The Sisterhood!

As we draw toward the close of Women's History Month (March) it is only fitting that I recognize the incredible strides women have made in our society over the years. Particularly in the African American community, sistas have been on a rocketship to higher and higher heights never before realized. Case in point is the lovely FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States).

Yet, other beneficiaries of this monumental realigning of power over the years can be found within the administration with the "sisterhood", a group of African American females that are running things for the POTUS (President of the United States) and making new history. These women are a new cadre of highly educated, well regarded and super networked powerbrokers that have scaled to some very high heights.


The Ties That Align: Administration's Black Women Form A Strong Sisterhood
By Krissah Thompson of the Washington Post (3/18/09)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/17/AR2009031703744.html?hpid%3Dartslot

Like two old girlfriends catching up, they ignored onlookers, hugged and laughed. Donna Brazile, the political strategist and Washington veteran, peppered Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson with questions.

"How are the kids?" "Have you contacted the church? I don't go every Sunday but they know me."

Before she left, Jackson had an open invitation to Brazile's place for home-cooked red beans and rice, served up every Monday night.

"The sisterhood in this town, there's deep history here," Jackson said.

The "Obama women" -- as African American women who've taken big jobs in his administration have been nicknamed -- mark another step in the long journey of black women from outsiders to gatekeepers in political Washington. They have quietly entered their jobs with little attention paid to the fact that they are the largest contingent of high-ranking black women to work for a president.

Many are firsts -- as in the first black woman to run the Domestic Policy Council, the first black EPA chief and the first black woman to be deputy chief of staff. Last week, Obama tapped Margaret (Peggy) Hamburg to lead the Food and Drug Administration. If confirmed, Hamburg -- who is biracial (her mother is African American, her father Jewish) -- will also be a first.

Seven of about three dozen senior positions on President Obama's team are filled by African American women. Veterans in town see them as part of the steady evolution of power for black women, not only in the White House but also across the country -- in the business world, in academia, in policy circles.

A Community of Leaders or Not - Political Leadership in the African American Community

In keeping with the question of the day regarding the time being at hand (or has been at hand) to see a new generation of leaders take charge in the black community; what say you regarding Roland Burris - - the Senator from Chicago?

At best a quizzical figure whose self-aggrandizing only makes you laugh harder or at worst, a stain on the recent legacy the President tried to build coming out of the often repudiated Chicago political environment to rise to a level never before seen by the African American community?

Either way, these two figures - representing a generational divide - are an interesting juxtaposition to one another and a stark reality of where we find ourself as a community.


Here are two recent sources to check out more on Senator Burris:

Collection of the latest stories by the Chicago Tribune (3/17/09)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/crime-law-justice/justice-rights/roland-burris-PEPLT000007550.topic


The Replacement
The rise of Roland Burris.
By Jeffrey Toobin of The New Yorker (3/23/09)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/23/090323fa_fact_toobin