Race, Money and Power: Joe Biden Offers Plan to Take On Systemic Racism

Biden wants to spend or leverage hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds to support entrepreneurs of color, ensure affordable housing and tripling federal contracting with small, disadvantaged businesses, going from 5% of federal contracting dollars to a goal of 15% by 2025. The proposal also includes $30 billion for a small business opportunity fund to support businesses run by Black, Hispanic and Native American executives.

Much of the plan comes from proposals Biden has already offered as part of his blueprint for getting the economy running again after the coronavirus pandemic is brought under control. But the umbrella plan – the fourth and final plank of the former vice president’s “Build Back Better” program – recognizes the major role race is playing in the presidential campaign.

The president has repeatedly said he is doing well among African American voters. But the president has made no apparent progress in wooing African American voters, especially at a time when the nation is coming to terms with its racist past and grappling with how to heal racial wounds and create a more equal society. Trump has not held a symposium on race – a typical response by presidents during a wounding national crisis – and has instead slammed Black Lives Matter protesters as trouble-makers and defended the Confederate flag. While Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, made a solemn visit to the Capitol to pay respects to Lewis, as he lay in state in the Rotunda, Trump said he would not go.