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It would be fair to refer to the 2020 Democratic Primary as a Clorox-sponsored shit show. People of Color got pushed off the debate stage and out of contention faster than they get voted off the island during a season of Survivor. And in the blink of an eye, the most diverse field of candidates in history (based on race, ethnicity, and gender) became as milquetoast as a Kenny Chesney concert with Taylor Swift as the opening act.
With Bernie Sanders dropping out of the race yesterday, Democratic voters are now looking at their putative nominee—Joe Biden—who is both the racist du jour and a de facto racist.
Now before you come at me for referring to Joe Biden as the R-word (and I don’t mean Reparations, as that would be far too controversial) consider two things:
1. The definition of racism
As provided to us from Dr. Benjamin Chavis and the United Church of Christ from their landmark 1987 report Toxic Waste and Race:
“Racism Is racial prejudice plus power. Racism Is the INTENTIONAL or UNINTENTIONAL use of power to isolate, separate and exploit others…
“Both CONSCIOUSLY and UNCONSCIOUSLY, racism is enforced and maintained by the legal, cultural, religious, educational, economic, political, environmental and military institutions of societies. Racism Is more than just a personal attitude; it is the institutionalized form of that attitude.”
2. Joe Biden’s political record
Much has been made of Joe Biden’s political record, which stretches back to 1972 when he was first elected to public office. A record, which, unlike that of Bernie Sanders, is the epitome of Chavis’s and UCC’s characterization of racism.
At best, Joe Biden is an unintentional and unconscious racist (though his record argues otherwise).
It only takes a quick Google search and appreciation of history to reveal that Joe Biden has done more to adversely impact Black lives than George Wallace. And while Rep. Jim Clyburn referred to Biden as, “an honorary Black person,” it’s clear that was as myopic as referring to Adolf Hitler as an honorary pacifist and Ashlee Simpson as an honorary musician.
Biden is the same person that threw Anita Hill overboard faster than a slave ship threw Africans overboard in the Middle Passage, all for the nomination of the draconian Supreme Court Justice and , Clarence Thomas, who just ruled that folk should risk their lives in order to take part in a “democratic” process (but more on that in a bit).
Now back to Joe Biden’s record.
In 1975, Civil Rights attorney, Jack Greenbug, castigated the new Senator for sponsoring a bill limiting the ability of the courts to compel school desegregation via busing, a move that Senator Kamala Harris rightfully called him out for, which led to a brief rise in the polls for her before becoming one of the first Democratic Primary POCasualities.
Now let’s move to the year 1991, which was a bad year for Anita Hill, though an INCREDIBLE year for music and the patriarchy.
It gave us everything from Nirvana’s Nevermind, to A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik, NWA’s Niggas 4 Life, and (then known as) Prince and New Power Generation’s Diamonds and Pearls.
Unfortunately, this was all overshadowed by Biden’s own record, which may as well have been entitled, “Nevermind, Here’s Ten, Low End Ways to use Blood and Sugar to Throw a Black Woman Under the Bus and Give a wack Nigga an Appointment 4 Life While Making Him Look Like a Diamond and a Pearl.”
Joe Biden couldn’t help himself in 1994 with the infamous Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act AKA the “Crime Bill” of the Clinton Administration.
Uncle Joe not only helped write that shit, he also took it upon himself to pontificate for that shit on the Senate floor where he referred to Black men who look like me as “predators on our streets” who were “beyond the pale.”
As we now know, the Crime Bill indeed led to mass incarceration on steroids, which has resulted in lingering adverse impacts on the Black community, even in the advent of COVID-19 where we are seeing prisons turn into death boxes taking the lives of low-level drug offenders like Patrick Jones, the first incarcerated COVID-19 victim to lose his life.
And, yes, Brother Bernie did vote for it, but unlike Biden, he did not send one of his Black staffers on CNN to defend the New Jim Crow and that’s important as fuck.
And lest we forget Joe’s vote on 1996 Welfare Reform, a bill sponsored by a Republican, by the way.
According to New York Times journalist, Eduardo Porter, author of an incredible book, American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise, Biden supported the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, which continued to hurt People of Color through state implementation. According to Porter:
“It consisted of a block of cash delivered to states with few strings attached other than five year limits on benefits. Given ample liberty to craft their own strategies, many states attached stringent work requirements to their assistance and cut it off considerably before the five year limit. The harshest states turned out to be those with large minority populations.”
(For what it’s worth Bernie voted no on that bullshit.).
In short, Joe Biden may as well be the bridge connecting FDR’s white supremacy capitulated “New Deal” to Bill Clinton’s racist fueled anti-Black legislative pogroms.
And despite a political career that rivals that of a KKK rap sheet (or is it résumé?), Black people saved Joe Biden’s floundering campaign as well as his political career from forever entering the annals of political oblivion by becoming the Buffalo Bills of Presidential runs.
He paid them back by suggesting they—and all other Democratic primary voters—should risk their lives by participating in the Wisconsin Primary, hours after the state’s governor attempted to postpone it. That’s the equivalent of a parent buying their young child a musical instrument only to watch them grow up to become a dubstep DK.
The irony is not lost that requiring the Wisconsin Primary to occur during a pandemic was made possible, in part, by Clarence Thomas.
The same SCOTUS that Biden’s vote helped confirm back in 1991—despite credible allegations of sexual harassment of a Black woman—voted to overturn said governor’s orders. So much for Anti-federalism and state’s rights, right GOP?
All this in a state that is further proof of COVID-19’s proclivity for targeting Black people. In Milwaukee 81 percent of COVID-19 deaths have occurred in the Black community. Biden may have renamed Steely Dan’s hit song, “Hey 19,” yet the lyrics, and the irony, remain the same. Because when it comes to Black people and Biden, Donald Fagan be like:
“COVID-nineteen
No, we got nothin’ common
No, we can’t dance together
No, we can’t talk at all
Please take me along when you slide on down.”
To my Black sisters and brothers, I say this:
I respect and understand that priority No. 1 is eviscerating Donald Trump and his white supremacist dementia from the nation before he can elicit further harm.
At the same time, replacing racism with diet racism is like exercising to lose weight while eating straight lard fried with butter in between sessions at the gym… and that’s exactly what Joe Biden is, but with hair plugs. Because at a time when we most need private and public succor, Biden and the DNC apparatus are turning Black voters into suckers.
So yes Black people, Joe Biden wants you to give him your vote, but apparently, he doesn’t seem to care if you potentially give your life in the process. That should make you think twice, thrice and four times before you vote, because despite what Uncle Joe is peddling, Barack Obama ain’t coming back to save you and Michelle is more done with politics than Whoopi Goldberg is with journalistic integrity.
I am certainly not suggesting that Black folk shouldn’t vote for Biden.
I am ABSOLUTELY saying it’s time for Black folk to get a better return on their investment of steadfast electoral loyalty to the Democratic party and its candidates—y’all gave Biden a lifeline and you have every right to demand he pay the Black piper.
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