Members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

"[The burden of race] is not behind us now; it's right in front of us" -NY Rep Yvette Clarke

"The CBC agenda is the agenda of America. It can help America become not the America that it has been, but the America the we know America can be [...] i don't see anything left about wanting to put people to work, feed people who are hungry and provide energy to people who are cold." - IL Rep Danny Davis

I cannot believe that there was a line all the way across the quad at seven for an event that didn't start until eight. But indeed it was a big deal to have nine members of the congressional black caucus present and the governor of massachusetts speak here. and I'll admit, it was pretty amazing. My only regret about the situation was that the moderator spent a lot of time polling every person's reaction to obama's election instead of allowing whoever wanted to respond as she did when asking questions later in the evening. While their reactions were interesting, I believe that their political opinions on what I personally would consider greater matters would have been a better use of time. Nonetheless, there were many interesting points raised by the congress men and women present. I'll mention a notable few. First, that although Obama will be president and he was a member of the black caucus, the agenda of the black caucus will remain progressive because that is it's role - in one congressperson's opinion, the caucus serves to state things that others don't feel they are able to for whatever reason - the caucus is progressive in so many ways and they won't change their agenda - it will simply have more help now. Second, the election served as a barometer on the issue of race in the USA - think about what it would have said if mccain had been elected instead. Last piece that stuck with me was that while a senator from California argued that the gay rights movement was not comparable to the civil rights movement, a senator from Georgia completely advocated for gay rights and that it too was a pursuit of fundamental human rights - for people to be allowed to fall in love and marry whomever they like. I must say I agree with him. In any case, while the topics and conversation of the event were not altogether very surprising in terms of content, the event was certainly thought-provoking and enlightening - both perfect for a college campus, don't you agree?