Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) is serving as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) during an eerie period of time with historic implications.
It resembles conditions faced 55 years ago by CBC founding member, Rep. Shirley Chisholm, who, like Clarke, represented New York.
Both Chisholm and Clarke experienced gender discrimination, racism and power struggles in Congress, although they served decades apart.
The CBC has served as a shield both then and now as lawmakers re-evaluate conditions under the second Trump administration.
“I became chair of the Congressional Black Caucus at the same time that Donald Trump was elected president,” Clarke said in an interview in May. “And he has been horrific when it comes to communities of color across this nation.”
Her comments directed toward the administration were rooted in disdain for the president’s attempts to remove Black history from museums, increase mass deportation through immigration raids and making cuts to the federal government.
Over the past year, Black lawmakers have also reckoned with Republican redistricting measures that reduce their chances of being reelected after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of restructuring the Voting Rights Act making it harder to account for racial discrimination.
They’ve also seen the federal workforce, social services and resources for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) dwindle month after month.
The threat of lawsuits, criminal charges and persecution remain top of mind for every member of Congress as they’ve watched their peers face the wrath of Trump, who seeks out enemies. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook were subject to legal battles for months after speaking out in opposition to Trump.
Law firms and schools with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have also undergone court challenges. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) also faces a lawsuit for equitable scholarships that help support students’ pursuit of higher education.
Some within the CBC have retreated from conversations deemed too politically volatile due to “fear” of retaliation from the federal government and its aligned entities, one source familiar with the matter told The Informer.
When asked to describe the challenges and the accomplishments helmed with Clarke at the leadership of the organization, her office and the CBC declined to comment.
Her entire executive board, which includes Democratic Reps. Troy Carter (La.), Lucy McBath (Ga.), Marilyn Strickland (Wash.), Sydney Kamagler Dove (Calif.), Jennifer McClellan (Va.) and Gabe Amo (R.I.), also declined or did not respond to The Informer’s request for comment regarding a reflection on Clarke’s leadership.
Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) said under the current political climate the “stakes of Black political engagement have never been higher.”
However, the Maryland legislator noted that the CBCF Annual Legislative Conference is “both sanctuary and staging ground, a place to recharge, reconnect, and recommit to the work that has defined this organization for half a century.”
‘Doing the Difficult But Necessary Work’
Some of the CBC ally organizations have said Clarke is handling the heightened political climate with grace.
“Representative Clarke is doing the difficult but necessary work to ensure the key issues that impact Black lives are considered in the halls of Congress,” Patrice Willoughby, NAACP Vice President of policy and legislative affairs, told The Informer.
Willoughby, who previously served as executive director of the CBC, said that the organizations will continue to partner to “advocate for policies that prioritize the progress of Black Americans.”
Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright said Clarke is doing an “incredible job” but noted that it’s hard to lead when you “don’t have a legislative branch who believes in their own power.”
He and others have implied that Washington was missing the “checks and balances” system meant to curtail executive power through congressional oversight.
“The name of the game is ‘Survive in Advance for Black America,’ and as it relates to the election — which will occur under the … second Trump term — the midterm election, Black folks are casting a survival vote. The Congressional Black Caucus has always been the conscience of the Congress, the Constitution, and the country, except that under this current Washington makeup, if you will, those three things don’t exist,” Seawright told The Informer. “There’s no accountability to the executive branch by way of the Congress.”
Seawright said some lawmakers have “ignored” the Constitution, and they “act as if they don’t want a country that includes Black America, or in some cases brown America too.”
“And so the CBC has tried to be an anchor for pushback, a driving force for change, and a demonstration of the simple fact that Black people still matter, Black votes still matter, and Black issues should remain top of mind issues,” he added.
Clarke says those narratives are driven through the power of community.
“What we’ve done as the Congressional Black Caucus under my leadership is stood up in architecture to reconnect to people, organizations on the ground and communities across the nation to empower people,” she said in May. “We are not hopeless or and we are not helpless in this moment.”
The work continues in the vein of Chisholm and her 12 co-founders decades after she served in the legislature.
“Of course laws will not eliminate prejudice from the hearts of human beings. But that is no reason to allow prejudice to continue to be enshrined in our laws — to perpetuate injustice through inaction,” Chisholm once said.
