Biden’s Black Agenda: Lift Every Voice

Well, it’s Election Day.  I’ve casted my vote for Biden Harris.  I’m not crazy about either one of them, but I DO NOT want another 4 years of Trump.  I planned to post this last week, but it took me much longer to read through Biden’s Black Agenda, Lift Every Voice, than I thought it would.  It was really important for me to go through line by line to understand exactly what he’s proposing for the black community.  Specifically ADOS because we are the group that’s hurting the most right now.  I’m writing this post based on the assumption and hope that Joe Biden wins this election.  

There’s a lot of points and proposals in his plan that I really like.  Things that I believe should be continuously spotlighted; because they can really benefit us.  Plans like “providing African American entrepreneurs and other small business owners technical assistance to help them apply for funding, as well as legal and accounting support;” “encouraging diverse hiring and promotion practices;” “improving teacher diversity;” “ensuring that political appointees, including the President’s Cabinet, looks like the country they serve;” and “making the Community Advantage loan program permanent.”  A program that “provides capital for startups and growing small businesses located in underserved communities.”  I specifically like the point of ensuring that the President’s cabinet looks like the country they serve, because I think for many of his proposals to really work, they need to be overseen by ADOS. 

While I appreciate all of the aforementioned, there were also a few things I think he mentioned, but skated past. Promises/points that didn’t go into enough detail for one to really believe they would be developed into an actual plan and policy.  Things like “ending the criminalization of poverty,” and “investing in public defenders’ offices to ensure defendants’ access to quality counsel;” but specifically his call to study Reparations.  

As a student of Yvette Carnell, I tend to agree with her and Antonio Moore, that studying Reparations is not enough.  It’s a pacifier, when ADOS needs a full cooked meal.  There is no commitment to what will happen after the study.  History has shown us that the US Government will leave the issue in limbo and drag the study on for years.  On paper it looks like we are making progress, but the lived experience of ADOS says otherwise.  We’ve seen it with Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” Truman’s “Fair Deal,” and even Johnson’s “Great Society.” 

I would be more inclined to believe his commitment if his plan presented the potential options he would take based on possible outcomes.  Simply saying “We must acknowledge that there can be no realization of the American dream without grappling with the original sin of slavery, and the centuries-long campaign of violence, fear, and trauma wrought upon African American people in this country.  A Biden campaign will support a study of reparations” isn’t enough.  It isn’t enough to begin to fix systemic racism, which is what I think a lot of us are anxious to achieve.  It starts there, but we then need to be in a position to access these things.  And what positions people in this country is money, inclusion, and protection.  But I digress.

While I have no way of determining whether Biden will actually keep the promises he’s made in his black agenda, a wise man said “all we can do is take them at their word and hold them accountable.”  So this post serves as my spotlight on things I’m personally holding him accountable to.   Below are points and plans he’s proposed that I think if we hold him to, we as ADOS could stand to greatly benefit.  As you read through, consider this statistic taken directly from Biden’s agenda:

“Today, the typical wealth of a white family is $171,000 compared to just $17,600 for the typical African American family”

Family/Education

• Improve teacher diversity
• Bring broadband to every American household.
• Ensure that AA students are not inappropriately identified as having disabilities, while also ensuring that AA students with disabilities have the support to succeed.
• Forgive all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two and four year public colleges.
• Make public colleges and universities tuition-free for all students whose family incomes are below $125,00, including students at public HBCUs.
• Provide two years of community college or other high-quality training programs without debt for any hard-working individual looking to learn and improve their skills to keep up with the changing nature of work.  Individuals will also be able to use these funds to pursue training programs that have a track record of participants completing their programs and securing good jobs, including adults who never had the chance to pursue additional education beyond high school or who need to learn new skills. 
• Invest $10 billion to create at least 200 new centers of excellence that serve as research incubators and connect students underrepresented in fields critical to our nation’s future.
• Invest over $70 billion in HBCUs and Minority-Serving Institutions that will train our next generation of African American professionals.
• Create a “Title I for postsecondary education” to help students at under-resourced four-year schools complete their degrees.
• Invest in the diverse talent at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions to solve the country’s most pressing problems, including health disparities.
• Make a $50 billion investment in workforce training, including community-college business partnerships and apprenticeships.  These funds will create and support partnerships between community colleges, businesses, unions, universities and high schools to identify in-demand knowledge and skills in a community and develop or modernize training programs.

Economy/Jobs/Entrepreneurship

• Encourage diverse hiring and promotion practices. (require companies to make their overall workforce diversity and senior-level diversity public)
• Ensure equal access to credit and capital. (African American businesses are rejected at a rate nearly 20% higher than white owned firms, and when they do receive funding, it’s only 40% of the funds requested)
• Increase funding for the Minority Business Development Agency budget.  (MBDA plays a critical role in supporting the development and growth of minority-owned businesses around the country)
• Provide African American entrepreneurs and other small business owners technical assistance to help them apply for funding, as well as legal and accounting support to ensure their documentation (such as their financial records, tax filings, and other legal documents) is all in correct order.  (this really needs to be spotlighted and pushed imo)
• Make the Community Advantage loan programs (which provides capital for startups and grows small businesses located in particularly underserved communities) permanent.

Community/Neighborhoods

• Build and modernize infrastructure in communities that need it most. (His plan includes specific measures to close the resource gap in communities of color.)
• Ensure that political appointees, including the President’s Cabinet, look like the country they serve, and ensure that our federal workforce is representative of the demographics in our country. 
• Appoint U.S Supreme Court justices and federal judges who look like America, are committed to the rule of law, understand the importance of individual civil rights and civil liberties in a democratic society, and respect foundational precedents light Brown vs. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade.  (He also pledged to appoint the first African American woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.)  (I emphasize he said African American- not woman of color)
• Ensure every vote counts.  (ensuring that the Justice Department has the resources and authority to enforce laws that protect our voting rights)

Mass Incarceration

• Eliminate existing barriers preventing formerly incarcerated individuals from fully participating in society.  (restoring voting rights for individuals convicted of felonies once they have served their sentences, expanding access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment, as well as educational opportunities  and job training for individuals during and after incarceration)
• Restore formerly incarcerated individuals’ eligibility for Pell.
• In the Biden Administration, the Justice Department will prioritize prosecuting hate crimes.  (I hope we begin to view the killing of unarmed black men as hate crimes against ADOS)

There’s much more in his plan to be highlighted and critiqued, but in the interest of time, this is what I’ve compiled.  Does any of this speak to you?  Anything you are especially concerned about?  Let’s talk about it below!

xo

-LM