Black South Carolinians saved President Joe Biden’s struggling 2020 White House bid. Now, on Saturday, in this cycle’s first sanctioned Democratic primary, the state’s Black electorate will have an opportunity to set the tone of the 2024 race and center the issues that matter most to Black communities, including the right to vote, health care, […]
Joe Biden
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Why Biden’s Hallmark Environmental Program Has Been Slow to Take Root
Naomi Davis’ dream is not too different from the one that took her grandparents from being sharecroppers in Mississippi to living on the South Side of Chicago: the vision of being a part of an autonomous Black community. Utilizing millions of dollars in grants, including $10 million from the federal government’s Justice40 initiative, Davis’ organization, […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Can Biden Reclaim Black Voters’ Support in 2024?
South Carolina activist Lawrence Moore and other Black residents in the state are worried about losing the right to vote. And they don’t think President Joe Biden is taking a strong enough stand. The Columbia resident and longtime Democrat’s irritation is particularly acute because the Palmetto State is a major site of the assault on […]
Posted inEducation, HBCUs, Partner Content
HBCU Underfunding Stretches More Than a Century, Morgan State Professor argues
America’s historically Black colleges and universities have been vastly underfunded compared to institutions that serve predominantly white students. The government has estimated the disparity between HBCUs and predominantly white institutions to be about $12.6 billion. There are numerous factors at play, but racism is at the center, says Steven Mobley, an associate professor at Morgan […]
Posted inMoney, Wealth Gap
In a Push for Race-Neutral Policies, Black Americans Will Be Left Behind, Experts Fear
As conservative lawmakers attempt to roll back policies aimed at a more equitable America, a new report emphasizes the need for race-conscious policies to improve economic conditions for Black Americans. Released this week, the Economic Policy Institute report says that race-neutral policies won’t adequately provide solutions to eliminate economic disparities. Although Black Americans have seen […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Biden’s EPA Has Resolved Only One Civil Rights Complaint Brought Since 2021
The Environmental Protection Agency’s recent dismissals of three cases that would fix some of the problems in “Cancer Alley” underscores a difficult complaint process that works against Black communities’ best interests. They fall in line with a history of neglecting marginalized residents and failing to fully realize the legal power of the Civil Rights Act […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Biden’s Big Plan for Environmental Justice May Actually Increase the Racial Pollution Gap
A Biden administration initiative that assured at least 40% of federal investments in climate and clean energy would reach “disadvantaged” communities may prove costly to environmental justice goals because of a metric related to race, a new study reveals. A policy analysis published in Science this week and conducted by a dozen of the country’s […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
How Biden’s Goal to ‘Electrify Everything’ Contributed to a Flooding Crisis
Sometimes, even when it’s not raining, 78-year-old widower Willie Horstead Jr. thinks he hears the floodwaters seeping beneath his home, sucking the metal box deeper into Alabama’s rich soil. When it does rain – which is often in Coffee County, Alabama – the U.S. Army veteran is afraid he’ll fall through the floor of his […]
Posted inEconomy, Money
What the Debt Ceiling Deal Means for Black Americans
Though the U.S. Senate passed a bill to suspend the debt ceiling for two years, the federal plan to impose stiffer work requirements on food stamp recipients and mandate an end to the student loan repayment freeze could create an outsized financial burden for Black Americans, some experts say. The proposals are part of a […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
Black Communities Overburdened by Power Plant Pollution May See Relief
A monumental federal plan would require most fossil fuel power plants to slash their greenhouse gas pollution by 90% by 2040 — or shut down. The Biden administration plan, announced on Thursday, could limit the amount of climate change-causing emissions released. If implemented, for the first time in U.S. history, the amount of greenhouse gasses […]