Emanuel Cleaver: Chairman, Congressinoal Black Caucus

Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) has been unanimously elected as the new Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). He succeeds Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA).

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II is currently serving his third term representing the Fifth District of Missouri in the House of Representatives and sits on the Financial Services Committee and Homeland Security Committee.  He was a member of Speaker Pelosi's Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

According to a statement in The Washington Post:

Among Cleaver's priorities will be turning the attention of the caucus to environmental and energy policy - which would allow its members to work with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department on developing green jobs in their districts, many of which face high unemployment rates.

We would like to suggest that the CBC expand its focus to include all energy sources.  AAEA President Norris McDonald wrote the energy and natural resources sections of the CBC Alternative Budget Recommendations in the early 1980's.  Blacks do not own any of the energy infrastructure and resources in the United States.


Emanuel Cleaver

 He was born in Waxahachie, Texas, grew up in public housing and graduated high school in Wichita Falls, Texas. Congressman Cleaver went on to attend Prairie View A & M University, earning a B.S. in Sociology.

In 1974, he began his pastoral career at St. James United Methodist Church with a membership of 47. Today, St. James has a membership of 2,800.

In 1979 Cleaver was elected to the City Council of Kansas City. After three terms, he ran for and was elected to the office of Mayor, where he made history as the first African American to hold the City’s highest office.

Congressman Cleaver and his wife, Dianne, have been married for more than thirty years, where they have made Kansas City their home. They have four grown children and three grandchildren. (House)