Is November 3rd 2020 about the 1994 Crime Bill?

The 1994 crime bill has been one of the most vexing point in this election cycle and lynchpin argument of the Trump supporters as well as Russian trolls.  They understand that there are people who genuinely have concerns about the bill's impact on our community.  As is often the case, the Trump supporters are not only stretching the truth, they falsely claim that Senator Biden called blacks “super-predators.”  History is recorded and has proven both of these claims to be unequivocally false.  

Let’s go back in time!  Measure Number H.R. 3335 (Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994) better known as the "Crime bill" was approved in the senate by an overwhelming number of  senators: 95 YEAs, 4 NAYs and 1 Not Voting.  It passed the House 235 to 195.  

For those who may be too young to remember, the period between 1984 and 1990 was one when the country and more specifically black communities experienced a terrible surge in the use of “crack cocaine.”  People were demanding that something be done about the scourge of drug use, the crimes that it bought and the destruction of families and communities that resulted.  Indeed, in a research conducted by Rashawn Ray and William A. Galston, two scholars at the Brooking institute, they found that “most Black mayors, who were grappling with a record wave of violent crime, did so as well. As he joined a delegation of mayors lobbying Congress to back the bill, Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said, “We’re trying very hard to explain to Congress that this is a matter that needs bipartisan support.”

One can rightly argue that the federal government's response to the crack epidemic is entirely different from the more compassionate response we are seeing to the opiod one.  Those criticisms and comparisons are absolutely correct.  And yet, it is important that we not turn away from the mirror and the actual record.  

The reflection from the mirror should be clear and not discharge community leaders, faith leaders, Mayors, Representatives, and Senators including Senator Biden who wrote the bill and President Clinton who signed it into law. But it is important to show the full the record and an unsmudged image that reflects the truth if we are to learn from our mistakes.  

As Rep. James Clyburn said in a recent interview when reflecting on that period of time “Crack cocaine was a scourge in the Black community,” he recalled. “They wanted it out of those communities, and they had gotten very tough on drugs. And that’s why yours truly, and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, voted for that 1994 crime bill.” 

(https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/08/28/did-the-1994-crime-bill-cause-mass-incarceration/)

More than 25 years later, VP Biden and others who supported the bill have admitted to its shortcomings and its terrible impact on black and brown communities.  More importantly, candidate Biden has presented a specific plan to reverse the detrimental outcomes of the 1994 bill.  He has outlined several core principles in his platform for judicial reform:

• We can and must reduce the number of people incarcerated in this country while also reducing crime.
• Our criminal justice system cannot be just unless we root out the racial, gender, and income-based disparities in the system.
• Our criminal justice system must be focused on redemption and rehabilitation.
• No one should be profiteering off of our criminal justice system.

More details can be found on the Biden’s campaign website: https://joebiden.com/justice/#

The black community has legitimate reasons to be wary of political promises but we must also not fall for false prophets who claim to care for the black community as they falsely disparage VP Biden to benefit President Trump.  

No one alive today, whether or not they follow politics, can say that they don’t understand President Trump's dog whistle to white supremacists.  Certainly, we all see the impact of the President decisions on Covid-19.  His choices have had outsized impacts on black and brown communities economically and more importantly, in our overrepresentation in the number of Covid-related deaths.  

According to the Findings from APM Research lab – data through September 15 show “Actual death rates from COVID-19 data (aggregated from all U.S. states and the District of Columbia) have reached new highs for all race groups:

• 1 in 1,020 Black Americans has died (or 97.9 deaths per 100,000) 

compared to

• 1 in 2,150 White Americans has died (or 46.6 deaths per 100,000)

https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race

This election is not about 1994. It is about electing someone who recognizes the existential threat that Covid-19 represents for our community today.  It is about having a President who understands that Covid-19 will not just disappear as President Trump has proclaimed.  It is about having a President who will accept the science and listen to the experts.

The Trump supporters as well as the Russian trolls would like to make November 3rd about what happened in 1994 but the challenges we face today are about 2020.  The choices ahead are not about making America great again like the past but instead are about Building a better America for the Future. 

Nov. 3rd is about whether we live or die.  So vote like your life depended on it because it does.