If anyone wondered if having a new President in the White House who owes his unexpected election victory directly to overwhelming Black support will make a difference in how Black America’s concerns get addressed, one need only look back to the Trump Administration’s response to the catastrophic effect the COVID-19 pandemic has on Black America.
And compare it to the new Biden Administration’s response after less than a week in office.
According to the CDC, the age-adjusted COVID-19 death rate for Black people is 3.6 times that for whites. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies showed that under the Trump Administration, compared to all other racial or ethnic groups, Black business owners and entrepreneurs were about 30 times less likely to have received government aid for people or businesses affected by the pandemic, even accounting for financial factors such as the expected total receipts for the month the data were collected and the cash reserves at hand. It noted such a disparity in funding creates a “negative feedback loop” of lower entrepreneurial optimism, driving a self-fulfilling prophecy wherein Black businesses and ventures are less viable and have poorer growth.
In fact, last August during the presidential campaign’s heat, The Joint Center issued a report titled Pandemic Relief Priorities for Black Communities. Leaders of the Washington, D.C. -based organization called on President Trump, then-Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden and Congress to adopt their proposals to not only ease the suffering in Black America caused by the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, but also bring economic relief to the millions of Black Americans dislocated from the economy, and Black businesses damaged from the fallout.
Among the proposals offered by the Joint Center, long considered by many to be the premier African American think tank, were:
- Provide Financial Support for Black Workers by extending the $600 per week federal supplement to state unemployment insurance and the Earned Income Tax Credit, increasing SNAP benefits, providing rental assistance and providing fiscal relief to states and localities.
- Sustain Black Businesses by extending the period for forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and streamlining the forgiveness process, mandating data collection on loan forgiveness, providing significant funding for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), and strengthening the Minority Business Development Agency.
- Expand Internet Access Among Black Households by providing a $50 a month emergency broadband subsidy for households in need and allocating $4 billion for laptops, tablets, Wi-Fi hotspots, routers and modems that can be used at home by students, school staff and library patrons.
- Protect Our Democracy by allocating to states at least $3.6 billion for administering elections and requiring that states provide online and same-day voter registration opportunities, provide accessible vote-by-mail with due process protections, provide at least 15 days of early in-person voting, and develop plans to ensure sufficient staffing and equipment to protect the health of poll workers and in-person voters during early in-person voting and on Election Day.
One month later, in response to the Joint Center’s proposal and other arguments made by Black leadership for racial justice, economic fairness and policies that recognize the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on Black America, President Trump issued an Executive Order banning all federal agencies from engaging in diversity training and discussing racial discrimination, structural racism or how it impacts society. He also stepped up his attacks on Black voting rights and made sure his Justice Department did nothing to investigate widespread voter suppression complaints.
He even put together a bizarre “1776 Commission” filled with white supremacists for the sole purpose of producing a white supremacist propaganda document that would downplay slavery and praise the Americans who instituted and maintained the system of slavery and Jim Crow for more than 400 years.
And, after the election, he spent more than two months trying to get the courts to throw out the results of the election in cities with large Black populations, including Detroit, to erase the Black vote’s impact, which proved decisive in the Biden victory.
Four months later, within 48 hours of being sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, President Biden issued a bevy of executive orders to reverse Trump’s racially malevolent actions.
He also more or less accepted much of the Joint Center’s proposals by incorporating much of its economic incentives in his $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package.
He unveiled a five-part $20 billion vaccination plan that includes expanding eligibility to frontline and essential workers and those older than 65; using the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard to open more sites for vaccination; hiring more workers to deliver the vaccine; increasing supply, and creating a public health campaign stressing the safety of the vaccine and encouraging people to wear masks.
And President Biden signed executive orders related to grappling with the pandemic’s effects, including an extension of moratoriums on evictions, foreclosures, and federal student loan payments.
He also directed each federal agency to review equity in their programs within 200 days and produce plans to address any disparities. He created an equitable data working group to ensure federal data accounts for the nation’s diversity and directed the Office of Management and Budget to distribute more resources to underserved communities.
In addition, he charged his Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice to lead a racial equity interagency process. And, he rescinded the 1776 Commission and revoked President Trump’s order preventing government agencies and contractors from implementing diversity and inclusion training. President Biden also reversed the “Muslim Ban” that restricted entry into the U.S. from largely Muslim and African countries and extended protections for a group of Liberians to stay in the country an additional year.
What does this mean for Michigan?
While it’s still very early in the Biden Administration and his cabinet is yet to be confirmed, Biden has explicitly made racial justice a top priority of his administration. In fact, he was the first president in U.S. history to condemn white supremacy in his inauguration address. And, he has selected a highly respected team of attorneys to lead the Department of Justice, attorneys with long histories as civil rights advocates. This includes Merrick Garland as attorney general, Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general and Kristie Clarke as assistant attorney general for civil rights.
Both Gupta and Clarke have been long-time supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement and committed to racial justice including police reform.
According to Bridge Magazine, when President Biden visited Michigan during the closing days of the campaign, he discussed several proposals including: investing $400 billion in the transition to clean energy and incentivizing U.S. companies to create jobs at home, a 10 percent tax penalty for outsourcing work to other countries and a 10 percent tax credit to compensate businesses that make investments in American jobs.
He has also said he plans to create 1 million auto industry jobs while working to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
These proposals have the potential to bring hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the state of which Detroit will be a direct beneficiary, especially with former Gov. Jennifer Granholm leading the Department of Energy. During her two terms in office, Granholm’s political base was Detroit and has had a very long relationship with Detroit leadership.
He also vowed what happened in Flint will never happen again. In his $1.3 trillion infrastructure proposal, he plans to replace aging pipes and lead service lines, particularly in low-income communities, and invest in new water technologies.
So, with Governor Granholm leading the Department of Energy and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Mayor Mike Duggan as two of President Biden’s political allies, with Vice President Kamala Harris by his side and with a host of progressive African Americans located in key positions throughout the administration, Michigan and Detroit should expect to benefit mightily from a very friendly administration.
It may not happen immediately as the Biden Administration is just starting to gel and is facing public health, economic and racial justice challenges of historic proportions.
But for Black Americans, and Black Detroiters in particular, it is definitely a new day.
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