James Clyburn and Tim Scott can work together in 2017 to lift up and advocate for black America. As the highest ranking African American in Congress, Clyburn will guide policy and ensure the needs of black communities are heard. Scott, one of three black senators, can use his platform to focus on issues like access to credit to grow black businesses and reduce unemployment disparities. Their partnership may be an important story in the new administration as they work to spread economic opportunity for African Americans.

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James Clyburn and Tim Scott ca
up black America in 2017
BY JOHN WILLIAM TEMPLETON, CONTRIBUTOR - 12/20/16 06:00 PM EST
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On May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls led a black crew that turned a converted
cotton ship called The Planter over to the Union, becoming one of the
heroes of the Civil War.
Four months later, President Abraham Lincoln would issue the preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation, opening the military up to African-Americans.
While piloting Union forces on 17 engagements with his mastery of the
South Carolina Sea Islands, Smalls would also be a delegate to the 1864
Republican convention, advocating the passage of the 13th Amendment,
which South Carolina ratified in November 1865.
Smalls would win election to the House of Representatives for the first of
five terms in 1874, lose a contested race in 1878 and serve in the House
again from 1882 to 1888.
Equally tough and savvy is James Clyburn, who has served as a
representative from the same state since 1993 and has been described by
President Obama as “one of a handful of people who, when they speak,
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In the next Congress, Clyburn may guide a policy path as daunting as
Smalls’s passage across Confederate lines. His voice will weigh on his
Republican colleagues from South Carolina in the Senate, Sens.
and Lindsay Graham.
The Clyburn-Scott dynamic may be one of the most important stories of
the new administration.
When I was 12 years old and acting senior patrol leader of the first African-
American Boy Scout troop to integrate, Camp Schiele, S.C., in 1967, I drew
on the lessons of the African-American experience characterized by
Walter Moseley’s title “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned.”
As Scott steps out of obscurity given the Republican two-seat majority in
the Senate, he’s got a roadmap for navigating treacherous waters.
Like the other 51 African-American members of Congress, he will have the
responsibility for describing the real condition and real challenges of the
40 million African-Americans in this country, many of whom trace their
ancestors to an entry through the South Carolina coastline not far from
where Smalls made his getaway.
Hopefully, they will give voice to the more than 3 million African-American
entrepreneurs — a number that has quadrupled over 20 years in tandem
with the 5 million black college graduates and 1.5 million college students
— and continue the work of the late state Sen. Clementa Pinckney to
spread economic opportunity. Clyburn is certain to lift up the need to
support historically black colleges and universities, the foundation of
black progress.
While compiling the annual State of Black Business report for the past 14
years, South Carolina has scored relatively well because of legislation that
Clyburn passed in the 1980s, which no Republican administration has
dared touch.
Advancing black business has been a relatively nonpartisan issue, as
states like Indiana, headed by Vice President-elect ; Texas, led
by Energy Secretary-designate Rick Perry; and Ohio got high marks in the
most recent study. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s advocacy in New York earned
the top marks.
With two other African-American senators to work with, Scott is likely to
use the platform to focus, like Clyburn, on getting things done. Contrary
to the president-elect's gloomy assessment, the near record low 8.1
percent black unemployment is a platform for rapid progress.
The biggest issue is achieving access to credit for black firms to hire more
workers, something only 100,000 manage to do. Raising that number to
300,000 would eliminate the black-white unemployment disparity and
solve many other problems, from housing to criminal justice.
With 500,000 black businesses in healthcare, the future of the industry is
a great way to increase employment. Leveraging the BP settlement to
create industry in the Black Belt can grow firms like Columbia's Eau Claire
Cooperative Health to address disparities and give Clyburn's signature
Gullah-Geechee National Heritage Corridor the same energy as the
National Museum of African-American History and Culture on the National
Mall.
Tim Scott
Mike Pence

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Smalls saw South Carolina go from launching the Civil War to approving
the end of slavery in four years. The challenge of being behind enemy
lines should not deter African-Americans from guiding vessels designed
to their detriment towards greater freedom.
Since Crispus Attucks, African-Americans have held America to its word,
so that America will be America for everyone.
John William Templeton is co-founder of National Black Business Month
and architect of Our10Plan, the African-American economic strategy. He is
president of the Zenviba Capital Corp., which serves as an adviser to the
National Bankers Association, and author of “Road to Ratification: How 27
States Tackled the Most Pressing Issue in American History.”
The views of Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.
TAGS MIKE PENCE TIM SCOTT SOUTH CAROLINA AFRICAN-AMERICAN
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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