CHICAGO (ABP) — Calls for embattled Sen. Roland Burris to resign from the Senate are dividing his fellow Illinois Democrats along racial lines.
Burris, the only black United States senator, is under fire for conflicting statements about his relationship with disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The recently deposed governor appointed Burris to the seat formerly held by President Obama before Blagoevich was removed from office and charged with trying to sell the seat to the highest bidder.
White Democrats — including Burris’ Senate colleague Dick Durbin and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn — want the senator to step down and allow voters to decide his replacement. African-American politicians and clergy leaders claim Burris is being held to a higher standard than the other 99 senators.
“There have been senators who have been drunk, drove off a bridge, people died, no outcry for their resignation,” U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) told reporters after a March 1 prayer vigil and rally supporting Burris at Chicago’s New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church.
 Sen. Roland Burris |
Rush, an ordained Baptist minister and former Black Panther, was referring to the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident in which Mary Jo Kopechne drowned after an automobile accident in Massachusetts. The car belonged to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).
Rush, who organized a national coalition in January to ensure that Burris would be allowed to take the oath of office, described previous efforts denying the seat to Burris a “lynching” and compared Democratic Senate leaders tying to block him to Alabama Gov. George Wallace standing in a University of Alabama doorway to block desegregation in 1963.
Durbin said in a radio interview that racial considerations were in play when majority Democrats decided to seat Burris on Jan. 15. Durbin, who is white, said racially charged remarks by Rush “were painful and hurtful” and “became part of this calculation.”
Many prominent African-American leaders started out supporting Burris, saying his scandal-free record outweighed political problems of the governor who named him. That support has wavered recently. Burris first told the committee that recommended Blagojevich’s impeachment that he had no contact with the governor’s aides and promised nothing in return for the appointment. Later he released affidavits admitting he spoke to Blagojevich advisers, including the former governor’s brother, and said he tried to raise money for Blagojevich but failed.
Burris met privately Feb. 21 with pastors from Clergy Speaks Interdenominational, an umbrella group that includes hundreds of Chicago’s black churches, to shore up support. While some pastors agree privately that Burris should resign, his overall support from black churches in Illinois remains strong.
Prominent clergy leaders including Stephen Thurston, president of the National Convention of America, the nation’s largest African-American church group, laid hands on and prayed for Burris in the March 1 service.
“We know Senator Burris and his character and his integrity in the past has been impeccable,” said Thurston, senior pastor at the host church. “And we simply believe him, when he says to us — looking straight in our face — that he has done nothing inappropriate. He may not have been as clear as he possibly could, and we understand that also. But we also don’t believe he’s been untruthful.”
Burris, a longtime member at St. John Church-Baptist in Chicago, gave brief remarks, outlining accomplishments during his short time in the Senate. They include his co-sponsorship of a resolution recognizing the slaves who helped build the U.S. Capitol.
“Let me assure that I will continue to serve you with the fullest of my ability,” he said. “I will serve you with honesty and integrity. That’s all I know and that’s what God gave me.”
Burris is only the sixth black U.S. senator in history, and the third from Illinois. As calls for his resignation have increased, so have threats from the African-American community that politicians might suffer electoral repercussions unless they leave Burris alone.
African-American Chicago aldermen threatened Feb. 26 to withhold their support from any elected official who continued to call for Burris’ resignation.
“The race card has been played here, and in fact you have 40 percent of the people who vote in a Democratic primary can be African-American in the state of Illinois,” observed Charles Thomas, political reporter for WLS television ABC-7 during a report Feb. 27. “So all the politicians are on notice now that Roland Burris should be left alone or there could be political consequences.”
State Rep. Monique Davis, a Democrat, said no matter what office blacks hold, they often face a double standard.
“We always have to jump through more loops than anyone else,” she said in a Chicago Defender article dated Feb. 25. “The U.S. Senate, for whatever reason, wanted him to get Secretary of State Jesse White’s signature on paperwork before they would seat him, but six states do not even have a Secretary of State and those senators were seated without a signature.”
A number of newspaper editorials have called on Burris to resign. In an unscientific online poll by the Chicago Tribune, 94 percent of respondents said he should step down.
Burris, 71, has steadfastly refused to resign. Recently a campaign website for Burris went online with a form for online contributions.
The first African-American elected to statewide office in Illinois, Burris served as Illinois comptroller and attorney general before losing in four statewide primaries, most recently for governor against Blagojevich.
“I’ve dedicated my life to public service, and you all have caused me to have the opportunity to serve,” Burris said at a previous rally at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church in January. “And I had the opportunity when the Lord put his hands on the governor and said, ‘This is the person that has to go to Washington.’ And that appointment is legal. That is all there is.”
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.