Saturday, May 02, 2009
The 'Conscience Of The Congress' Helps HR 1913 Pass
Posted by Monica Roberts at 9:49 PM
http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2009/05/conscience-of-congress-helps-hr-1913.html (http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2009/05/conscience-of-congress-helps-hr-1913.html)
One of the things I get tired of hearing ad nauseum from elements of the white gay community is that tired 'Blacks are more homophobic' meme.
Compare and contrast Republican Virginia Foxx's remarks on HR 1913 vis a vis the remarks of CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) speaking on behalf of the just passed bill.
The Congressional Black Caucus is 43 members strong, with 42 congressmembers, one senator, and a former member living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Two members, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Donna Christian-Christensen (D-VI) are non voting delegates. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Al Green of Texas missed the roll call vote on HR 1913 but previously voted for Hate Crimes and ENDA
So out of the 37 members who cast votes on HR 1913 and 36 voted yes.
If one parses through the exit polls for CA Prop 8, the measure would have still passed (albeit with just a few tenths of a percent instead of a little over 2%) even if all black votes removed, never mind if just the "extra" blacks attributable to Obama's run had their votes removed.
Sure, the blacks who voted supported Prop 8 at a 70% clip. There are several other groups that are larger and supported the measure at a higher right.
Which was the most influential group?
McCain voters (a group far larger than black voters), who supported Prop 8 at a 85% rate. Not much was said about this group for some reason.
As to the matter of the vote on hand, it's probably worth noting that CA blacks are not going to be equivalent to the broader class of blacks in the USA, who will not be equivalent to the class of Congressional blacks who represent their respective districts.
It's fairly nonsensical to talk about groups of people who support a certain issue at a certain rate. You can't speak for everyone in that group, because they do split their vote.
I will say, though, that 36 of those 37 voting members did the right thing.