Racial and Social Justice in America – part 1

Our State of Mind by Robin Martin

Racial and Social Justice in America – part 1

Joe Biden speaks on Trump, police reform and the soul of America

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was a guest of the NAACP, of which he is a lifetime member, on the June 10 virtual town hall series. With Ed Gordon, journalist, author, entrepreneur, the former VP addressed political, social, and economic issues specific to the Diaspora, as each is related police brutality, police reform and his support of the Diaspora and what the future might hold.

Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO, opened the town hall with the following statement:

“We are at a juncture in this nation, and make a decision at what direction do we want to go in, would we like to go forward and look at the future or are we going to go back and not look at the systemic problems that have faced our nation for far to long structural racism has been woven into the fabric of how we have operated.”

Biden led with an introduction retracing his history with the NAACP and civil rights. He his a lifetime member of the NAACP and as a congressman supported the civil rights bills in Congress. Notably after the gruesome news footage of Bull Conner’s oppression toward Negro protesters in Birmingham with water from fire hoses, vicious attack dogs, and police officers armed with batons used to beat, bruise, batter human flesh. How white America’s conscious was raised as to the brutality and that a lack of quality life existed for African-Americans.

Ed Gordon, president and CEO, Ed Gordon Media, hosted the virtual town hall, that also included former Ohio representative Marcia Fudge.

Gordon: (Reads a quote from Biden’s op-ed in USA Today): “Now we have to deliver on this moment to achieve fundamental changes that address racial inequalities, and white supremacy in our country”

“That is the polar opposite of what we are hearing from this president. They do not believe that we have systemic racism. What did you think when you heard that?”

Biden: “…I had not planned on running for president again until I saw those people coming out of the fields at Charlottesville, with contorted faces, bulging with hate, repeating the same anti-Semitic bile that occurred in Germany in the 30’s, the leader of the Klan says that is why we elected him. And he says what no other president has said…there are very fine people on both sides. It is sickening it is outrageous, he has spent every minute since he ws elected president trying to split us, divide the nation. This guy is trying to..he is breathing life into racism …does not surprise me at all he does not see it.”

Gordon: “Your empathy is real, rhetoric is good, but there will be those that say you and your generation and others had an opportunity to change this, to deal with this for many years and have not, what would you say to them?”

Biden: “The generation did deal with it the last time we had an inflection point. The nation did dieal with what happened, after Birmingham, {Dr.king inferred that they are} trying to put a wooden stake in heart of civil rights movement. We marched we voted, we hollered, we demanded change, we got the voting rights act, the civil rights act and things did begin to change. We did a lot of things that made a lot of sense. We didn’t get nearly far enough. We ended up in a period of a change in the Republican Party that everything in the federal government was bad, we could do nothing, taking the federal government out of making things

better for the American people. Now we have a chance to change it.”

Gordon – “There will be people that say those are reflective moments of 50 years ago, a time when blacks were falling by the way, what will change? How will you change the dynamic now that you were not able to change before? Give me a sense of what you and others will do to change the dynamic in a way you haven’t been able to before ?”

Biden: “One thing I have learned… Jon Meacham’s Soul of America…a constant struggle between evil v. good, the history of America is not a fairy tale, I thought with the election of Obama things had changed.

what I didn’t realize is the words that come out of a pres matter, even a lousy presidents, in fact, no matter who they are. he started off arguing that everything was about division. He talked about he was going to ge rid of Mexican rapists…argued everything about division, breathed oxygen into prejudice… i thought you could defeat hate. You can only control hate not defeat hate. When someone like him (Trump) comes along and breathes oxygen under the rock they come out, they are legitimized. That is what happened since he has become president.”

“There is a legitimacy now, people think they can come out and say anything that would have never been said before. This has generated such a negative response across the board. We have a chance now to put it back under the rocks. the history of America is not a fairy tale it is a constant fight between better angels and devils in our soul.”

Gordon – “Police reform – the term ’defund’ … important to note ‘defund’ the police it is not disbanding of police. You talked about putting 300 million in communities. Give a sense of some of your changes?”

Biden: “Funding is local, federal funds could be eliminated and police departments would still get funds. {They} must meet basic local minimums. Meet requirements like eliminate chokeholds, …have access to all records, of police misconduct, send records to Justice Department, so they are on record and can/will be exposed. When an officer is going to be prosecuted, it is not that prosecutor that works with that police department, but an outside prosecutor…,model use of force standard, deadly force is a last resort, other officers who witness a violation of a standard intervene, focus on training and de-escalation, condition those funds on making sure you (local police) meet those standards. If you don’t you do not get the funding.”

Biden added that it is time, an inflection moment for substantive change in America in response to the George Floyd, Black Lives Matter global protests.

Also, you should note how Biden skillfully used the collective pronoun ‘we’ when responding to questions in the historical context of the civil rights movement.

To see the full virtual town hall visit, https://www.naacp.org/…/naacp-host-virtual-town-hall-systemic-racism- featuring-former-vice-president-joe-biden-congresswoman-marcia-fudge/

African American History

1904 – Battle of Waterberg, South-West Africa, now Namibia, was the start of Germany’s annihilations of the Herero, a nomadic people who inhabited the land. The Herero wanted to have peace talks

Instead the Germans attacked them.

1965 – Thurgood Marshall confirmed solicitor general by U.S. Senate

1965 – Black insurrection in Watts for 6 days, 3,000 arrested, 1,000 arrested, 34 killed

Ms. Martin is an educator, freelance writer and 2008 Monmouth University Dr. King Unsung Hero recipient, ourstateofmindgap@grmail.com