Can Biden Ride “Jim Crow” to Win?

It's looking less likely...

The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives – racism – we are not cured of it. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination and it not being polite to say “nigger” in public.

Barack Obama (NPR, June 2015)

After NPR reported 41% of Blacks wanted someone else, 23% wanted Trump, and only 33% wanted Biden, panic set in with black Democrats. MSNBC’s Joy Reid reacted by claiming Trump’s guilty verdict proved “My DEIs are bringing it home.” Reid, hater of “white supremacist Trump” for eight years, praising the race of prosecutors Alvin Bragg (D-NY) and Fani Willis (D-GA) kinda-sorta proves the Left at least thinks its policies can be weaponized.

Race-Race-Race: it’s why Obama invoked “Jim Crow” on NPR in 2015 to make the GOP toxic to black voters in 2016. Even black Republicans are toxic. In 2021, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) was branded by the Post’s Cleve Wootson as a “sycophantic Black apologist for white supremacy.” In 2022, Herschel Walker (R-GA) was branded by MSNBC’s Elie Mystal as “what Republicans want from their negroes: to do what they’re told.” It’s 60 years already: is “Jim Crow” still a thing?

Not in 2008, when 40 million white voters made Obama President, which was 25 years after white TV audiences had made The Cosby Show #1 from 1985 to 1990. And, from 1967 to 2008, black college enrollment increased from 282,000 to 2,587,000 (source: Blackpast), black life expectancy rose from 64.9 years to 73.5 (source: NCHS), and black median household incomes went up 49.1% (source: Statista).

So, how could Obama – of all people – invoke Jim Crow in 2015? Because he’d shifted the identity-politics grievance to Blacks don’t have parity with Whites. Biden got the memo before his April address to Morehouse’s black graduates: “You have to be ten times better than anyone else to get a fair shot – a trail of broken promises still leaves black communities behind.” What a buzzkill, but it’s 2024 and Tim Scott has the GOP antidote.

“You can be bitter, or you can be better, but you can’t be both.” Perfect rebuttal, because Scott knows E Pluribus Unum (out of many one) unites and tribalism (we’re good, they’re bad) divides. He knows Biden claiming “white supremacists are the greatest threat to our democracy” is a lie, and he wants black voters to realize that Democrats are today’s Do-Nothing Party.

Scott is spreading a simple truth: black voters have forever elected Democrat governors and mayors, whose policies and positions preserve the worst school systems and most crime-ridden communities. My fact check says that’s true, and the worst do-nothing Democrat was Barack Obama. His “you did not build that” comments were anti-American, but his policies were anti-Black.

Over Obama’s 8 years, Black unemployment averaged 12.8%; worse than under Bush (9.6%) or Trump (7.9%). By 2013, his “recovery package” had caused negative black home equities to spike 14.2%, and foreclosure rates for black mortgagees to hit 30%. Failing to sow better, Obama sowed bitter, which is why Black Lives Matter (BLM) formed in 2013 to stop “racist” cops from fatally shooting “disproportionate” numbers of black men by – – defunding police departments!

If you’re unsure that’s a bad idea, peruse the Bureau of Justice Statistics for 2021 that uses data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (victim reports) and Uniform Crime Reporting Program (police arrests). In non-fatal violent crimes, Whites were 48% of offenders and 46% of arrestees, while Blacks were 35% of offenders and 33% of arrestees. For rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, Whites were 41% of offenders and 39% of arrestees, while Blacks were 43% of offenders and 36% of arrestees.

Across all crimes, police arrested Blacks at lower percentages than victims reported, so it’s now harder to claim “systemic racism” in the US justice system. Voila! The 2024 “Jim Crow” campaign issue is raced-based income inequality. Because 2022 median household income for Blacks ($53,000) trails Whites ($81,000), Democrats claim “white privilege” and “black oppression” prevent income parity. So, why do White incomes trail Asian incomes ($109,000)?

Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy doubts white supremacists would allow Asian incomes to be 34.5% higher than Whites. He claims family stability, education, and lawful lifestyles are the root of prosperity and poverty.

Kettering Foundation surveys found kids from low-income, 2-parent families outperform students from high-income, one-parent homes, and twice as many top students come from two-parent homes as one-parent homes. Did you know 84.3% of Asians are raised in two-parent homes, and 78% of Blacks are born to unwed mothers?

For all Americans, 2022 median household incomes were $35,000 for high-school dropouts, $51,000 for high-school graduates, $109,000 for college graduates, and $158,000 for those with professional degrees (source: Statista). Did you know 59.3% of adult Asians had a bachelor’s degree or more, and 43% of Blacks had only a high school degree?

For all Americans, earnings are 52% lower for workers with prison records, 22% lower for workers convicted of felonies but not imprisoned, and 16% lower for workers convicted of misdemeanors (source: Brennan Center). I’ll bet you’ve guessed Asians have the lowest incarceration rates (25 per 100,000) and Blacks have the highest incarceration rates (600 per 100,000).

We rarely hear Democrats talk about family stability, charter schools and private school vouchers, or that Biden sponsored the 1994 crime bill. But we did hear Biden tell black voters in 2012 that “[Republicans] gonna put y’all back in chains” and in 2020 that “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” But, what about 2024?

The view here is that NPR found 41% of Blacks do “have a problem figuring out” if Biden is a white savior or Trump is a white supremacist, because young black men are “figuring out” who’s going to make gas and groceries affordable. It’s 2024, and Trump’s brand of populism appeals to all working-class voters, who are tired of do-nothing Democrats, so…

Don’t be surprised if Biden rides Jim Crow all the way – – – back to Delaware in January 2025.