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Why Black Americans Must Keep the Pressure on the Biden Administration
The arc of the moral universe may be long, but the time for justice is now!
There is no doubt that President Biden and Vice President Harris are doing an outstanding job so far in their new roles as the leaders of this nation. In his short time in office, according to the Federal Register, President Biden has signed 29 executive orders at the time of this writing. These orders cover the climate crisis, the Covid crisis, the privatization of prisons, immigration, LGBTQI+ anti-discrimination, racial equity, and more.
While we know that Biden and Harris have just begun, we must keep the pressure on them to ensure that they continue to act on behalf of the people — all the people. According to exit polls, 87% of Black Americans voted for Biden, compared to only 12% for Trump. This means that a large majority of the Black community expects that President Biden and Vice President Harris have our best interests at heart and will demonstrate through their executive powers that Black lives matter to America. As Black womanist and fellow Medium writer, Allison Gaines states, “we need to make sure that Joe Biden doesn’t forget where he came from.”
We can no longer withstand what we have experienced for the last four years. Scratch that, for the last 12 years, both as a nation and as Black people, because this country began seeing an increase in America’s overtly racist behavior when President Obama stepped into office, immediately followed by an exponential increase once the white supremacist cheerleader took office. Note that the operative word here is “overtly” racist behavior, because America always has been, and always will be, racist. The only difference is the degree to which people are empowered to openly engage in racial terrorism.
Racial equity and support for underserved communities executive order
One of the 29 executive orders that President Biden has signed is entitled “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.” The order affirms the reality that, “Equal opportunity is the bedrock of American democracy, and our diversity is one of our country’s greatest…
