As the debate over jobs turns into the latest political tug-of-war, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri walks a careful but candid line.

As chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, he has been at odds with President Barack Obama over the administration's response to soaring unemployment in the African-American community.

Nearing 17 percent, joblessness among blacks is at a three-decade high and almost twice the overall unemployment rate. The black caucus wants the president to do more.

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"He is a not a fire-breather, that's not his style, and I don't think he is, or for that matter, the caucus is genuinely angry at Obama," said David Bositis, an expert on voting rights and black politics at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "I think they know that Obama is doing everything he can."

 

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It was formerly available at The Miami Herald, macon.com, and kansascity.com.

As a result of a controversial new redistricting map, first-term Rep. Hansen Clarke has announced plans to run in a redrawn district that was for decades represented by Rep. John Conyers, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

According to David Bositis, a political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Clarke, who ousted long-serving Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick in 2010, probably has a better chance of winning the now-whiter district than Conyers because the elder statesman may be too vocally liberal and “out there” for its new voters. Conyers told BET.com earlier this month that he was considering running in the 13th district that Clarke currently represents, but has not yet announced a decision.

 

Read more at BET.

A year ago, Colorado's African-American community braced for the unimaginable: a legislature without a single black lawmaker for the first time in nearly six decades.

Denver's first black mayor, Wellington Webb, was among those who fretted about whether African-Americans would have a voice when the legislature convened in 2011.

But much has changed in the past 12 months.

Two blacks serve in the Colorado General Assembly.

Two blacks are now on the Denver City Council.

And Denver, with a black population of only 10 percent, just elected its second black mayor, Michael Hancock.

A year ago, it was Hancock, a city councilman at the time, who was upbeat despite worries from some in the black community.

"African-American candidates, no matter where they live, can appeal to voters because their issues are the same: education, job security, the economy," he said.

He soared past the white front-runner in the mayoral race, which came as no surprise to David Bositis​, a Beltway political analyst.

"When you're talking about a place like Colorado, its record in many respects is extraordinary," said Bositis, with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C. "The state has a long history of white voters supporting the candidate they believe is best."

 

Read more at The Denver Post.

Most of us grow into our identities as easily as acorns do into oaks - rarely questioning, resisting or protesting those events that do not appear to affect us directly. It is the difficult decisions, the ones that have consequences, challenge orthodoxies, bear risk and threaten status, that take real courage.

One would think such courage would easily find a political home. The Left, after all, made great strides through the sixties and early seventies thanks to the advances of civil rights, gay rights, feminism and anticolonialism, and still nominally supports its historical contributions. But by the early nineties, much of the Left had come to regard the politics of identity as an obstacle to further progress rather than an opportunity for it.

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The only arena in which identity has been explicitly and consciously embraced in recent years has been marketing. At the Republican convention that nominated George Bush as its presidential candidate in 2000, the leadership felt the need to transform the party's image, which many Americans regarded as backward-looking, narrow and elitist. To counter that impression, the three cochairs for the convention were an African-American, a Latino and a white single mother. The headline speaker on the first day was Colin Powell. The primetime news slot the next day went to Condoleezza Rice. On the opening night, the pledge of allegiance was delivered by a blind mountaineer while a black woman sang "The Star-Spangled Banner." On one later night of the convention, the entertainment featured Harold Melvin (black) and Jon Secada (Cuban). The convention was closed by Chaka Khan.

But while the emphasis in presentation was on race and ethnicity, the message was not directed at minority voters (whom the Republican party would effectively disenfranchise in order eventually to "win" the election). "What the Republicans are doing is aimed more at white Americans," said David Bositis, a political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington. "Moderates do not want someone who's negative on race. It says something very significant about America as a whole." Race had simply become a signifier of the Republican desire not to appear mean-spirited.

 

Read more at Truthout.

In a sweeping work that traces the idea of race for more than three centuries, Audrey Smedley shows that “race” is a cultural invention that has been used variously and opportunistically since the eighteenth century. Race, in its origin, was not a product of science but of a folk ideology reflecting a new form of social stratification and a rationalization for inequality among the peoples of North America. New coauthor Brian Smedley joins Audrey Smedley in updating this renowned and groundbreaking book.

This analysis provides a brief review of the potential role of black voters and candidates in the 2010 Midterms. In particular, it examines some past midterm elections where a strong black turnout had a very material effect on various election outcomes. Black voters are strategically situated in 2010 to have a major impact provided an effort is made to get them to polls on November 2.

 

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This publication is a brief review of some of the available evidence on what transpired on November 2, 2010, when the Democrats lost their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and at least 19 state legislative chambers, maintained control in the U.S. Senate, and lost several important gubernatorial elections. The black vote was critical to the outcome of some closely contested elections, but not enough in many more. In particular, this review will focus on the behavior and significance of African-American voters in the 2010 midterm elections; and the changing numbers and profile of black candidates for both federal and statewide office, as well as their performance at the polls.

 

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Sixteen months after Barack Obama's presidential win seemed to usher in a new era in racial politics, a different reality has emerged: Black candidates in races around the country are struggling so much that the number of African Americans in major statewide offices is likely to drop from the already paltry three. And the possibility exists that there will be no black governors or senators by next year.

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"There were a lot of people who were in fantasy land about black candidates all of sudden getting elected to all of these offices," said David Bositis, who studies black political trends at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "But in most years, there are only a handful of Senate seats that are truly competitive, and a lot of people want these seats. And given this is going to be a favorable year for Republicans, the notion that it was going to a great year for African American candidates, it just wasn't going to happen."

Read the Full Story at Washingtonpost.com

What happened? What follows is a brief review of some of the available evidence on what transpired on November 8, 1994, when the Republicans won a majority of seats in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as in an additional 17 state legislative bodies. In particular, this review will focus on three areas: the behavior and significance of African-American voters in the 1994 midterms elections; the changing numbers and profile of black candidates for both federal and statewide office, and their performance at the polls; and the significance of these substantial Republican gains for black legislators at both the federal and state level. Finally, after reviewing this evidence, a few observations regarding these Republican gains will be offered.

African-American voters, issues and leaders played a more pivotal role in the elections of 1992 than at any time in history.  However, the nature and contours of that participation were quite different from before, and the significance of their role in the electoral process was in many respects quite unexpected.  Despite the unforeseen twists and turns of the 1992 elections, the overall logic of the presidential campaign was strategically quite lucid, and anticipates what may be the shape of racial politics in the 19902 and beyond.