A black Democrat Congressman has been denied entry into a whites-only caucus by members of his own party and no one seems to care.
As a black liberal running in a majority white district, Tennessee Democrat Stephen I. Jackson made a novel pledge on the campaign trail last year: If elected, he would seek to become the first black member of the Congressional White Caucus.Now that he's a freshman in Congress, Jackson has changed his plans. He said he has dropped his bid after several current and former caucus members made it clear to him that blacks need not apply.
"I think they're real happy I'm not going to join," said Jackson, who succeeded Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., in the Memphis district. "It's their caucus and they do things their way. You don't force your way in. You need to be invited."
Jackson said he became convinced that joining the caucus would be "a social faux pas" after seeing news reports that former Rep. William Lacy Clay Sr., D-Mo., a co-founder of the caucus, had circulated a memo telling members it was "critical" that the group remain "exclusively white."
Outrageous! Oh no, wait, I accidentally swapped every instance of "white" and "black" in the story... it's actually white Representative Stephen I. Cohen who is being denied entry to the Congressional Black Caucus. I wasn't mistaken, however, in noticing a complete lack of interest in the story by the mainstream media.
And, of course, the idea that a "Congressional White Caucus" would be allowed to exist would be as absurd as the "Young White Scholars" club I proposed for my high school (where whites were an actual minority).
