Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alyallen]

I got to the third paragraph and just wanted to slap the person who said this...

Black Memphis district wants a black rep
By WOODY BAIRD, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 5, 2:11 PM ET

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - When Steve Cohen, a white man, was elected last year to represent mostly black Memphis in Congress, it was seen as a sign that racial divisions were fading in this Southern city.

But less than a year later, Cohen is facing a movement led by black pastors and political activists to defeat him in 2008 and send a black representative to Washington instead.

"He's not black, and he can't represent me. That's the bottom line," the Rev. Robert Poindexter told a local newspaper after a meeting last week of the Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association at which Cohen was jeered and booed.

The hostile reception caught Cohen off guard and foreshadowed the challenge he is almost certain to face next year in his first bid for re-election.

"If you can get him on the wrong side of the black church, he's got an uphill battle," said Larry Moore, a University of Memphis professor who teaches a course on how politics affects business. "It's taken for granted that we're going to have a black congressman again. That's what people are saying."

Cohen, who is also Tennessee's only Jewish member of Congress, is one of two white congressmen from majority black districts. The other is Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania. But Cohen is alone in having followed a black representative.

In 2006, Cohen won a crowded Democratic primary � the Democratic nomination is tantamount to election in Memphis � when the black vote splintered. He got slightly more than 30 percent of the vote, while four black opponents shared almost 60 percent.

"A lot of people are saying his election was a fluke, anyway," Moore said.

Cohen's closest opponent in the Democratic primary was Nikki Tinker, a lawyer for Pinnacle Airlines who is billed by supporters as the black "consensus candidate" to challenge Cohen for the nomination next summer.

"There's no reason to have a `consensus candidate' against me but for my race," said Cohen, 58, who built a record as a civil rights champion in 24 years in the state Senate. "It's not based on my record. It's based on the fact that I'm white."

Tinker did not return calls for comment but issued a statement accusing Cohen of "attempting to lay his failure to have a positive and constructive dialogue with the constituents at my feet."

Black preachers have sharply criticized Cohen's vote in favor of a federal hate crime bill that protects gays. Some said they worry that they could be held legally responsible if they preached against homosexuality and someone who heard the sermon went out and committed a hate crime. Some also regard homosexuality as a sinful choice and object to gays being grouped with blacks for legal protection.

Cohen said his predecessor, Harold Ford Jr., who is black, drew no such criticism when he supported similar hate-crime legislation. (Ford left the House and ran unsuccessfully for the Senate last year.)

The black preachers have other grudges against Cohen: He was the primary force behind the creation of the lottery in Tennessee; he spoke out against a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage; and he complained about a reference to Jesus in a prayer before a state Senate session.

But the preachers have also questioned whether a white man should even represent the 9th District, which is 60 percent black and 34 percent white.

"I don't care how people dress it up," Poindexter told The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis. "It always comes down to race, and he can't know what it's like to be black."

That opinion is not unanimous in Memphis, even among the ministers group. The Rev. O.C. Collins Jr. apologized for the way the group treated Cohen, and disputed the notion that the district must be represented by a black person.

"If we're saying that, then what we're saying is that Barack Obama's candidacy is illegitimate," Collins said.

Collins invited Cohen to speak last week at his church, Bethlehem Missionary Baptist, where the congressman received a standing ovation.

When it comes to race and voting in Memphis, "it's not as polarized as it used to be," said Marcus Pohlmann, a political scientists with Rhodes College of Memphis, "but we haven't completely turned the corner either."

___

On the Net:

Steve Cohen: http://cohen.house.gov

This article genuinely disgusted me. We have religious leaders saying that a White man can't represent them as an underhanded way to get back at him for having the nerve to actually support civil rights for all and not just one ethnicity. I am glad that at least one Reverend has some sense to see how backwards and ludicrious their argument actually is.

I felt really sad that people like this are listened to and respected in America. It's not a fair statement since they are not all the same but that's my reaction to that article...

http://tinyurl.com/2leszr

[Ya-ta Boy]

Yes, that was a pretty ignorant thing that guy said. Logically it would mean that men could only represent men, etc. It's identity politics carried to its logical conclusion. Silly.

It's good that the article included the comment about a standing ovation. I'll bet by Election Day next year, this Cohen will have overcome this bump in the road and will probably be re-elected.

[Tiger Beer]

Well, black and Baptist..with a white Jewish representative who is supportive of gay rights.

In 'political white America'...gays and blacks are the same issue. So I can see where if you were black and Baptist and didn't believe in gay rights, you'd have a problem with where to place your vote.

Cohen also created the lottery in Tennessee. Baptists would be opposed to that regardless of color. Cohen also spoke up against prayer - another Baptist issue.

So from what I understand, 'black baptist' issues are FOR prayer, AGAINST gay rights, and AGAINST lotteries. Cohen has a great record for 'civil rights', but a horrible record for christian rightwing baptists high on the moral horse.

[Kuros]

[Leslie Cheswyck]

Gay-loving Jew brings good ol' boys and blacks together. Hey I have a dream! Only in America.

[Tony_Balony]

I think the Blacks are mad because the Sudanese came to Israel seeking asylum and were treated harshly and were denied their rights under the Geneva convention.

[Tony_Balony]

[Geckoman]