We are looking at a full-on attack on our hard-fought, hard-won freedoms including our very democracy.
Much of this is thwarted by Congress or the courts. The stakes of the election are stark as the GOP is trying to reverse generations of racial progress in America.
We have the lowest Black unemployment rate on record and the fastest creation rate of Black-owned small businesses in over 25 years. There is increased enrollment in Obamacare and the digital divide is closing, these are examples of real impacts on the Black community.
We see tangible progress in historic appointments of Black women to cabinet positions and the federal judiciary, including Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.
While polls show continued strong support for Mr. Biden among Black voters, there are growing concerns about an enthusiasm gap among the most loyal constituencies in the Democratic Party.
For some Black Americans the promises of future benefits ring hollow when many things are being taken from them.
When the Supreme Court ruled in June that Mr. Biden’s student debt plan was unconstitutional, many Black Americans, felt a familiar sting of disappointment. The fact that the decision came just 24 hours after the court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, a longstanding mechanism for economic and social mobility for Black people, was almost disorienting.
A recent Axios survey of more than 780 college students and recent graduates found that 47 percent of voters blamed the Supreme Court for student loans not being forgiven, 38 percent blamed Republicans and 10 percent blamed Mr. Biden.
The courts, conservative activists and a bitterly divided Congress have curtailed a lot of Mr. Biden’s agenda.
Congress has blocked two signature pieces of legislation Mr. Biden championed, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. And conservative groups have vowed to pursue legislation challenging Mr. Biden’s plans to prioritize race-conscious policies throughout the federal government.
The 2024 election is a choice between democracy and the extremism of “MAGA Republicans,” or those loyal to former President Donald J. Trump.
Polls show that Black voters under 30 have far less enthusiasm for Mr. Biden than their elders do.
On issues like student loan debt and climate, all the voters see are things they were told were going to happen that just haven’t happened. When it comes to Gen Z, they don’t forget, and it’s hard for them to forgive.
This week we celebrate that in 1963, civil rights leaders A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin began plans for a march on Washington to protest segregation, the lack of voting rights, and unemployment among African Americans. Randolph and Rustin enlisted the support of all the major civil rights organizations, and was a resounding success.
We must rally our community to remember and repeat this story.