President Joe Biden is making direct appeals to Black Detroiters as his reelection campaign works to solidify a historically loyal voting bloc and address concerns of a disconnect with voters.
Biden spoke to a crowd of thousands before accepting a lifetime achievement award at the NAACP Fight for Freedom Dinner on Sunday and dropped in on a Black-owned small business. The Democratic president said he’s fought to improve the lives of Black Americans and those gains are at risk if Republican Donald Trump wins a second term in control of the White House.
Michigan Democrats say Biden must expand his presence in the Black community in the leadup to the Nov. 5 election. House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, said he expects Black voters will stick with Biden but the campaign needs to work for their support.
“We’ve seen economic recovery in this country and a large part of it is due to what Biden has been able to do,” Tate said. “There’s more work to do around that. We still have Michigan residents with needs. We have been listening, but the vision going forward in the future is we want to make sure everyone has these opportunities. We have to lay that out too.”
Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus Chair Keith Williams said Biden received a warm welcome at the largest Black event in the country. Williams said “it’s smart politics” for Biden to make an appearance.
“I’m going to the Black community and asking them what is going to get you from sitting out,” Williams said. “People don’t realize what he has done for us, (Biden) has to articulate what Biden has done to improve their lives with (American Rescue Plan Act) money.”
The visit also inspired protesters who rallied for Palestinian liberation. Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has drawn heavy criticism from Arab American and Muslim communities in Michigan, as demonstrators call on the U.S. government to end military support for Israel and push institutions to divest from Israel.
One demonstrator was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer while nine others were detained, ticketed and released. Detroit Police Chief James White did not share additional details during a Monday press conference.
Biden’s campaign remarks focused on the impact of student loan forgiveness, low unemployment rates, his commitment to funding Historically Black Colleges and Universities and efforts to lower prescription drug costs.
The president did not speak on whether he supports reparations for Black Americans, which advocates say is one way to mobilize voters. Earn the Black Vote Collaborative released polling last month that found Biden could gain 150,000 Black votes in Michigan by creating a federal reparations commission. The group was created to persuade Biden to create the commission through an executive order.
Detroit’s reparations task force is exploring how to address harms caused to Black residents as a result of local policies. Task force leaders say they will likely need help from the state or federal government to make recommendations a reality.
When asked whether Biden and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer should get behind reparations, Tate said Democrats are focused on creating opportunity.
“You talk about reparations and more broadly what opportunities are available for the Black community,” Tate said. “It’s something that resonates. There’s going to be a conversation on reparations. I view it as how we are creating opportunities. When we talk about reparations, that ties together the work in Lansing we’ve done to pay off debt for majority-Black school districts, expanding the earned income tax credit will help black communities, juvenile justice reform. At the end of the day, it’s about how are you giving people a fair shot.”
Biden’s reelection campaign and the Michigan Democratic Party say the president is showing up for Black residents. A Saturday memo from the Biden-Harris campaign argues his three visits to Michigan so far are a “BFD” (read that as big f***ing deal), highlighting the critical importance the battleground state played in past elections.
The president visited Detroit at the end of a weekend schedule that included delivering the commencement address at Atlanta’s Morehouse College and a speech at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The campaign says it’s increasing advertising spending on Black media and landing interviews on Black-owned radio stations. Three campaign offices were opened in Detroit and surrogates are meeting with Detroit faith leaders to mobilize voters.
Democrats say campaign activities will look drastically different compared to the 2020 election, when COVID-19 infections were surging, vaccines were not available and government guidance dissuaded large gatherings.
“COVID and the pandemic upended our lives and how we interact with voters during the campaign season,” Tate said. “It has to get back to that point of Democrats meeting voters where they are. There’s going to be a larger ground game to get out and meet people in front of their homes and other areas, whether it’s churches or faith based organizations, and to tell our story.”
Before the NAACP dinner, Biden visited CRED Cafe, an east side coffee bar and speakeasy that opened last December with support from Detroit’s Motor City Match program. Biden signed a set of lockers that held mementos from the NBA careers of owners Joe and Jordan Crawford.
Biden talked about his background, saying his rise to the presidency emerged from modest middle class origins. Biden said he grew up “like an awful lot of folks” in a three-bedroom, split-level home with four kids and his “grandpop.”
“You know, we were okay,” Biden said. “I mean, we didn’t have any money, but we were okay.”
Biden claimed he was “the first in my family ever to go to college,” a frequent campaign trail anecdote, though Biden confirmed decades ago that his maternal grandfather attended college.
Later that evening, Biden was greeted to chants of “four more years” when speaking before an estimated 4,600 attendees at the NAACP dinner in Huntington Place. Biden described himself as a lifelong member who has tried his best to honor the trust placed in him by Black voters.
“Because of your vote, it’s the only reason I’m standing here as president of the United States of America,” Biden said. “You’re the reason Kamala Harris is a historic vice president. You’re the reason Donald Trump is the defeated former president and you’re the reason Donald Trump is going to be a loser again.”
Biden said his administration is the most diverse in history, giving Black Americans a larger voice. He pledged to direct legislation modernizing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and find a way to reinstate federal abortion rights.
The president touted his appointment as Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the high court. Biden criticizes Trump for appointing conservative Supreme Court justices that repealed affirmative action and abortion rights, which has implications for disproportionately higher rates of maternal mortality for Black women.
“As Dr. King said, give us the ballot and we’ll put judges on the bench who will judge justly and do mercy,” Biden said.
Biden also stated that the disparity in wealth between Black and white Americans was at its lowest point in two decades – the wealth gap actually grew.
Trump was criticized for cutting taxes on wealthy Americans and pledging to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Biden said Trump’s deficiencies extend beyond policy disagreements – Biden framed his predecessor as dangerous, unhinged and vengeful.
Biden visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture last Friday to recognize the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling that outlawed racial segregation in public schools.
In Washington, D.C. and Detroit, Biden warned that groups are trying to “erase” Black history. He also touted a $450 million investment in training teachers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other “minority-serving institutions.”
Biden said America was founded on the idea that all people are created equally, and must continue striving to meet that goal.
“We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, to state the obvious, but we’ve never walked away from it either because of so many of you in this room and so many more.”
