Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

Kenneth ClarkKenneth Clark
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Session:         Page of 763

Clark:

Well, they exist. Now you asked about as a force?

Q:

Yes. Do they swing anything?

Clark:

You tell me. I have a lot of respect for individuals, such as Parren Mitchell. I have respect for Mickey Leland and Charlie Rangel. You know, it's-- but how do I take the respect for these individuals and combine that into an affirmative answer to your question of force. Charlie Rangel might become the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in another year or two.

Q:

Of course it's a black chair now, isn't there? Or is it the Appropriations Committee?

Clark:

The Appropriations Committee, yes. The Budget Appropriations Committee. But what is interesting about the development of black Congressmen in terms of positions of power is that I do not see that these are having any direct effect on the predicament of blacks, and maybe that's the way our apparatus functions. I mean, they will be affected in terms of the role and responsibility of the committees of which they're a part. But I do not see-- and this isn't clear exactly-- what's bothering me is that I do not see any black Congressmen, in spite of the increase in the number of blacks, who seem to use their position in Congress the way Adam Powell used his position when





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help