congress and the onset of a new Administration, our Caucus will remain committed to the values that have made the CBC among the most influential institutions in the nation.”
“I’m grateful to outgoing Chairman G.K. Butterfield for his leadership and dedication over the past two years. We have all benefited from his steadfast commitment to our community and our cause.”
Butterfield said he is confident Richmond will provide strong, effective leadership. Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland said the CBC is the “conscience of the Congress” and said Richmond will bring energy to the job.
The CBC filled out its leadership ranks with Reps. Andre Carson, D-Ind., Karen Bass, D-Calif., Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., and Gwen Moore, D-Wis.
The caucus chairman is “in the position to articulate the agenda for Black Americans,” Albert Samuels, interim dean of the Nelson Mandela College of Government and Social Sciences at Southern University, told USA Today. “That’s a significant platform to have.”
Richmond has garnered national attention for pushing Congress to hold hearings on the officer-involved shootings of Black people, including the death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., this past summer.
“I think these communities are a firecracker away from civil unrest and that concerns me,” he said at the time. “I think that Congress has an obligation to act before it goes that far.”
Richmond, a graduate of Ben Franklin High School and Morehouse College, is serving his third term, sits on the House Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee,
In a letter to caucus members before last week’s vote, Richmond laid out his plans if elected, including pushing for more members to serve in Democratic leadership positions, conducting an “urban economic listening tour” and reaching out to more historically Black colleges and universities.
The caucus faces many hurdles in the Republican-controlled Congress.
Samuels told USA Today that Richmond’s push to address police shootings and criminal justice reform resonates not only in Louisiana, but in other communities. Louisiana has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country.
“That’s obviously a big issue, especially here in Louisiana,” Samuels said. “That’s a conversation that needs to be pushed forward. It’s going to be tough to keep that issue front and center with (Jeff) Sessions as attorney general.” Sessions, a conservative Republican Senator from Alabama, has been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as attorney general.
“As we face the challenges before us ─ from economic justice and upward mobility, to voting rights, policing, and criminal justice reform ─ we will approach each of them with vigilance. We will strive to harness the energy of our constituencies to enact policies that will have the greatest positive impact,” Richmond said.
“I look forward to working with our membership, as we embark on an ambitious agenda. I stand on the shoulders of a choir of brave African-American women and men whose struggles made way for our progress. I will work every day to make them proud.”
This article originally published in the December 5, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
