Biden takes bold step to end racial injustice
25th January 2021 · 0 Comments
By C.C. Campbell-Rock
Contributing Writer
After taking the oath of office, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. told the nation on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, that racial injustice would be among his top priorities.
“A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer….And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront, and we will defeat….” Biden stressed “unity” as the remedy for the out of control viral whiteness Donald Trump Sr. unleashed on the nation.
The Inauguration of the American president is always a historic event. However, this Inauguration Day was uniquely historical. Biden put his quest for unity and racial diversity out front and center, as the nation watched his choice for vice president, former U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris, become the first woman, and the first Black South Asian female vice president in American history.
Donald Trump didn’t invent white supremacy or white privilege; it was in place in America before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but the practices were ignored and disowned by the American mainstream in the decades following the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Trump brought the scourge of whiteness out of the closet, tried to normalize it, and launched an uncivil war against an ever-increasing diverse nation. His racially unjust policies, hate speech and transparent shout outs to white supremacists culminated in the first insurrection and storming of the U.S. Capitol by white Americans in the nation’s history.
On January 6, two weeks to the day before the Biden-Harris inauguration, Trump sent the most virulent white nationalists to the Capitol to allegedly “Stop the Steal,” by disrupting Congress’ process of counting the Electoral College votes, of which Biden won the majority and, thus, the presidency.
Trump urged his radical, far-right violent, extremist followers to “take back our country,” and instructed them to march to Congress. When the smoke cleared, five people were dead and many of those who defended the Capitol were injured.
Biden’s repudiation of white supremacy shows in his cabinet nominees. His picks reflect the diversity in America. Among his choices are women and men of every ethnicity and, for the first time in the nation’s history a Native American woman, Deb Haaland, will lead the Department of Interior. Conversely, Trump’s cabinet reflected his support for the retention of a white-dominated federal government.
According to an analysis from The New York Times, Trump’s Cabinet contains more white men than that of the last six presidents.
On January 6, Trump supporters did much more than make noise and riot, they committed sedition, insurrection, murder, theft, destruction of property, assault and battery and a host of other crimes. They were looking to hang former Vice President Mike Pence and kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Trump called members of the most dangerous domestic terrorist groups in the U.S. action: The Proud Boys, the far-right, neo-fascist, male-only political organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States and Canada; The Boogaloo Bois, a far-right, anti-government extremist militia; Q-Anon, conspiracy theorists who thought Trump was in danger from a shadowy cabal of Democratic pedophile; neo-Confederates, white nationalists, and The Oath Keepers, a far-right anti-government militia composed of current and former military, police and first responders who pledge to fulfill the oath that all military and police take in order to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic”
Civil rights leaders told The Louisiana Weekly that all Americans are responsible for holding officials accountable for mandating and enforcing anti-hate laws. “This we all are responsible for,” says Lecia Brooks, Southern Poverty Law Center’s chief of staff.
“It was always a part of society and culture in the background and prior to President Barack Obama, it wasn’t appropriate,” Brooks said of racism. Under Trump they had “free reign.” She said the fact that whites will no longer be the majority by 2040 has stoked fears of white replacement and white genocide and increased anti-Black and anti-immigrants among whites. “They’re losing their grip on power.”
“Eradicating white supremacy in our culture will take a concerted and sustained effort on every front – government, industry, education, even sports and the arts. Reform efforts such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act are a necessary step, but only one part of the solution. I would not discount the impact of the NFL’s shift on racial justice issues; football fans saw messages like “End Racism” emblazoned across end zones, and players locked arms to observe a moment of silence for racial equality. Social media campaigns like #OscarsSoWhite have led to substantial diversity efforts in the entertainment industry. We must use every means at our disposal to shine a light on racial injustice and fully commit, as a nation, to a zero-tolerance policy with regard to white supremacy in law enforcement and the military,” NUL President and CEO Marc Morial explained.
Trump’s white supremacy activities are evident throughout his life. His real estate company’s housing discrimination lawsuit and consent decree, his attacks on the exonerated Central Park Five, his lie about President Barack Obama’s birthplace, his Muslim Ban, Zero Tolerance Immigrant Policy of locking up migrant brown children in cages and separating them from their parents, verbal attacks against powerful women of color, and, last week’s release of Trump’s 1776 Commission Report, in which he attempted to rewrite history and make slavery the norm and the founding fathers saints, speaks volumes about Trump’s racist tendencies.
The 1776 Report drew swift condemnation from President Biden, civil rights groups and historians.
“In an executive order signed on Wednesday in his first day in office, Biden disbanded Donald Trump’s presidential 1776 Commission and withdrew a report it released Monday. Trump established the group in September to rally support from white voters and as a response to The New York Times’ ‘1619 Project,’ which highlights the lasting consequences of slavery in America,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The American Historical Association condemned the report, saying it glorifies the founders while ignoring the histories and contributions of enslaved people, Indigenous communities and women. In a statement also signed by 13 other academic groups, the organization said the report seeks “government indoctrination of American students.”
ReNika Moore, director of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, responded to the 1776 Commission Report and Trump’s reason for impaneling the Commission.
“Donald Trump has always attempted to use a fictional version of the past to justify racist policies. As such, it is only fitting that in the final days of his term as president, and on the day we celebrated the life of Martin Luther King Jr., his administration released a report that pushes a white supremacist version of our nation’s history, justifies slavery as “more the rule than the exception throughout human history,” and compares members of the opposing political party to fascist dictators.
Ibram X. Kendi, a scholar and historian of racism at Boston University, called the report “the last great lie from a Trump administration of great lies.”
“We must hold the new administration accountable,” Brooks continues. “We need mandates against armed, trained and dangerous anti-government and anti-Black organizations. We’ve always had rules against hate, and we must hold our elected officials accountable for enforcing the laws and rules by speaking truth to power.”
The SPLC has been speaking truth to power throughout its existence, as have the leading civil rights groups.
In November 2020, the National Urban League, along with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the National Fair Housing Alliance, sued the Trump administration over its executive order that prohibited federal agencies, contractors and grant recipients from offering diversity training. That order was rescinded as one of President Biden’s first acts in office.
“The National Urban League’s 2020 State of Black America shone a light on the systemic racism that the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice protests exposed in the nation’s medical, economic and criminal justice systems. One of the most powerful actions we can take as civil right organizations and racial justice advocates is to raise our voices in opposition to racism wherever it exists and relentlessly demand change,” Morial concluded.
“We have high hopes,” Brooks said of the new administration, “but the danger is not over.”
Go here to explore Biden’s Expansive Executive Order – Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government.
This article originally published in the January 25, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
