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In the last days of his presidency, reporters are discovering that Biden's economic policies were a historic success. And scratching their heads over voters' failure to realize it when it mattered. How could their readers have been so ill-informed? It's a mystery.

wapo.st/3WeLQ0Q

The Washington Post · Biden’s agenda had a big impact. Will history give him credit?By Toluse Olorunnipa

@gleick

It's not complicated to understand at all.

1) The people that received the lion's share of that economic benefit, are mega wealthy GOP people that hate Biden and will never vote for him. 🤷🏿‍♂️

2) The people that would have voted for Biden at the highest rates (Black people) would not have voted for him at high enough numbers. Because they were sick of Biden doing things like transferring billions in Covid relief funds to the cops. Because racism. 🤷🏿‍♂️

3) Most of the economic benefit that did accrue to the Black voters that he needed to win, were because of private sector DEI efforts. When those DEI efforts were attacked by bad faith lies spewed by open racists, Biden did nothing to stop them. The result is that DEI programs are now being cancelled left and right, Black people are being laid off disproportionately, and the few steps towards equity that Black folk managed, are being rolled back. Because racism.

Stop asking for credit for the economy.

@Okanogen @gleick

I used to get really annoyed and disappointed in responses like this. But I don't anymore, because I know that they (mostly) don't come from a place of malice. They mostly come from a combination of 3 things: 🤷🏿‍♂️

1) Not knowing, and not being curious. Not knowing how astronomically large a percent of the world's, not just the USA's, but the entire world's, prisoners, are Black and innocent and in US prisons and jails, specifically because of laws and procedures that Biden wrote and advocated. Not the GOP. Not Trump. Biden. Not knowing how much Covid relief aid Biden redirected to cops, while Black people were dying and needed that help. If Biden had only "failed to reduce" systemic racism, that would be one thing. But he actively made it worse. Both as a Senator, and as a President.

2) Not experiencing. Fortunately, most people don't personally know an innocent person shot to death by cops. They haven't had to get an innocent friend out of Rikers or another hellish jail before someone stabs them or violates them. They've never been a good student who stays out of trouble, and yet who has had guns pulled on them by cops while on their way to prep school, then liberal arts college, then a fancy tech job, all in fancy neighbourhoods. They've never helped someone avoid a completely fabricated, potentially life ruining felony charge. So any disappointment in Biden's criminal justice policies, are purely academic for them. Their life and freedom are not in the balance.

3) Not having empathy. These things haven't happened directly to these people, and they are not curious. They lack empathy for the people that have experienced these things. When people like this are in the car with me and experience it in real time? Then they change their tune! They're like "OMG! It's real! How are they allowed to do that?!" Then I show them the law or policy that Biden wrote, or explain why what just happened, happened. And then they get it. But this isn't really empathy, or even curiosity.

Which is how we get callous statements like, "Oh you want everything?! You people are never happy!"

If Biden treated you all like he treats Black people, you all would have flipped the table a long time ago.

@mekkaokereke @gleick
Hmmm. Very interesting.
I am a brown person who has lived under bridges. Have you? I've been in jail, for more than a day. Have you? I've been profiled. My family had death threats when we moved into a sundown town in the early 70's. Have you? I was beaten for not being White. Have you?
I was born in 1961. You know nothing about me, but go on. Do. Go on about this weird profile you have about people you know nothing about.

@mekkaokereke @gleick
But hey, bravo. You won. Biden is out and will die in a few years and we can, I don't know, not have to worry about his awfulness ever again. We can move on to the straight forward version of the now openly corporate supported White Supremacy without any buffer. Much easier.

@Okanogen @gleick

Ah. We've reached the "Trump is Worse! I hope he lynches you!" part of the conversation.

hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/112

And I reject the premise that the only two options were Trump or Biden. I voted for Harris.

If she hadn't tacked to the GOP at the 11th hour, she could have won. Specifically, because she won back all of the Black Dem voters like me that were sick of Biden's racist policies.

But I doubt this conversation is going to become more fruitful, so I'm disengaging.

Be well.

Hachyderm.iomekka okereke :verified: (@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io)Yelling "Trump is worse!" Won't help. Pointing out that Trump wants to remove what little accountability the cops have now, won't help. I feel hopeful, for the first time in a long time, that we might get this right this time. Future president Kamala Harris will probably have a better position on this than either Biden or Trump. 👍🏿 Please don't try to 'splain to a Black man who lives in California, what an attorney general is, or what future president Kamala Harris' record is. I know. 4/N

@Okanogen @mekkaokereke Are you really that angry about someone not liking Biden? Did he send you a christmas card or something? We're on the same team yo. The cops look at us the same.

@gettingcomputey @mekkaokereke
I don't fall in love with politicians. They are a tool. Like a hammer or screwdriver.

@Okanogen @gleick

When people say "People of color," I ask "What color? Is it Black?" Because it's different.

Beaten for not being white? No. I won my street fights with racists. Boston. Unless you count being roughed up by racist cops? Then yes, I've been beaten. I don't fight cops.

I've never been homeless. I've never been to prison or jail. And I don't intend to.

Death threats? Yes. Lots. None in 2025 so far, but the year is young. I'm a vocal Black dude online. And I lived in Texas. I've shared stories on here about rural Texas sundown towns before.

I am in the squarest, nerdiest wealthiest, cohort of Black people in this country, and this is still my experience. In large part because of laws that Biden put in place. So a big part of my life's mission is ending the racism that I've experienced, and that killed and incarcerated my friends, and people that I don't know.

If you are comfortable accepting less for yourself, then that's great! I'm happy for you.👍🏿

But I don't accept racism from people that I vote for. And neither do a lot of Black men. And I don't pretend that the reason Black people didn't turn out for Biden is because we didn't understand how good he was for the economy.

@mekkaokereke @gleick
State policies (nothing to do with Joe Biden) are responsible for the vast majority of incarcerations. The massive increase in incarceration rates started in 1970 with Nixon's "War on Drugs" and pushes in states primarily across rhe South as a backlash to Civil Rights successes of the late 60's. Even Clinton's crime bill had next to zero impact on that trend. Don't take my word for it: sentencingproject.org/reports/

The Sentencing Project · Mass Incarceration Trends – The Sentencing ProjectGrowth in state and federal prison populations, and mass incarceration's impact on families, communities, and society as a whole.

@Okanogen @gleick

I'm blocking you, because you are exhausting. You have half knowledge, but think you have full knowledge.

Biden himself bragged about how he managed to put pressure on state and local police and prosecutors to change sentencing guidelines in order to receive federal money. He literally wrote the sentencing guidelines that local and state DAs use. He changed how the RICO laws were used, and he changed key provisions of the asset forfeiture act, both of which existed before him.

This is not even controversial. Biden would say the same thing. Criminal Justice reformers say the same thing. Police chiefs say the same thing. The only people that think that then Senator Biden didn't have influence over local sentencing guidelines and incarceration rates, is "dudes that like to argue with Black dudes about criminal justice reform online."

But I'm not doing this. I'm not educating every single dude one by one over the Internet with their own personal thread. I'm just blocking and moving on with life.

Be well!

hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/113

hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/113

hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/113

Fiber optic lamp from the '70s.
Hachyderm.iomekka okereke :verified: (@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io)Attached: 2 images @philip_cardella@historians.social For example the RICO Act was passed in the '70s under Nixon, to go after the mob. Nixon also signed the Omnibus Crime Control Act. These were powerful, but Nixon didn't really know how to use them to their full extent. It's like they knew how to make fiber optic cable in the '70s, but only used it to make lamps!🙂 Reagan and Biden supercharged these Acts for the war on drugs, with increased sentencing, asset forfeiture, and more incarceration capacity. Like data center fiber.😮

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io @gleick
Lol. I apologize for actually providing facts.
I'm blocking you as well. I promise we won't miss each other.