If Joe Biden wants Black voters, he won't find them in the rearview mirror
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Joe Biden has a credibility problem with a key segment of Black voters that’s not going to go away unless he stops looking in the rearview mirror and starts using the windshield.
In January, Biden spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, saying on what would have been Martin Luther King’s 94th birthday, “No matter how many years pass, those days of remembrance are difficult; they bring everything back as if it happened yesterday.”
On Sunday, he gave a major speech at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., marking the 58th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” beatings of civil rights marchers by saying “words give meaning to the past and purpose to the future.”
He was clearly seeking to secure support from a vital voting bloc ahead of his upcoming budget proposal and reelection bid, but both events mark a backward-looking focus on symbolism and gradual progress, which doesn’t excite Generation X, millennials or Generation Z.
At least 1 activist is ready to walk away
Biden needs guys like Ali Nervis on his side, and right now, he doesn’t have them.
“Joe Biden is like a lot of other politicians, people who promised a lot, people who we got excited about, who have not delivered on the promises, who have not delivered on the things that were said or offered to our community,” said Nervis, a Phoenix-based activist and entrepreneur who operates Grassrootz Bookstore and the Archwood Exchange.
Nervis could be a vital barker to get people into Biden’s tent.
Instead, Nervis is ready to walk away from what he considers a sideshow.
“Here we are again being disappointed and disregarded … we should stop putting so much hope in politicians and hope in people who have continuously misled us and find things that we can do on our own to build up economic stability for ourselves,” he said.
To be clear, a president’s power is limited, and there’s only so much Biden can do without support from Congress.
But it’s the president’s job to articulate goals and plans so clearly and convincingly that it galvanizes and creates momentum toward execution.
Biden made promises. Where are they?
If Biden had mixed more salesmanship with his statesmanship, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema might not have been able to form a two-person majority that undermined much of the ambition in President Biden’s agenda.
Universal preschool. Child care tax credits. Free community college.
Equal pay. Police reform. Voting rights. Minimum wage increases.
Student loan debt forgiveness. Gun control.
Has Biden crossed the finish line on any of it?
Or what about the refund checks that turned into a worst-case scenario?
Biden gave people a financial lifeline at the risk of accelerating inflation. Then the money dried up at the same time that a wave of higher prices (especially gas, food and rent) came crashing in.
How Biden can win Black voters' trust
There have been other stumbles.
The Democrats lost the House, Kamala Harris disappeared (plenty of liberals and Black voters wanted her to be more of a Dick Cheney than a Dan Quayle), and a Chinese spy balloon had to be shot down in U.S. airspace.
Now, here’s Uncle Joe showing up at the picnic, trying to sweet talk Black folks just like he did in 2020?
We all know what’s coming, but could you at least buy dinner first?
For Nervis, that’s what it comes down to. (Even if he wouldn’t put it in such terms.)
Another election:Inside the effort to gain Black representation in Phoenix
He thinks Biden could earn his trust between now and Election Day 2024, but it won’t be easy.
“For me, it would need to be something direct, something intentional and something that’s specifically focused on Black voters,” Nervis said. “I, personally, don’t think that any issue gets to the heart of our cause, our condition, or the injury that our people have experienced in this country, like reparations.”
The guess here is that “reparations” is a dirty word in the White House, but it goes to show the focus of the voters Biden needs.
Don't look back, Mr. President. Look forward
Yes, critical race theory in education is an issue. Yes, gay rights matter. And yes, it was a huge deal to nominate and install Ketanji Brown Jackson on the Supreme Court.
But for a lot of younger Black voters, they don’t want to look back on the progress that’s come since the days of MLK.
They want to look ahead to ways their lives can still be improved right now today.
A lot of the problems Black people face can be tied directly to the legacy of slavery and racism, but at a certain point, no one wants to talk about how we drove our car into a ditch.
We want to talk about how we’re going to get back on the road.
We can’t do that by always focusing on the past; sooner or later we’ve got to focus on the future.
That’s going to require Biden to use his windshield more than his rearview mirror.
Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @SayingMoore.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: If Joe Biden wants young Black voters, he's got the wrong focus
