President Biden is due to reveal today a collection of four executive actions aimed at racial equality, a senior government official told reporters on a conference call.
The orders aim to “order a set of government initiatives to incorporate racial equality into federal policies, programs and laws, beginning with a review of federal policies and institutions to dismantle systemic racism where it exists, and to promote equality where it does not we are doing enough “, according to the administration.
The four topics for today’s executive actions will be:
- Fair housing promotion
- Reform of the incarceration system to prevent the use of private prisons
- Reaffirming the Federal Government’s Commitment to Sovereignty and Tribal Consultation
- Fighting xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
At the heart of the initiative is the focus on data collection – the official pointed out an executive order of January 20 requiring the formation of a Data Working Group, telling reporters: “Simply put, the federal government needs new tools to assess where inequalities exist, because policies often seem neutral, but offer services and benefits unevenly. “
That person added: “In many cases, we do not analyze the data sufficiently to be able to determine who is really benefiting from what or who is not benefiting from what.”
The immediate priorities for today’s executive actions, which the government described as “a substantially economic agenda”, include “ending disparities in health, education, job creation, rising incomes and criminal justice reform”.
While previous administrations have “an interest in promoting justice and equity,” the official acknowledged, “there has never been this whole approach to government before, in which every part of the White House, every agency in all its work, not in one silo, not in one, you know, an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, but in everything they do, they are obliged to consider and promote equity and be held responsible for it “, pointing to the overlap with the policy of relief from Covid, economic policy and environmental policy.
And a government official called the previous government’s “tone and orientation” towards the people of the Asian islands and the Pacific “very offensive and dangerous.”
“The specific xenophobia propagated by the previous government against Asian Americans must be recognized and addressed,” the official told reporters on Tuesday, “and that is why today President Biden will establish that it is his government’s policy to condemn and denounce anti-Asian prejudice and discrimination. He will also instruct the Department of Health and Human Services to provide best practices for eliminating anti-Asian bias in the federal government’s Covid-19 response and to guide the Department of Justice to partner with Asian American and Caribbean island communities. Peaceful to prevent bullying, harassment and hate crimes. ”
In ending contracts with private prisons, the government ruled out the cost implications, telling reporters: “That was not the motivating factor, the motivating factor, however, was the fact that private prisons are not only encouraged to profit from lives human, but more importantly, I was shown by the Justice Department’s inspector general report to be below average in terms of protection and safety for prisoners. “
Regarding housing, the official highlighted the role that the federal government has played in relation to housing discrimination, indicating the government’s focus on housing reform, dealing with everything “from red lines to the discrimination of mortgages and the destructive construction of federal highways”.
Finally, asked about the role that Vice President Kamala Harris is going to play, the official told reporters: “Vice President Harris and her team were very involved in the work of fairness and racial justice as you can imagine, and her team was fully a partner in our efforts to formulate policies and the steps that will be taken to implement them. “