Biden: Building Back Better for Black America
How President Biden Can Help Black America Cash A Long Overdue Check
Glad to be back on the beat.
Today, I could not help but think of President Biden’s remarks at the commencement of the Morehouse College Class of 2024.
“We gather on this Sunday morning,” he said, “because—if we were in church, perhaps there would be this reflection…about resurrection and redemption. Remember, Jesus was buried on Friday, and it was Sunday—on Sunday he rose again. But—but we don’t talk enough about Saturday, when…his disciples felt all was lost. In our lives and the lives of the nation, we have [many of] those Saturdays.”
He was more right than he could know. Because this Saturday officially marked 4 years since the death of George Floyd.
In some ways, it was a tragic reminder of how little progress we have made. On police brutality. On the criminal justice system. On the war on poverty, the school-to-prison pipeline, the ZIP code effect, and the wealth gap. Unfortunately, the list could go on and on.
“And no,” as I said in one of my last articles on this issue, “we should not try to put the blame…on ‘the politicians.’” President Biden is more than willing to pass the legislation needed to right America’s greatest wrong—if only we turned out and gave him a Senate that could overcome the obstructionist votes of Manchin, Sinema, and the entire Republican Senate Conference
If in 2022, for example, we Democrats more decisively turned out for Senate candidates like Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin, we may have been able to accomplish something truly extraordinary. We may have been able to secure the votes to at the very least carve out an exception to the filibuster regarding issues like police reform and gun violence.
Yet today is Sunday. All is not lost—even when all may have seemed lost just yesterday. Today is the day that signifies “resurrection and redemption.” Today is the day where we can commemorate the small steps President Biden has already taken. Despite the obstacles he has been consistently up against. Such as recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Such as awarding pioneering Juneteenth activist Opal Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Even these symbolic efforts fail to underline the more substantive progress the President has made on these matters. For example, he has used an ambitious environmental justice agenda to try to secure “healthy and safe communities” for all “regardless of race, income, or ZIP code.” He has proposed a $111 billion investment in water infrastructure, including “strong measures” to prevent repeats of what happened in places like Flint, Michigan.
He has helped pass a bipartisan gun safety violence bill, which helps make urban communities safer (indeed, studies have shown that states with tougher gun laws see less violence in urban areas than states with looser gun laws—cough, cough, Republican states). Finally, he has made significant efforts to invest in community-based efforts to fight the scourge of black maternal mortality.
To paraphrase Simon Rosenberg, Biden has been “a good President” on racial justice issues. In recognizing Juneteenth alone, Biden’s record is a fitting contrast to that of Republican presidents like Trump and Ronald Reagan. In fact, Reagan initially opposed making MLK Day a holiday. That is, until an intense pressure campaign led by political activists and artists like Stevie Wonder forced his hand. To top it all off, Reagan then had the gall to veto the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (luckily, Congress overrode his veto).
But I digress. Let me say it again: President Biden has been “a good President” on racial justice, and Trump has not. Yet America—and especially Black America—needs a great President. Only a great President can help Black America finally cash its long-overdue check.
Come 2025, President Biden can truly help America “Build Back Better.” More to the point, he can help Black America “Build Back Better” by directly confronting America’s original sin of slavery. In doing so, the President can fully expose Trump’s disingenuous ploys for Black support for what they are.
To that end, my brother and I have the following suggestions:
Make “Build Back Better for Black America” an official and central part of the 2024 campaign platform. Give it a special feature spot on the campaign website, and ensure it takes center-stage on the Democratic Party platform in August.
In the words of Simon Rosenberg, focus the party and the party base on “getting to 55.” Promise that, if Democrats get 55 Senate seats and retake control of the House, the Senate filibuster will no longer delay the passage of key voting rights, police reform, and criminal justice system legislation.
Expand on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, to provide greater federal funding for new and bold attempts to “reimagine the police” on the local level (instead of defunding them). Like in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville. Also, provide local communities federal incentives (like funding, etc.) to weaken unreasonable police protections that prevent proper accountability for police misconduct. Rhode Island’s LEOBOR (Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights) is a good example of the type of problematic legislation we are talking about.
Continue what LBJ started but never got to finish because of the Vietnam War. Revitalize the War on Poverty by fully reinvesting in inner-city public education, in programs to combat homelessness and mental illness in all communities, and in initiatives to improve the conditions at minimum wage jobs. All these intiatives will help Black and Brown children, fathers, and mothers trapped in the cycle of poverty and racial economic inequality.
Make it the Biden Administration’s mission to abolish the death penalty in the United States. On the campaign trail, this would help the President set up a nice contrast with the Central Park Five’s wannabe executioner. More importantly, it recognizes that the death penalty enforces a twisted hierarchy of lives that always places Black and Brown people at the bottom. Worst of all, it often targets and sometimes even kills innocent Black and Brown men like Carlos DeLuna, who was executed in 1989. Or Larry Griffin, who was executed in 1995. Or perhaps even Carlton Michael Gary, who was executed just 6 years ago.
Reverse the impacts of the Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton War on Crime by promoting a broader public safety web (i.e., social workers, AmeriCorps, City Year community programs, etc.) to supplement the work of police. All this is a stark contrast to the agenda of the current MAGA right, which seeks to dismantle even the most basic of social safety protections like Social Security and Medicare.
Then, correct the racial disparities that “the War on People with Drugs and Drug Addictions” created, and address the mass incarceration problem. Because Republicans won’t. As a matter of fact, Republican Senator and possible Trump VP nominee Tom Cotton actually believes we have an under-incarceration problem. Don’t take our word for it. Read it for yourself.
Ensure that the next term of the Biden Administration confront the maternal mortality crisis in the South and across this country.
Finally, devote significant funds to helping support local initiatives to revitalize Black communities from the ground-up, on the social and cultural levels. Local RI civil rights activist Ray Rickman’s Swim Empowerment program is a great case-in-point (as are similar organizations, like Black People Will Swim).
In all this, the President will need our help. We need to turn out in droves for him. For the presidency, for the House, for the Senate, and for the critical downballot races all across this country. This requires us to volunteer, mobilize, phonebank, and do everything necessary to help the Democratic Party do what it needs to do to transform the face of this country.
As Kim Weston once sang, “let us march on till victory is won!”
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