The New York Times
Black voters want President Biden to follow candidate Biden’s cue
NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Joe Biden went to the Royal Missionary Baptist Church in South Carolina in late February, before the state’s presidential primaries, and heard Reverend Isaac J. Holt Jr. deliver a message of encouragement. will win, “Holt said he told Biden in particular, a political prophecy that was fulfilled in the next few days. Sign up for the New York Times newsletter The Morning, Now Holt, the pastor of one of Charleston’s largest black congregations, has another message to Biden, while planning his next government: “Biden owes us. And we have not forgotten. “Black voters have a political marriage of convenience to the Democratic Party. They are, at the same time, the party’s most solid electoral population and deeply frustrated by the lack of systemic change that their politicians have provided for them. South Carolina, the state that helped propel Biden to the Democratic nomination and where about half of the Democratic electorate is black, voters complain about receiving campaign promises from politicians while they are running, but are not prioritized after they are elected. among voters in cities like Milwaukee, Detroit and Philadelphia – campaign centers in decisive states – who have grown accustomed to the silence that follows the presidential election years. Republican-style parliamentary districts and black voters who helped Democrats ascend to the White House are sometimes des cards. Their problems are very divisive. Your needs are very great. Hence he insisted that this time it will be different and people like Holt are taking his word for it. Last month, in his victory speech after becoming president-elect, Biden specifically cited black voters, alluding to those who gathered around him in South Carolina after his primary campaign failed in other states with early voting. “Especially at times when this campaign was at its lowest point, the African-American community stood up for me again,” said Biden. “You always protected my back and I will have yours.” But who sets the political priorities for black voters, and what does it mean to protect them? South Carolina Church leaders, Biden, supported each other to reverse their campaign, but said in interviews that it was important to address the coronavirus pandemic. But they also raised issues that covered the full range of liberal policy initiatives, from investing in historically black small businesses and colleges and universities to tackling student debt and climate change. Many also resisted the singular focus on racial representation that dominated debates about the transition team and cabinet choices. Having a cabinet that reflects America’s racial diversity is good, they said. But they added that Biden’s legacy on race would be judged by his willingness to pursue political changes that address systemic racism – a pattern he set for himself. “What he needs to do, in my opinion, is to move away from tradition,” said Rep. James E. Clyburn, a powerful South Carolina Democrat who is the highest-ranking black member of the House. “What is getting us into trouble in the past is that when people take office, they leave the platform they were on” in favor of appeasing the Republicans, he said. Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, co-chair of The Poor People’s Campaign, cited a commitment that Biden made during a public forum to prioritize the elimination of poverty and address the concerns of poor people. Live up to that, he said, and an interracial section of marginalized Americans, including blacks, will have their lives transformed. “We certainly want to see a cabinet that looks like America. But more importantly, we want to see a cabinet that works for America,” said Barber. “And not just the middle class. And not just the so-called working class. But from the bottom up. ” In effect, they are asking President Biden to follow candidate Biden’s cue. During the primary and general elections, and under pressure from activists who called Biden an artifact from the political past, his team adopted a plan for black Americans called “Lift Every Voice”, which would seek to close the income gap between blacks and whites, expand educational opportunities, invest $ 70 billion in historically black colleges and universities, and reimagine the criminal justice system and policing. Donde’s choice for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, the first black woman in a major party, was – with the encouragement of the campaign – seen as a symbolic statement of these commitments. Former President Barack Obama, the country’s first black president, had to assure the white United States that he would be a president for all races. But Biden has repeatedly said that black communities would receive special attention in his administration. Black political leaders believe that the biggest barrier to Biden’s commitment to dealing with systemic racism is his own instinct for commitment, bipartisanship and deference to Washington’s idea of civility. Biden has consistently reaffirmed his belief that Republicans in Congress will work with his administration in due course, although some of them continue to doubt the legitimacy of his victory, and President Donald Trump shows no signs of loosening his grip on the party’s base. “Bipartisanship is how the president-elect and vice-president-elect plan to do things from day one,” said Ramzey Smith, spokesman for the Biden transition team. “They made it very clear that, in order to combat the systemic inequalities that black Americans have faced for generations, it is imperative to work in all sectors and engage with all groups to reach a consensus that does not compromise our principles or priorities.” Some black leaders who met with Biden and Harris during the transition were frustrated by this feeling, according to several people familiar with the discussions. Biden, the leader of the Democratic Party, is one of the few remaining Democrats who believes that Republicans who have reflexively opposed all of Obama’s actions and have been slow to acknowledge Biden’s legitimacy are simply an aberration. Leaders are asking him to consider unilateral action as an executive to carry out his agenda, claiming that the horse trade in Washington has rarely prioritized the needs of black communities. Biden has been firm: Republicans will recover. “We will see if he is right and we will see him soon,” said Sherlyn Ifill, president of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., which met with the Biden transition team. “If he is not, we will also see him soon. It is perfectly normal to have hope. But you certainly must be fully prepared to pivot and be effective. ” Even Biden’s vocal allies say his ability to rise to the standards he set for himself, especially when it comes to racial equality and a black agenda, can rely on his willingness to see Republicans as obstructionists to be overcome, not as negotiators to be found at a mid-point .lyburn, whose timely endorsement by Biden in South Carolina helped secure his dominance in the state, said Biden must learn from the mistakes made by previous Democratic leaders, including Obama. He cited Obama’s appointment to the Supreme Court of Judge Merrick B. Garland, whom Republicans refused to even grant an audience, as an example. Republicans “lied to him and said that if he presented a moderate, they would approve him. to the Supreme Court, “said Clyburn. “They never did that, and they never planned to do that.” I told them at the time that it would be better for you to put an African American woman on the Supreme Court, ”he added. , it would have an immediate electorate. Make them refuse. He would have redefined politics in this country and, frankly, I think Hillary Clinton would have been elected president. “Reverend Joseph A. Darby Jr., senior pastor of the AME Nichols Chapel Church in Charleston and a former leader of the local NAACP community said he was excited by the choices of the Biden Office, including that of retired general Lloyd J. Austin III, who would be the first black man to lead the Department of Defense. “Having new people at the table helps,” Darby said. “But that’s more the substance.” The stakes couldn’t be higher. Blacks are at the intersection of top political priorities of the year: access to healthcare, criminal justice and the climate change crisis Black Americans were devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, dying, being hospitalized and facing economic devastation at disproportionate rates. In the Darby congregation, a mother and her son died of the virus. Holt’s congregation has not been able to meet since March, a few weeks later Biden spoke from the pulpit as a candidate. Last week, in an interview at his church, Holt made another of his predictions Patented political actions: If Biden doesn’t keep his promises to blacks – he won’t make the erosion of systemic racism a priority, in fact, not just words – Republicans will gain from black voters. He cited the modest shift towards Trump in the November election among some black voters and the increasingly non-partisan nature of black youth. These are warning signs, he said. “The party system is not something that suits the black community as a whole,” said Holt. “We are tired of the Democrats and the bipartisan system.” Some members of Holt’s congregation, at a socially distant meeting in the sanctuary they hadn’t visited in months, echoed their pastor’s urgency. Although they expressed confidence in Biden and said that everyone voted for him in the primary and general elections, they framed their choice as a call to action, rather than a blank confidence check. “He can’t get stuck in healing hearts,” said Shakeima Chatman, 46, a real estate agent. “But he can institute policies and regulations.” What gave them hope: that Biden was comfortable with campaigning black voters and the loyalty he showed Obama as his vice president. What worried them: he favorably invoked segregationists in his name for bipartisanship, that he said that blacks who did not support him “are not blacks” and that he told rich donors in a fundraiser that “nothing would fundamentally change” if was elected. For black communities, it should. created these disparities, “said Cleo Scott Brown, 66.” Politics has to fix it. “This article was originally published in The New York Times. (C) 2020 The New York Times Company