In his farewell address as outgoing Caucus chair, U.S. Representative Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to serve as chairman during the 108th Congress and praised [Melvin L. Watt]'s intellect, skill, and balanced approach to solving today's public policy challenges. The new officers of the CBC for the 109th Congress are: Watt, chair; U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, 1st vice chair; U.S. Rep. Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, 2nd vice chair; U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis, secretary; and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, whip. "We have to have dialogue, and we're trying to create opportunities for that dialogue to take place," said Watt, who admitted that it's hard sometimes for the CBC to take aggressive positions in the areas of trade because of differing views among its own constituents. "We have not been aggressive in the area of trade, advocating one trade policy over another, as we have on some of the more core issues."
An editorial asserts that petty politics and diplomatic one-upmanship should not play a part in a stated request by Dr Juan Carrizo Estevez, the director of Cuba's two-year-old Latin American School of Medical Sciences, to obtain a visa to the US to meet with black college officials and the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss a grandiose, gratuitous offer from Cuba of a free medical education to US students.
Briefly, Haiti and the Dominican Republic occupy the same island in the West Indies, Haiti occupying the western part and the Dominican Republic the eastern part. ... after my year in the Dominican Republic I decided to go to Haiti as a tourist before returning to the U.S. I remember reporting to the embassy in Port-au-Prince to be briefed and to let them know where I was staying and where I would be going. I remember that the Caucasian male embassy employee who interviewed me was both curious and very amused that I was in Haiti to visit. I remember that he told me emphatically, "the only thing you have in common with these people is color." He proceeded to rattle off negative things about the Haitian people. I was shocked at his boldness but I kept my cool. An example of this is the fact that President Thomas Jefferson allegedly launched an economic embargo against Haiti when Haiti became independent, causing the U.S. and Europe to refuse to acknowledge its independence for decades. At the present time it is alleged that Haiti is the most depressed nation in the Western Hemisphere.
"The election of President Barack Obama presents a great new opportunity to rethink U.S. foreign policy in many regions of the world," [Barbara Lee] said. "America's harsh approach toward our nearest Caribbean neighbor divides families, closes an important market to struggling U.S. farmers, harasses our allies and is based on antiquated Cold War era thinking." Thursday, Lee joined Reps. Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and other members in calling for the lifting of the ban on travel to Cuba from the United States through the passage of H. R. 874, the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act. Lee has led other delegations to Cuba in previous years. She has long supported an end to the travel ban to Cuba and has introduced legislation that would remove travel restrictions for students traveling to Cuba.
Who is it that speaks for our private face? Those of us who take communion at Mass on Sunday morning still intoxicated with the echoes of beating drums from the Vodun ceremony the night before. You know the saying: We are 95% Roman Catholic and 95% percent Vodun. What is it that makes a former Catholic priest more apt to run a country than say, a Vodun priest, a Hougan? To most of us, this would be an atrocity. The country would certainly fall into the wrath of hell if this were to take place. We are trying to move forward not backward, the voices of decency would say. And besides, you would not find a well-educated, well-traveled Vodun priest in the mountains of Ayiti. Ayiti's vision is found in Vodun. Not the religion that it has become, but the very essence of the spirituality. It is the essence of the Ayitian people. After all, these were the conditions under which Ayiti gained its independence. Our country was formed in a ritual - a ritual that called on the guidance and protection of our ancestors who survived the journey from Guinea, as they say in Vodun, and those who were indigenous to the land. The essence of Vodun is to give honor to those whose shoulders we stand on. It is a reverence to the unseen forces that truly determine our fate as a country and it is a time-tested method handed down to us to ensure a successful life.
