Politics & Power Quote by Chris Van Hollen

Van Hollen’s sentence is a carefully calibrated gesture of affiliation: warm enough to signal solidarity, cautious enough to avoid promising anything that could be measured later. The key word is “privileged,” a modern political password that flips power dynamics on paper. He isn’t merely working with these groups; he’s been granted access to them, implying humility and respect while quietly positioning himself as the connector who can translate community needs into federal attention.

“Opportunity” does similar work. It suggests openness and engagement without specifying the hard part: what policies were advanced, what resources were delivered, what fights were picked. “Many of African American fraternal and social organizations” is broad to the point of fuzziness, but that breadth is strategic. It nods to a whole civic ecosystem (Greek-letter fraternities, social clubs, service groups, legacy organizations) without naming any single group that might carry its own internal politics, rivalries, or expectations. The phrase “active in my congressional district” anchors the outreach in constituent logic: this isn’t abstract allyship; it’s local, electoral, and therefore politically rational.

Then comes the safe, affirmative closure: “important work” and “tangible difference” are applause lines that validate community labor while sidestepping the uncomfortable question of why these organizations must shoulder so much social infrastructure in the first place. The subtext is mutual reinforcement: he confers recognition and legitimacy; they confer trust, turnout, and community credibility. This is politics as relationship maintenance, with just enough moral language to feel civic-minded and just enough vagueness to remain defensible.