Biden Aide feels warmth from all sides for vote of equality in the White House

Photographer: Erin Scott / Bloomberg

While President Joe Biden seeks to address racial inequalities in the United States, he turned to former Congressman Cedric Richmond to help fulfill his promise to end discriminatory practices ranging from housing to voting rights – a task complicated by the risk of alienate Republicans whose support is needed in key legislative priorities.

Richmond, a Louisiana lawmaker who led the Congressional Black Caucus during the Trump administration, heads Biden’s Public Engagement Office. There, he is the counterpart of outside groups and activists ready to hold the president accountable for his promise to deal with the country’s deep racial divisions.

Along with his promise to fight inequality in all policies, Biden campaigned to remedy the country’s political divisions and work across the corridor to restore civility in Washington. But many Republicans have rejected the president’s call to address racial disparities – and even the notion that institutionalized racism exists – creating a potentially persistent conflict for Richmond to negotiate.

“We are listening to everyone and we are going to receive suggestions, but that does not mean that we are going to compromise our values,” Richmond said in an interview. “I’m going to give you an old African proverb as a way of thinking about it: when two elephants fight, only the grass suffers. And so we want to make sure that people are not the grass – that you have endless struggles and they never get help. “

Biden bet on his presidency to end the coronavirus pandemic and reinvigorate the US economy after the crisis struck a disproportionate blow to minorities.

But in addition to immediate relief, civil rights groups are demanding structural changes that help address racial economic disparities and future rights. This includes passing a new voting rights law to expand access to ballots, even as Republican legislatures try to pass measures that would make voting rules stricter – measures that would disproportionately affect minority groups, say its advocates.

“It is important that President Biden has named racism as one of the crises he must tackle, along with Covid, along with the climate crisis and the economy,” said Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the Advancement Project National Office, an organization civil rights group. “And then our task, as outside groups, is to make sure that they are being sincere in their commitment.”

As the main channel between Biden and outside liberal groups that are pushing to undo former President Donald Trump’s policies and promote a progressive agenda, Richmond will tackle issues ranging from uneven health care to police brutality. Other key management figures on these issues, said Dianis, include Catherine Lhamon, who is responsible for racial justice and equity on the Domestic Policy Council; Kristen Clarke, appointed Biden as Deputy Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; and Vanita Gupta, her appointed as associate attorney general.

“I can be what my father used to call a stick for every job, a master of no one. In baseball terminology, it’s more of a utility player, ”said Richmond, a former college baseball player who helped Democrats dominate Republicans in their annual charity game.

‘Transformational President’

Biden, recalled Richmond, “has said repeatedly during the campaign that he wants to be a very transformative president, that he wants to empower groups that generally have no power. And he wants his legacy to be that of the most powerful president he has ever governed. “

Biden made significant moves in his first weeks in office, issuing guidelines to rescind Trump’s ban on diversity training for federal employees, prevent housing discrimination and end the use of private prisons. The president infused his response to the pandemic with measures to address the large number of victims of the virus in black and brown Americans, and outlined plans to invest $ 150 billion in small, minority businesses and increase spending for historically black colleges and universities.

Read more: Biden targets housing and private prisons in early equality movements

Richmond said these initial measures are an important signal to the public that Biden’s promise to work for equity was serious.

“This is big business. It means that we are looking for, watching and being intentional about equity across the government. So that means advertising, shopping, that means education,” said Richmond in an interview. “But even within our Covid package and Covid’s response, so far we’ve done it through a racial equity lens as well. ”

Richmond, 47, graduated from Morehouse College, a Historically Black College and University in Atlanta, before graduating in law from Tulane University in New Orleans.

He was first elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives when he was 26 and served for 11 years before being elected to the US House in 2010. He chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 2017 to 2019 – a period characterized by deep racial strife, as Trump’s divisive rhetoric helped fuel the resurgence of white supremacy.

Under Richmond’s leadership, the caucus submitted a 125-page report inform Trump refuting his “what do you have to lose?” to present to black voters during their 2016 campaign. The report was entitled: “We have a lot to lose: Solutions for the Advancement of Black Families in the 21st Century”.

The group defends many of the issues on Biden’s agenda, such as criminal justice reform, closing health disparities and addressing the wealth gap. But Richmond can also help Biden cross the hall; as a lawmaker, he cultivated relationships with leading Republicans, including Steve Scalise, of Louisiana, the second member of the Republican Party in the House, who calls Richmond a “close friend”.

Battle of voting rights

Republicans have already signaled that an uphill battle awaits Biden’s initiatives on race.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell refused to allow a plenary vote on the voting rights bill when his party controlled the chamber under Trump. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas questioned Biden’s plan to end systemic housing discrimination and increase home ownership in black communities.

“Is it appropriate for the government to treat people differently based on their race?” Cotton asked during a confirmation hearing by Márcia Fudge, appointed by Biden as secretary for Housing and Urban Development.

And Republican Senator Rand Paul said Biden’s inaugural address, which focused heavily on inequality, amounted to an allegation that Republicans were racist.

But Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist, said that Biden and Richmond may be able to win “surprise” Republican votes on some equity measures. For example, he said that former Alabama senator Doug Jones, for whom he previously worked, co-sponsored legislation with Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, on the revival of filed civil rights era cases.

In Richmond, Biden has “an astute politician” who can handle the challenge, said James Clyburn, the third Democrat in the House.