"There's tremendous opportunity for attaining political power by Blacks and Latinos," he adds.
Fattah contends mat working through differences ultimately proved beneficial because he believes it gave the Latino leadership a forum to educate CBC members and the House Education and Workforce committee members about Latino concerns.
"You have confrontation, and then you have compromise," Fattah says.
Ponder says resolving the dispute was the least of the benefits gained by the HEA episode.
"[The talks] set the stage for us to have a working relationship. There's a feeling among us that we have a partnership. That is an established belief.
"What we have set now is a framework for collaboration, and that is what's important."
COPYRIGHT 1998 Cox, Matthews & Associates© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
