DOES THE CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS FEAR ZIMBABWE?

When the average African living inside US borders is asked to list some of our most significant political gains past and present, the right to vote will be the most common answer you can expect to receive. It is more than likely that these exact sentiments will be echoed by every civil/human rights organization, church, businessman/woman, academician, etc that lives and works amongst our people today. It is because of this reality that the activities of the Congressional Black Caucus should never be ignored or accidentally overlooked by any daughter or son of Africa on the planet. The CBC was created in 1971 and had 12 original founding members (Shirley Chisholm, Louis Stokes, William Clay, George Collins, John Conyers, Ronald Dellums, Augustus Hawkins, Ralph Metcalfe, Parren Mitchell, Robert Mix, Charles Rangel and Walter Fauntroy) The CBC was initially called the Democratic Select Committee created to accommodate the increase in African elected officials, which stemmed from the impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The first Chairman, Charles Diggs, was placed on President Richard Nixon's master list of political opponents. One of the current members Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Democrat out of Texas, said "The CBC is a family of freedom fighters that has fought to protect the fundamentals of democracy, and its impact is recognized throughout the world". This bold proclamation made by Congresswoman Johnson would lead Africans worldwide to believe, that any policies formulated by the Bush administration aimed at undermining democracy in any African or Caribbean nation, would meet the stiffest resistance the CBC could collectively muster.   Since the beginning of their Land Reclamation Program in 2000, the Government of Zimbabwe under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe has been the main target of the Bush administration in Africa, and the CBC has been extremely supportive. Before the Zimbabwe Democracy and the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001(ZEDRA) was signed by Mr. Bush on December 21st 2001, it was passed through the US Senate August 1st 2001 and then through the US Congress December 4th 2001.This bill was initially introduced by Republican Senator William Trift, out of Tennessee, and was co-sponsored by Senator, and Presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton. ZEDRA was also sponsored by Democratic Senator Russell Feingold who currently chairs the Senate Sub Committee on Africa, Democratic Senator Joseph Biden who currently chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and Republican Senator Jesse Helms. Due to the fact that the bill was introduced by a republican, and three of its four co-sponsors were democrats, Mr. Bush was inspired to make the following statement "This act symbolizes the clear bipartisan resolve in the US towards promoting human rights, good governance and economic development in Africa". While the bill was approved unanimously through the Senate, when it reached Congress it received the support of 193 democrats and 202 republicans, there were also 26 democrats and 11 republicans who abstained from voting on this matter. There were five CBC members who abstained from voting in favor of the sanctions (Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones of Ohio, Carolyn Kilpatrick of Michigan, Bobby Rush of Illinois, and Corrine Brown of Florida). The rest of its membership voted in favor; this tells us out of the 11 members of congress that initially voted against the sanctions of which 9 were republican and two were democrats(the republicans were Michael Collins of Georgia, Bob Schaffer of Colorado, John Hostettler, Virgil Goode of Virginia, Nathan Deal of Georgia, Ronald Paul of Texas, W. Todd Akin of Missouri, F. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin and Howard Coble of North Carolina),and the two Democrats were Robert Berry of Arkansas and Gene Taylor of Mississippi.   The CBC membership commonly refers to themselves as the Conscience of Congress since 1971. However, it would be hard to convince their sisters and brothers in Zimbabwe, that voting in favor of a policy that reeks of genocide such as the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 reflects their conscience. The only members that showed an indication of having a conscience were the members who abstained from the vote, but in the final analysis they failed to overcome the political demons of fear and confusion. When the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan addressed the CBC in September of 2005 he said "it is through your voices that the story of Africa is told here in the United States". The CBC also takes pride in the diplomatic aspect of their work, which they describe as supporting non African elected officials in the US Government who champion our interests. The decision to support Mr. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to force an illegal and racist regime change in Zimbabwe is a clear deviation from this strategy. While the CBC is non partisan there have only been four African republicans since 1971 have been elected to the US Congress; the irony of this is out of the 11 members of Congress that opposed the sanctions against Zimbabwe 100% of them were of European ancestry and 90% of them belong to the political party CBC members have declared were the enemies of Democracy in the United States. If the CBC took the time to study the developments in Zimbabwe beyond the surface, they would realize that assisting Mr. Bush is, in worst case scenario hypocritical, and in best case scenario inconsistent. One of the CBC's founding members Congressman John Conyers, out of Michigan, has a bill for reparations called HR 40 the commission to study reparations proposal for the African American Act. If the CBC doesn't consider the land reclamation program in Zimbabwe a practical and concrete expression of reparations, then it can be argued that this bill is another example of political grandstanding which will increase frustration and apathy at the grass roots level within our community. The CBC foundation presented South Africa's first President, Nelson Mandela, with the prestigious Millennium Award in June of 2005. This gesture was aimed at connecting the struggles against segregation in the US to Apartheid in Southern Africa. Maintaining these links are of paramount importance in helping US and British Imperialism isolate and stifle the country on the other side of the Limpopo River; however that will never be acceptable. The driving force in the CBC's inner circle that has consistently worked for the demise of President Mugabe and ZANU-PF is Congressman Donald Payne out of New Jersey. Congressman Payne once served on the board of directors of both the National Endowment for Democracy and the TransAfrica Forum; the only logical analogy would be serving in the Parliament of Israel (Knniset) and at the same time belonging to the Central Committee of either HAMAS or the PLO. Since the beginning of the 21st century Congressman Payne has developed and maintained close ties with some of the most reactionary Zimbabweans alive today, Mr. Payne presented the chair of the Zimbabwean Electoral Support Network Reginald Machaba Hove with his award from the NED a few years ago. Congressman Payne also held audience with one of MDC's spokespeople, Grace Kwinjeh, who was accompanied by Lovemore Madhuku of the National Constitutional Assembly, as well as Jacob Mafume and Tawanda Mutarah of the Open Society Institute for Southern Africa, while they were in Washington for a State Department briefing. Due to the fact that Mr. Payne is 71 years of age and considered a pearl of wisdom on African Affairs by his CBC colleagues it is wishful thinking to believe any of the others whom consider him a mentor and icon will take him to task on his pro Bush stance on Zimbabwe. Congressman Payne was one of the few Congressional reps who accompanied the Clinton family on their six nation tour of Africa. In 2003 Bush appointed Payne to serve as a Congressional delegate to the UN and reappointed him in 2005.Congressman Payne and the rest of the CBC who march to the beat of Mr. Bush's drum in relationship to Zimbabwe, are also guilty of failure to develop any meaningful dialogue with the Zimbabwean embassy in Washington or their mission at the United Nations. This unwillingness to engage diplomats from Zimbabwe shows the western arrogance our elected officials, pick up from their European counterparts can become contagious if they are not careful, and the other painful contradiction is the CBC's negligence in engaging the Southern African Development Community who urges Africans worldwide to take their assessment of Zimbabwe into account before making any premature and untimely decisions. This concern became increasingly clear when the majority of the CBC endorsed a resolution condemning Operation Murambvistina an environmental cleanup initiative in Zimbabwe, that President Mugabe's detractors attempted to attack to help revive the opposition party who suffered a crushing defeat in 2005 during the Parliamentary elections. The time has come for Congressman Payne and the rest of the CBC to explain to Africans worldwide, why they never seriously challenged their beloved party or their republican counterparts on failure to honor the commitments made by then US President Jimmy Carter at Lancaster House in 1979, but at the same time have the audacity to question the authenticity of the land reclamation program launched by the indigenous people of Zimbabwe today. While the CBC has made a political ritual out of attacking the Bush administration on the war on Iraq, they support the diplomatic repression of Zimbabwe; if sanctions have killed 2 million people in Iraq, what productive measures does the CBC expect to come out supporting sanctions in Zimbabwe? Due to that fact that none of the CBC has been to Zimbabwe in the 21st century it would be difficult to get them to answer this question. This is a major reason why US Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama had no problem whatsoever introducing a resolution in the US Senate last march attacking Zimbabwe; especially since he knew on the Congressional side 9 CBC member would co-sponsor what the late Pro-Israeli Congressman Tom Lantos submitted with jointly with his blessing. The CBC has a health care brain trust chaired by a Congressional rep out of the Virgin Islands, Donna Christensen. When she was presented with a resolution addressing the HIV-Aids pandemic in Zimbabwe last May, she immediately suggested that Congressman Payne should receive the document first since he was chair of the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health. This meant that the groups who wanted the CBC to review this urgent matter of humanitarian aid were being used as a political "weapon" and, therefore should be left in the hands of a Congressman that appears comfortable in sacrificing the people of Zimbabwe for continual good while standing in the halls of the US Congress. The CBC cannot use the rationale that President Mugabe has been in office too long, because two of their founding members Charles Rangel of New York and John Conyers of Michigan have been in office nine years longer. Reverend Walter Fauntroy, former aid to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the founding CBC member who met with the President in 2003, should be commended for attempting to convince his former colleagues that promoting Neo-Colonialism in Zimbabwe was not in their best interest. The CBC's joint stance on Zimbabwe is so repulsive, it makes Africans worldwide wonder whether their gestures towards normalizing relations between the US and Cuba, condemning the forceful removal of Aristide from Haiti, or symbolically raising genocide in Darfur, is the type of political entertainment that makes Africans sick to their stomach. The CBC had better realize that Africans in every corner of the world identify with President Mugabe like Senator Barack Obama identifies with Abraham Lincoln and do the following: 1. Organize a hearing on Capitol Hill around the issue of Zimbabwe. 2. Change their votes on the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001. 3. Begin a discussion to give Zimbabwe's Government the money they would have received from Global Fund if their applications for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th round were not denied by former US Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson and his British counterpart Richard Feacham, who were adhering to mandates from their Governments. 4. Call for the immediate stoppage of financial support to the MDC which has been justified, under the foreign   assistance act of 1961. 5. Develop a memorandum of understanding with the Zimbabwean embassy and their permanent mission to the UN, in order to get regular updates and briefings from the Government, on how they can best be assisted and supported.