The Congressional Black Caucus PAC Must Cut Ties With Corporations That Prey on the Black Community

By Michelle Alexander, Michelle Alexander's Facebook Page

04 March 16

his is a critically important initiative demanding that the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee (CBC PAC) cut ties with corporations that do harm to black communities and remake its membership to reflect CBC leadership. Although the CBC PAC bears the name of the Congressional Black Caucus, it's 21-member board only includes 8 of the 46 Black Caucus members. The majority of the board is made up of lobbyists representing various corporate interests, including private prisons.

Two weeks ago, the CBC PAC, with it's lobbyist-dominated board, made a high-profile endorsement of Hillary Clinton and quietly decided NOT to endorse fellow CBC member Rep. Donna Edwards' historic bid to become only the second Black woman to be elected to the Senate.

Read this petition to learn why Donna Edwards wasn't endorsed and get a small glimpse of how utterly corrupt our politics have become. The Congressional Black Caucus presents itself as the "moral conscience" of our government, yet its PAC exemplifies so much of what is wrong with our withering democracy.

For thousands of years it has been said that one cannot faithfully serve two masters, yet we're supposed to believe that our politicians can be supported and bankrolled by tobacco companies, private prison lobbyists, payday lenders, and pharmaceutical companies and still serve our communities well. Surely we know better than that.