Page 10 The Skanner February 22, 2017
News
By Lauren Victoria
Burke
NNPA Newswire Contrib-
utor
F
ollowing a bizarre
exchange
with
American Urban Ra-
dio Networks White
House
Correspondent
April Ryan, the Congres-
sional Black Caucus is
in talks with President
Donald Trump to set up
a meeting.
Trump asked, Ryan, a
veteran Black journalist,
if she could set up a meet-
ing with him and the CBC,
as if Ryan was an employ-
ee of the White House or
a special assistant to the
CBC. Ryan responded by
saying, “I’m a journalist.”
The confusing ex-
change was one of sev-
eral moments at an
unscheduled press con-
ference Trump held at
the White House.
“Since
the
White
House has reached out
in an appropriate man-
“
said in a statement af-
ter the press conference
concluded.
During an interview
on MSNBC on February
17, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries
(D-N.Y.) said that, “Steve
Bannon cannot be in the
room,” when the CBC
meets with President
Trump. “He’s a stone cold
racist.”
Bannon is current-
ly the president’s chief
strategist and served as
a high-ranking executive
at Breitbart News, an on-
line publication known
for trafficking in right-
wing, alternative news
that Bannon himself de-
fined as “the platform for
the alt-right.”
The term “alt-right” is
increasingly used to de-
scribe a new and emerg-
ing movement of racists
and White supremacists.
Chairman Cedric Rich-
mond (D-La.), said the
following in response
to President Trump’s
comments regarding a
FREDDIE ALLEN/AMG/NNPA
Trump and the Black Caucus Plan to Meet for the First Time
The CBC, which is now at its largest membership in history, traditionally requests a meeting with the new president after the inauguration.
Photo of CBC members taken during a press conference outside of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. in September 2016.
49 members is almost
a fourth of the House
Democratic Caucus and
represents millions of
African Americans —
ued: “For whatever rea-
son, the letter the Con-
gressional Black Caucus
sent to then Presi-
dent-elect Trump and in-
‘President Trump has been in office for almost a month and the
Congressional Black Caucus...did not hear from the White House
until we introduced ourselves on Twitter’
ner to request a meeting
with the caucus, I am
now in discussions with
them about setting one
up,” Congressional Black
Caucus Chairman, Rep.
Cedric Richmond (D-La.)
meeting with the Black
Caucus:
“President Trump has
been in office for almost
a month and the Con-
gressional Black Caucus
— which at a historic
did not hear from the
White House until we
introduced ourselves on
Twitter after the White
House press conference
today.”
The statement contin-
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coming White House of-
ficials on January 19 was
not enough to get their
attention. As the letter
explained,
President
Trump’s ‘New Deal for
Black America’ is ill-in-
formed and insufficient
and he would be wise
to tap into the decades
of expertise held by the
Congressional
Black
Caucus when it comes to
addressing issues that af-
fect African Americans.”
The CBC, which is now
at its largest member-
ship in history, tradition-
ally requests a meeting
with the new president
after the inauguration.
Ironically, some of the
meetings the CBC had
with President Obama,
specifically on the topics
of jobs and the challeng-
es of Historically Black
Colleges and Universi-
ties, have had tense mo-
ments.
President Obama did
not meet with the Con-
gressional Black Caucus
during his first year in
office. Meetings between
Obama and the CBC were
scarce even though most
of the members and the
President were members
of the same party.
Lauren Victoria Burke
is a political analyst
who speaks on politics
and African American
leadership. She is also a
frequent contributor to
the NNPA Newswire and
BlackPressUSA.com. Con-
nect with Lauren by email
at
LBurke007@gmail.
com and on Twitter at @
LVBurke.
