Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Black leaders weighing next steps
They look to build off momentum that was forged in 2020
DETROIT — After a barrier-breaking year, there’s one undeniable fact: the strength of Black political power.
Black voters were a critical part of the coalition that clinched President-elect Joe Biden’s White House bid. The nation will swear in its first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent as vice president, Sen. Kamala Harris, who herself may be a leading presidential candidate in four years. And as the global push for racial justice continues, Congress is set to welcome several new Black, progressive freshmen.
But while Black political and civil rights leaders see opportunity to work with a Biden-Harris administration to build upon the momentum created in 2020, they acknowledge the road ahead won’t be easy.
America experienced a racial awakening last year, fueled by longstanding racial inequities and structural racism laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic’s disparate impact on Black Americans. But Black leaders believe 2021 will be one that defines the trajectory of America and whether the nation has truly learned from the racism embedded deeply in its history.
“What I think we need to do now is support this new administration that seems to have leadership as a part of his agenda,” said House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and a close ally of Biden. “We are where we are today because of a lack of leadership and I think that Joe Biden has demonstrated in his articulations that he’s prepared to provide the kind of leadership that we need.”
Biden’s decisive win was seen in part as a repudiation of the racist rhetoric of President Donald Trump.
But activists and civil rights leaders believe years of grassroots organizing helped bring about Biden’s victory and they intend to seek a return on their investment.
The NAACP has urged Biden to consider creating a new Cabinet-level position focused on racial justice, equity and advancement. Derrick Johnson, the NAACP’s president and CEO, said it would be a bold action with potential to yield significant results.
“Trump is a symptom to a larger problem that has gone unaddressed in this country for decades,” Johnson said. “The NAACP specifically takes the position that if you state a priority for your administration, someone must own that portfolio for the entirety of the administration and be accountable for delivering on a commitment. And one of the things that was promised was the issue of racial equity being addressed.”
Biden has faced intense pressure to create a diverse Cabinet that is not only representative of America but able to implement tangible policies. Clyburn has publicly urged Biden to include more Black men and women in his administration.
Biden has named a handful of Black leaders to his Cabinet, including Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development and retired Gen. Lloyd Austin as defense secretary. But Clyburn said opportunity remains for him to appoint more, including as attorney general.
In recent weeks, Biden and his transition teams have held meetings with various civil rights leaders and grassroots activists, who have pledged to hold him accountable for promises made during the campaign.
Maurice Mitchell, a national director of the Working Families Party, a progressive multiracial grassroots effort, was one of 10 who met recently with Treasury pick Janet Yellen to discuss racial and economic justice. Mitchell said Yellen made a commitment to repairing historical harms that have been inflicted upon Black and other communities of color.
“They’ve expressed a willingness to engage with advocates and organizers, so we’re going to hold them to that,” said Mitchell, who is also a Movement for Black Lives strategist.
In 2021, Movement for Black Lives plans to continue pushing proposed federal legislation it unveiled last year. The BREATHE Act would radically transform the nation’s criminal justice system, including by eliminating agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration and the use of surveillance technology.
The proposal came during a national reckoning around brutality from law enforcement and systemic racism that spurred global protests and cries for change after the police killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans.
“We defeated Trump and that was a mandate of the Black movement to really defend Black lives and ensure that he could no longer terrorize in a really public and institutional way,” said Jessica Byrd, who leads the Movement for Black Lives’ Electoral Justice Project. “I also know for sure that the only way the Democrats are going to win anything else in 2022 isn’t if they quell progressive calls for change but if they actually govern and change people’s lives.”
But to push any real federal policy change, Congress will be key. Democrats faced serious setbacks in congressional race, losing so many seats in the House that the party has the narrowest majority in at least two decades. Control of the Senate hinges on Tuesday’s two runoff elections in Georgia.
Still, several progressives will join the House, bringing a fresh perspective for a party with an aging leadership.
Activist Cori Bush, who led protests after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, ousted longtime Rep. William Lacy Clay in Missouri’s Democratic primary, ending a political dynasty that had spanned more than 50 years. Bush said among her first priorities is a more robust COVID-19 relief package that provides greater assistance to families.
“I’m not so far away from my own pain and struggle and adversity that I can’t remember what it was like,” Bush said. “I’m not taking off the hat of the activist at all, it’s who I am.”
Jamaal Bowman, a former middle school principal, ousted longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel in the Bronx borough of New York.
“I’m very encouraged, but we have to be vigilant,” Bowman said. “We cannot let up and we have to continue to engage, organize and build a nation that works for all.”
In another series of firsts, New York Democrats Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres became the first two openly gay Black men to serve in the House. Torres identifies as Afro-Latino.
But California Rep. Karen Bass, a progressive who has pushed for criminal justice reform and other key legislation, said while it’s important to make note of a history-making year, Democrats face an enormous uphill battle if the party is unable to win the Georgia Senate seats.
“Everything resides on Jan. 5 and whether or not we win those Senate seats,” Bass said. “If we do not win those Senate seats, then it is not going to be the fullforce, full agenda that all of us would like to see take place.”
Bass said Biden could run into challenges similar to those President Barack Obama faced from a Republican-majority Senate that stalled much of his agenda. And beyond the Georgia races, the Senate is losing its only Black woman when Harris takes the oath of office.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom faced pressure to name a Black woman as her replacement, with Bass and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee floated as possible choices. But Newsom appointed Secretary of State Alex Padilla last month — the state’s first Latino in the Senate.