The Breakfast Club’s Charlamagne Tha God pushed the envelope asking Joe Biden about his “Black Agenda” during an interview with the 2020 Presidential nominee on Friday, May 22.
Biden had a very appealing message, but it was hard to hear it through the heavily racial overtones and shameless pandering. The cringeworthy interview threw around words like “Black Media” and “White Media”, as if the world had jumped in a time machine and traveled back to the Jim Crow era, a time when everything between black and white people was separate.
In spite of this, Biden had some good points. He said all the things that some black people want to hear. Biden reiterated his history working in the black community as a public defender and how he’s been able to capture the support from black people since his time in politics.
His “Black Agenda” included decriminalizing marijuana and reducing prison populations, violence against women and the number of guns on the streets. He emphasized transforming the prison system by using rehabilitation as a way to resolve non-violent offenses. He questioned why freed drug offenders were not allowed to obtain public housing or Pell Grants to attend college.
Then, Biden talked about addressing institutional racism and even spoke about the criticism he received for not publicly naming possible black female candidates as his potential vice president, but instead vetting Amy Klobuchar for the role.
“I’m not acknowledging anybody who is being considered but I guarantee you there are multiple black women being considered, multiple,” Biden said before the interview was ended by his handler.
The former vice president admitted that he’s been able to win elections primarily because of the vote from black people. “I won a larger share of the black vote than anybody has, including Barack,” Biden told an intrigued Charlamagne. “I come from a state [with] the eighth largest black population in America. I get 96% of that vote for the last 40 years.”
When it came down to how Biden was handling earning the vote during the COVID-19 pandemic, he claimed that if Trump would’ve listened to his advice to act one week earlier than he did, 36,000 lives would’ve been saved.
Despite everything that Biden said, the headlines of the biggest news outlets focused on him saying “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black!” Of course, media ran with this soundbite playing on racial sensitivity during an election year when media has ramped up their attention again on police shootings of black people and outrageous race-based stories to stir the pot.
Again, the same tactics were used during Obama’s campaign and time in the White House. Now, we’re hearing about black delivery drivers being harassed, trigger happy cops and civilians killing innocent black people and black people being the most susceptible group to be impacted by COVID-19.
These types of injustices have always existed, but the gatekeepers pick and choose when they want to hone in on these stories for whatever it is that needs to be gained that year. In most cases, it’s not because they really care. But, it’s a strategy of manipulation and most have not caught on to the low hanging tactics.
One of the biggest takeaways from Biden’s Breakfast Club interview targeting young black people was that the two candidates that are up for election are out of their minds. Politics has been so goofy since 2016 that it’s hard to take anyone seriously.
When you have these grown adults so mentally scrambled that they can’t even make a decision on when to open the states back up or whether more stimulus payments should be sent out, then how can we trust them with our future.
Even with that said, it’s important that black people not withhold their votes, no matter how much they try to deter us with their goofy shenanigans and off-cultured slogans.
Here’s some reasons why black people should vote:
1) To honor the ancestors’ who shed blood and tears for the right to vote;
2) To take advantage of the right you have as an American citizen;
3) To impact leadership and legislation to sway in your favor;
4) As only 13% of the U.S. population, black people as a community are a powerful force to be reckoned with, hence all the attention. Black people must use that influence.
5) The ops are going to vote. If black people don’t vote, your everyday lives will be left in the hands of people who don’t care about you.
One thing is for sure, if you don’t vote, you surely won’t be counted.
