By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com, and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and newspaper blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist, educator and 21-year investigative journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
WASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio) (pictured), a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose largely Black 11th congressional district includes parts of the cities of Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, and suburban sections of Cuyahoga and Summit counties, was recently saluted by the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress that she currently chairs as she prepares to pass the CBC leadership baton to Rep. G.K. Butterfield for the 115th Congress.
A 10-year member of Congress and former justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, Butterfield is currently the vice chair and was elected last month to chair the 43-member organization, which consisted of all Democrats under Fudge's leadership. His duties will officially begin in January.
"Chair Fudge has done much more than occupy her position in her time as CBC chair, and she has truly led this caucus at a time like few others requiring active leadership," said Rep James Clyburn of South Carolina during a recognition ceremony for Fudge on the floor of Congress.
A senior member of Congress and assistant minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Clyburn said that Fudge, a former Warrensville Heights mayor and prior national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., is a supreme leader who worked tirelessly during her two-year term as chair, and while also effectively representing her constituents at home.
Clyburn said that the congresswoman has relentlessly fought across the board on issues paramount to the Black community and others, including job creation, voting rights, health and nutrition, social security and medicare, and housing and education.
Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, 85, a founding member of the CBC, also spoke during the congressional tribute, and was just as complimentary.
"We rise today to honor an accomplished public servant, an effective problem solver, and a tireless advocate for our society's most vulnerable," said Conyers of Fudge, and while flanked by several members of the CBC, including Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, and Joyce Beatty, a Columbus Democrat.
Fudge thanked the CBC for recognizing her, and for supporting her during her tenure as chair. The federal lawmaker said that Butterfield will serve the organization well as her successor.
"I am happy to pass the chairman’s gavel to my friend and colleague, Rep. Butterfield," said Fudge. "He has dedicated his life and career to advancing the priorities of the disenfranchised and overlooked, both in his home state of North Carolina as well as here on the hill."
The CBC is exclusive to African-Americans. It was established in 1971 by 13 Blacks in Congress with a purported mission "to address the legislative concerns of Black and minority citizens."
The organization has expanded since its inception, both in membership and in direction. In particular, it has become more research oriented.
All of the CBC chairs have served only one two-year term by design, partly because the job is so consuming, and also to give others a shot as chair, sources said.
Other founding CBC members include the late former congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, longtime Congressman Charles Rangel of New York, and former 11th congressional district congressman Louis Stokes, the first Black in Congress from Ohio and a former CBC chair himself.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
