Running for Congress in Tennessee last spring, Jewish Democrat Stephen Cohen made an unusual pledge: If the mostly Christian voters of the Ninth Congressional District would send him to Washington, he would proudly seek to become the first Jewish member of the Congressional Christian Caucus. Cohen wanted voters to understand that while he might not be Christian himself, he would diligently represent the best interests of his Christian constituents -- including by working through the Capitol Hill caucus that focuses on issues of particular concern to Christians.
Cohen went on to win a crowded Democratic primary and eventually carried the district with 60 percent of the vote. But when the freshman congressman tried to keep his campaign promise, he was brusquely advised to forget it: Jews weren't welcome in the Congressional Christian Caucus. "Mr. Cohen asked for admission," one caucus member said coldly, "and he got his answer."
Now, before you rise in outrage at the news that in this day and age a congressman can be blackballed on religious grounds by a congressionally authorized legislative organization, a confession: This didn't really happen. There is no Christian Caucus, and Cohen hasn't been excluded from anything because of his religion. If such a scenario had occurred, the uproar would be deafening.
But change "Jewish" to white and "Christian" to black, and virtually everything about the scenario above happened as described.
Cohen is a newly elected congressman from Tennessee's majority-black Ninth District, and as a candidate last year he pledged to seek membership in the Congressional Black Caucus if elected. But that was before members of the caucus made it clear it would be a serious mistake for him to press the point when he arrived on Capitol Hill.
"I think they're real happy I'm not going to join," Cohen told The Politico, a new political journal in Washington, last week. "It's their caucus and they do things their way."
Black caucus members put the point a little more bluntly.
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