One more time: Yes, Biden HAS delivered for Black people
Issue #580 The Choice, Thursday, April 25, 2024
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Last month, I posted a piece entitled “If you think Biden hasn’t performed for Black people, think again.” That wound up being one of the most popular “Choice” pieces we have published, so I’m hopeful that the message is getting through and has resonated to some degree. I want to thank all of you who took the time to read it, but even more those of you who took the time to share it with your circle of friends and followers. I continue to read and hear pieces on the news about how so many Black people just aren’t feeling Biden this time around because they don’t think he has done enough for us as he promised. Although I have my doubts it’s as dire as is being reported, this election is far, far too important to ignore any potential warning signs. Plus we need to combat the BS that Biden hasn’t done anything for Black people with the truth.
Last month I pointed out that President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are responsible for investing more than $7 billion (with a ‘b’) in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This month I would like to point out that the Biden/Harris team is also responsible for appointing more Black and non-white judges to the bench than any other president in history.
From Pew Research (December 4, 2023):
Nearly two-thirds of the judges Biden had appointed as of Nov. 5 (96 of 145, or just over 66%) are Black, Hispanic, Asian American or members of another racial or ethnic minority group. That is far more than any other president had appointed at the same point in their tenure. Trump, for instance, had appointed 22 minority judges by the same stage (14% of his total at the time), while Obama had appointed 42 (37% of his total at the time).
Combining gender with race and ethnicity, women who are Black, Hispanic, Asian or part of another racial or ethnic minority group account for 42% of the judges Biden had appointed as of Nov. 5 (61 of 145). They include Biden’s sole appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.
But if not enough of us know about this, then it’s as if it never happened come Election Day. Because you can’t be expected to support what you don’t know. And if Black folks don’t think Biden has been delivering as promised, despite all the evidence to the contrary, this means we’re unlikely to turn out again in November like we did in 2020.
I’d say that qualifies as a serious warning sign. Keep in mind that it was a Black man, Rep. James Clyburn (D-South Carolina) who turned the tide for Biden in 2020 and is largely responsible for his victory. And it was the Black voters of South Carolina who heeded Clyburn’s call and turned out for Biden at the polls in huge numbers, unleashing the wave of support that spread across the country.
At the time, Clyburn didn’t simply say that Biden was better than Trump, because he knew that wasn’t enough. He recognized Biden’s potential for greatness, but thanks to the urging of his late wife, he also came to see that Biden was the only one of the candidates who really had what it took to defeat Trump and to provide the country with the kind of leadership it needed to rebound from the morass Trump had plunged the country into.
Clyburn also emphasized that Biden would come through for Black voters. He effectively put his reputation on the line, not just in South Carolina but with Black voters across the country, by saying that if Black voters placed their faith in Biden he would not forget it and would come through for them. Black voters (rightfully) have since claimed that Biden owed his victory in large part to Black voter turnout.
And yet, ever since that time, almost from the day Joe Biden became president, all we have heard about has not been the incredible amount that he has managed to accomplish, but rather about all things Trump - and Biden’s age. And we damned sure haven’t heard any reporting about what Biden has been doing for Black people because news like that isn’t nearly as “sexy” and doesn’t make for juicy clickbait.
But just because an event hasn’t been reported doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Just because too many of us may still believe Biden hasn’t kept his promise (because we haven’t been made aware of the contrary evidence) doesn’t make it true. Because it’s not.
The truth is that Biden promised he would come through for Black Americans, and he has done so. Sure, if you’re determined to believe Biden has failed us, you can always point to “what about this?” or “what about that?”
But what about the facts?
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