Black Caucus has a lot of lose by not engaging Trump

President Donald Trump finally met with the Congressional Black Caucus last week.

During the presidential campaign, Trump met mainly with former African-American athletes, Black entertainers and a few conservative African-American preachers, who were not the best representatives to have in a meeting on political issues affecting the African-American community.

The Congressional Black Caucus is made up of 49 Black members of Congress, mostly Democrats, which reflects the voting preference of most African Americans. U.S. Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) is also a member of the CBC.

Although it does not appear that much came out of the meeting, it was still good that it happened and future meetings should be scheduled.

Black lawmakers emerged from the meeting with Trump at the White House and said the president was at least willing to listen to their concerns. However, they noted that his policies and positions could hurt their African-American constituents.

The Associated Press reported that beyond a promise of future dialogue and a discussion about “divisive rhetoric,” it seemed that there was little change in either the White House’s mind or the minds of the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus on issues like the president’s approach to health care, police misconduct investigations, criminal justice, education or funding for historically black colleges and universities.

“He listened and we talked and we proposed a lot of solutions, many of which I think he had not heard before. We’ll keep advocating,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), the caucus chairman who presented the White House with written copies of the group’s history and agenda.

Before the meeting, Trump reminded the media that he pledged during his campaign to “improve conditions for African-American citizens.”

“This means more to me than anybody should understand,” Trump said. “Every American child has a right to grow up in a safe community, to attend great schools, to graduate with access to high-paying jobs.”

At the meeting, Black lawmakers reportedly reminded Trump in a “candid” discussion that many in their communities still hold against him some of his campaign statements, including that former President Barack Obama, the first African-American to occupy the Oval Office, was not born in the United States. Trump received only 8 percent of the African-American vote in the 2016 November election.

“Several areas of concern were raised, including the way that African-American communities were depicted during the campaign as being areas that were completely lawless,” said U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.).

When asked whether he thought Trump was a racist after last week’s meeting, Richmond was very careful.

“He’s the 45th president of the United States, and we talked about issues that were critically important to the African-American community,” Richmond said. “We talked about divisive rhetoric that hurts African Americans and that may cause more divide in this country.”

The president needed to be told face to face that his past statements and campaign rhetoric were racially offensive. He also needed to be pushed on more pressing concerns such as jobs, education, health care and fairness in the criminal justice system.

There were areas of agreement, Richmond said, including the need for infrastructure spending, and the importance of increasing safety for Black families in the nation’s inner cities. He also noted that money for historically Black colleges and universities was not cut from Trump’s federal spending budget, although there was no increase in funding for those schools.

Trump should not get credit for not cutting funding. In earlier statements he said he would have a better record than Obama on HBCUs.

The CBC should take Trump up on his offer to meet with his Cabinet secretaries, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and his offer to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus on a quarterly basis. The organization should agree with Trump adviser Omarosa Manigault’s request to meet with all 49 members of the caucus, not just the leadership.

In fact, when the CBC’s executive committee met with Trump, one of the issues its members discussed was a priority item suggested by Congressman Dwight Evans, who represents Pennsylvania’s 2nd District, which includes parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery counties.

Evans said the topics included ones that affect his own priority agenda items — “middle neighborhoods.”

“Members of our (CBC) executive committee have made it clear to the president that in order to help America’s middle neighborhoods, neighborhoods on the verge of growth and decline, we need to act and tackle issues such as food insecurity and increased investments in school rehabilitation and infrastructure,” Evans said in an interview last week with The Tribune.

According to Evans, 40 percent of Philadelphia neighborhoods fall in the “middle neighborhood” category, which means they are in need of attention and investment. He cited neighborhoods such as East Oak Lane, West Oak Lane, Overbrook, Mount Airy and Wynnefield as falling in this category. He says that while these neighborhoods may appear stable, they are at risk of falling into decline. One factor is the need to rehab older public schools located in such areas.

There are some who believe that it was not a good idea for the CBC to meet with Trump.

There is always a danger that the president will use such a meeting as a photo opportunity. But the caucus cannot afford to give up an opportunity to have influence on a president.

The caucus issues were outlined in a 130-page report titled, “We Have A Lot to Lose: Solutions to Advance Black Families in the 21st Century,” that was delivered to the president at the meeting

The title referred to a question candidate Trump posed regularly to African-American voters whose support he sought during the presidential campaign, “What do you have to lose?”

The caucus chairman said his constituents, Black voters and even caucus members urged him to cancel the meeting and instead focus only on resisting the president’s agenda and reducing the chances for his re-election — similar to what he said Tea party Republicans did to Obama.

“If our only action is to resist,” African Americans across the country are going to suffer disproportionately, he said.

The caucus must be prepared to strongly resist Trump when he presents budgets and policies that are detrimental while also seeking to engage and influence him.