Busing was only a small part of it. Although that’s important. A lot of blacks didn’t like busing either, and a lot of whites hated it. Which can in no way forgive Biden’s defense of ‘state’s rights’ and ‘voluntary busing’. As if states that sent his segregationist friends to DC were going to do anything voluntarily to end ‘separate but unequal’ schools. So, Joe, in order to give you a bit of a pass on ‘forced busing’ and in order to help you to further your claims to be a civil rights champion, just what did you propose to put an end to separate but unequal schools back in the ’70’s? I was here, and I can’t remember.
I’m asking because I believe that his claim to be a civil rights champion is, what’s the word I’m looking for, a lie.
In fact, far worse, far worse, than his opposition to busing is/was the unforgivable Biden Crime Bill of 1994. Biden defends the bill by claiming that the bill, in and of itself, did not cause mass incarceration. However, in fact, it was inevitable that mass incarceration of minorities would happen under the bill. Here’s one of several pieces that places the bill in context:
Your (Biden’s) recent comments that it didn’t create mass incarceration are correct. But that is not the point. Mass incarceration had been building for some time, especially when it came to people of color. But what is pretty indisputable is that the 1994 Crime Bill, as it is called, single-handedly contributed to a massive increase in incarceration and injustice to them.
I’m still scratching my head trying to understand your “pivot” that seems to claim that the individual states — who had the job of implementing the bill — caused most of the problems because of the way they chose to execute the law.
What the states didn’t misinterpret was the more than $8 billion the law allotted to them to encourage building more prisons and/or to change existing prisons to accommodate more “clients.” It created a virtual feeding frenzy for the cash, and helped contribute to a rapid rise and expansion of a whole new prison industrial complex, including oppressive privatized prisons.
The new law even supplied the states with tools to help keep those shiny new prisons filled to the brim. Among them the introduction of the “three strikes” proviso, which in most cases automatically sealed one’s fate almost without benefit of appeal. The “truth in sentencing” clause tied the hands of judges from exploring circumstances that could affect early release. The implementation of mandatory minimums and getting rid of parole seemed designed to insure those in prison would stay there longer.
And Delaware sure jumped on this bill to enact the most draconian sentencing laws imaginable. Led by four powerful advocates for racial resentment–Sen. Tom Sharp, Sen. Jim Vaughn, Rep. Wayne Smith, and AG Jane Brady. We still haven’t completely rid from the Delaware Code the damage that they–and Biden–caused.
Joe, as a champion of civil rights, what was your motivation for pushing this bill? I’d like to know. I don’t believe that there has been, over the past 50 years, a single bill pushed by Democrats that has done more harm to the minority community than the Biden Crime Bill of 1994. Even Bill Clinton apologized for it, as he knew it would be an anchor around Hillary’s neck. But you haven’t, and you’re counting on residual support from the black community for having been Barack’s sidekick as a means of getting the D nomination.
Folks (h/t to Biden), there’s a reason he won’t apologize. And it’s the same reason why Obama put him on the ticket in the first place. Biden provided enough cover for Obama among the white police/firefighter/construction trade crowd that was Biden’s base. Cops loved locking up poor black kids. Biden is still appealing to them with dog whistles.
He can’t win the nomination with just the so-called white working class. He needs minorities. The busing flap with Kamala Harris put a dent into their support. Next time, Kamala, Bernie, Liz, et al, go after him for the crime bill. It’s the softest target imaginable.
That will be the end for Joe Biden. To paraphrase from Shakespeare:”If it is to be done, ’tis best that it’s done quickly.’