Joe Biden and Jim Clyburn (Getty Images)
Is it far-fetched to say Black voters saved Joe Biden's presidential campaign in 2020, and in the process, changed the course of American history by fending off a second Donald Trump term, which likely would have been ruinous when you consider the botch job he pulled on the COVID pandemic that led the U.S. economy to spiral into a dark hole?
Many observers now see the role of Black voters and Black leaders as essential to Biden's win, and perhaps more importantly, to Trump's loss, which led to the damaging and embarrassing Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol after Trump refused to accept defeat and a peaceful transfer of power. The central question now is this: Will a similar mobilization be required in 2024 to keep Biden in office and hand Trumpism it's ultimate defeat?
Let's consider these words from a November 2020 article at Financial Times:
It was an endorsement in February from Jim Clyburn, the veteran Black Democratic congressman, that resurrected Joe Biden’s flailing presidential primary campaign. His intervention, just days before the South Carolina primary, led to a swell of support from Black voters that propelled Mr Biden to a stunning victory in that contest, spurring him on to clinch his party’s nomination for president. Nine months later, Stacey Abrams earned similar plaudits for her significant efforts in the battle to defeat Donald Trump. Ms Abrams, a voting rights activist and former Democratic state legislator in Georgia, is widely credited as the architect behind grassroots efforts to turn “blue” a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in nearly 30 years.
Ben Rhodes, a former top adviser to Barack Obama, spoke for many of Mr Biden’s supporters when he said: “As Democrats chart a course forward as a party, the first person they should turn to is Stacey Abrams.”
Stacey Abrams (Getty Images)
When you combine those words with insights today of longtime Alabama attorney and political observer Donald Watkins, it appears Biden and Democrats might need another boost if they are to deliver a final death blow to Trumpism in 2024. Watkins sums up his views under this headline: "Black Voter Apathy in 2024 is Profound. Here’s Why!" Watkins writes:
Joe Biden wants and needs a surge in Black voter turnout to beat Donald Trump in 2024. While voter suppression laws passed in states with Republican-controlled legislatures and governors, will hurt the traditional Black voter turnout for Democratic candidates in 2024, something much more sinister is lurking in the dark. It’s called voter apathy.
Voter apathy is profound, widespread and growing in the Black community.
There is a growing disconnect between the political needs of the Black community and what those who are elected and appointed to represent this community in the halls of national, state, and local government are able to deliver.
As a result, candidates of choice of Black voters who are sworn into office – whether Black or White -- deliver nothing to the Black community but symbolic gestures, commemorative events, name changes on bridges and roads, photo ops, and display-checks in token amounts from federal agencies.
How can this change? We see no easy answer at the moment. But if Biden does not prevail in November 2024, a second Trump term will be upon us, and based on his own words, it likely will lead to a dictatorship that essentially will toss the U.S. Constitution aside as the "president" acts on his own whims and upends American life as we have come to know it, leading to national and worldwide instability. Remember, this is the guy who allowed a preventable pandemic to take hold, leading to 1.3 million American deaths and a tanking economy, which Biden has helped pull from the depths. Enthusiasm for Biden has been lukewarm, even though he inherited a mess from Trump and has managed to keep us on solid footing. But it looks like America needs Black voters to save us again. But Watkins is not sure they will be willing to pull another rescue mission. He writes:
As a group, candidates of choice of the Black community are often impotent and useless in the economic arena. The federal response to the 2020 COVID pandemic spotlighted this impotency in undeniable ways.
In this article, I focus on the failures of political leadership that can be objectively measured.
In short, Watkins says, it's a matter of following federal money:
Through 44 agencies, the federal government spent $4.7 trillion in response to COVID-19. Even though Blacks are 13.6% of the U.S. population, less than one tenth of one percent of this money went to Black-owned businesses.
On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed theInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Public Law 117-58, also known as the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law”) into law. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $550 billion over fiscal years 2022 through 2026 in new Federal investment in infrastructure, including in roads, bridges, and mass transit, water infrastructure, resilience, and broadband.
Recognizing that the federal government spends more than $650 billion each year on purchasing goods and services, in 2021 President Bidendirected agencies to use federal purchasing power to grow federal contracting with small, disadvantaged businesses, including Black-owned businesses, by 50%, translating to an additional $100 billion over five years.
For example, thetop ten defense contractors, alone, raked in more than $153 billion in 2022. Much of this money comes from non-bid contracts for goods and services.
Additionally, through three facilities—the New Loans Facility, Expanded Loans Facility, and Priority Loans Facility—the Federal Reserve funded up to $600 billion in five-year loans to support financial markets during the pandemic Businesses with up to 15,000 employees or up to $5 billion in annual revenue could participate.
Not one dollar of the Federal Reserve’s $600 billion went to Black-owned businesses.
A second Biden administration should have the wherewithal to make this change, especially if Democrats take back the House and Senate. But this likely will not happen without the support of Black voters. Writes Watkins:
With more than $6 trillion federal dollars deployed to combat the economic effects of COVID and rebuild America’s infrastructure, only $60 billion per year is allocated for the group of businesses that specifically includes Black-owned businesses.
This means Black-owned business, as a whole, received substantially less than 0.06% of this $6 trillion investment in America. This amount is disgraceful.
What is worse, on September 18, 2023, the U.S. Secretaries of Education and Agriculture notified 16 governors of a $12 billion disparity in funding between 16 Historically Black Land-Grant Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and their non-HBCU land-grant peers in their states.
Out of fear, complacency, and/or incompetency, none of these 16 HBCUs aggressively pursued legal action or market-driven strategies to collect the $12 billion owed to their HBCUs. All of these HBCUs failed their students, faculty, staffs, and alumni in this regard.
The bottom line, Watkins says, is this: The Disconnect Between Black Voters and the Democratic Party is Profound and Growing
Are Democrats taking Black voters for granted? If so, that needs to change in a hurry -- or we will all go down together, under Trump's thumb.
Blacks need a fair share of the economic pie, Watkins says, and that will require effective messaging, backed by decisive action:
Simply bragging about how well Wall Street Is doing will not translate into Black votes for President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party in 2024.
Bragging about the nation’s low unemployment rate will not motivate a high Black turnout. Black America already knows it did not get its fair share of the COVID-era $6 trillion.
Relying upon the endorsements of Black elected and appointed officials who have proven themselves to be impotent and useless will not increase Black voter turnout for Democrats in 2024.
The Black community has seen that the only people who economically benefit from government initiatives and high-profile government jobs are the relatives, friends, and allies of their elected and appointed officials.
The catastrophic failure of elected and appointed officials who represent the political interests of the Black community to “bring home the bacon” is more lethal to the Democratic Party's voter turnout in 2024 than any of the new voter-suppression laws.
The time for sticking an economic pacifier in the mouths of Black voters is over!
