After serving more than two decades in Congress with a record within New York's Congressional delegation for passage of legislation second only to that of the late Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, retiring Brooklyn Rep. Major Owens has discovered that civil rights laws alone cannot guarantee election of Black candidates

Jet, July 3, 2006 by Simeon Booker

Confidential: After serving more than two decades in Congress with a record within New York's Congressional delegation for passage of legislation second only to that of the late Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, retiring Brooklyn Rep. Major Owens has discovered that civil rights laws alone cannot guarantee election of Black candidates. In his district that is almost 60% Black, three Black candidates, including his son Chris, easily could lose the seat first won by Rep. Shirley Chisholm in 1968. As the trio splits up the Black vote, White councilman David Yassky, having raised $800,000, more than the combined total raised by his opponents, could win the seat. None of the Blacks have yet to bow out.

By Simeon Booker, Washington Bureau Chief