On March 22, members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), including U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown of Prince George’s County, met with President Trump at the White House. Little, if anything, of substance came out of gathering.
The only Baltimore-Washington area representative at the meeting was Brown, parliamentarian of the CBC. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) met with the president on March 8. While D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) hasn’t met with Trump yet, she attended the groundbreaking of his downtown Washington hotel on July 23, 2014, when he was a private citizen.
From left, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus meet with President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Brown attended the meeting with U.S. Reps. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who serves as Assistant Democratic Leader for the U.S. House of Representatives; CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.); Andre Carson (D-Ind.); Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.); Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.); and Karen Bass (D-Calif.). During the meeting, Richmond discussed the “We Have a Lot to Lose: Solutions to Advance Black Families in the 21st century,” a document outlining America’s Black history, CBC history, and details on policy solutions that face Blacks. He also handed Trump letters he co-authored from Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the ranking member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, on issues they have with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, respectively.
Brown, the previous Lt. Gov. of Maryland who was elected in 2016 to represent parts of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties, said the CBC “had a productive meeting with President Trump on education, criminal justice reform, voting rights, economic opportunity, and ways to empower African-American communities.
“The president was engaged, respectful, and demonstrated a willingness to continue the conversation with the CBC. During the discussion, I spoke specifically about the needs to restore and expand Pell Grant funding, support HBCUs, and how the federal government can revitalize communities through investment and development. The president expressed his desire to work with the CBC on these issues, and I will hold the president and his administration to his commitment.
“President Trump and I have genuine disagreements, I continue to have concerns about the direction of his administration, and my values will prevent me from supporting much of his agenda. But on infrastructure, workforce development and supporting our veterans – there is the possibility of common ground.”
The president, along with Vice President Mike Pence and presidential aide Omarosa Manigault, met with the CBC for 60 minutes.
The CBC has met with every president since its founding in 1971. But not everyone thought the meeting was beneficial. Davis Bositis, a noted political scientist and an expert on Black politics told the AFRO that the CBC wasted its time with Trump.
“Frankly, I don’t see any upside whatsoever for the CBC in meeting with Donald Trump,”Bositis said. “It was Trump who came out on top on this because by meeting with the CBC it made him look reasonable to a lot of Americans. Trump has an agenda that is harmful for African Americans.”
Bositis said that Trump’s makeup generates insensitivity to CBC concerns. “There is only one person Donald Trump listens to and that is Donald Trump,” he said. “Donald Trump thinks that he is the only reasonable person. He could have cared less about the CBC’s grievances.”
However, Douglass Sloan, a political analyst in the District, said the CBC-Trump meeting wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “At least he met with the CBC,” Sloan told the AFRO. “At least the CBC had the chance to express their views on Obamacare, the Muslim ban, the allegation of Obama wiretapping Trump Tower, and some of the lies he has told.”