• Get in Touch
  • Get in Touch with our Support!
  • Privacy Policy
Monday, January 30, 2023
OvaNewsBlast.com
  • Home
  • News
  • African Americans
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • African Americans
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
No Result
View All Result
OvaNewsBlast.com
No Result
View All Result

We expect better of Biden | News, Sports, Jobs

October 5, 2020
in Sports
Reading Time: 3min read
A A
Trump lashes Biden on White House stage | News, Sports, Jobs
0
SHARES
1
VIEWS
Share ShareShareShareShareShare

Asked about race at last week’s presidential debate, one candidate gave a very disappointing answer.

The other was Donald Trump.

Which is not to suggest Trump had satisfactory answers. To the contrary, asked by moderator Chris Wallace why America should trust him to heal its racial wounds, he was, as is his norm, nonsensical and miles wide of any discernible point.

He leaned into the asinine claim that he has done more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln. For good measure, he declined to condemn white supremacy and instead gave the Proud Boys, an ultra violent, ultra right hate group, what amounted to a shout-out: “Stand back and stand by.” Indeed, Trump turned the entire debate into the hottest of hot messes, his constant interruptions, non sequiturs and insults offering superfluous evidence that he is a vulgar cretin with impulse control issues. But none of it was disappointing. To be disappointed, one must have had expectations of something better. And who can honestly say they expected this 74-year-old three year old to behave like an adult? Trump is what he is. And as one is not disappointed when a hog wallows in slop, one cannot be disappointed when he behaves like an ass.

But Joe Biden is a compassionate and honorable man whose intentions are unimpeachable. That’s why it was such a letdown to hear him address the issue of race and policing with shallow incomprehension.

“The vast majority of police officers are good, decent, honorable, men and women,” he said, and of course, they are. “They risk their lives every day to take care of us,” he said, and of course they do. “But,” he added, “there are some bad apples and when they find them, they have to be sorted out. They have to be held accountable.”

“Bad apples.” Again with the bad apples.

That’s the unfortunate formulation favored by those who insist on framing racism as a personal character flaw like arrogance or greed. What makes Biden’s resort to that tedious cliche especially troublesome is that it came after he acknowledged the reality of structural racism. Which suggests that while he spoke the words, he doesn’t truly understand them.

For the umpteenth time: the issue is not bad apples. Ultimately, it is not even the police, who are not unique, except insofar as they have the power to arrest and kill, which makes their mistakes more visceral and dramatic. Otherwise, there’s little real difference between policing and politics, health, business, news, or any other institution you care to name. They all reflect the biases of the society they serve.

So it’s not that a given cop is a bad person. It’s that the very definition of policing includes conflating criminality with skin color. As the definition of doctoring includes less aggressive care for black patients. As the definition of reporting includes pathologizing African-American life. And so on.

To be a member in good standing of whatever institution presupposes and encourages this. It is racial bias with profound effect, yet no single author, bias that cloaks itself in “the way things are.” And one doesn’t defeat it by good intentions or being “nice” to black people. One defeats it by taking purposeful and intentional action to do so. Which requires that one first recognize what one is dealing with: not the apple but the tree. And the soil in which it takes root.

Look, Donald Trump has the moral fiber of plankton. He is a fundamentally bad human being. So no one is shocked that he comprehends none of this. But Joe Biden is a good man.

We expect better of him.

(Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 3511 NW 91st Ave., Miami, Fla., 33172. Readers may contact him via e-mail at lpitts@miamiherald.com.)

(C) 2020 MIAMI HERALD


Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox




Credit: Source link

ShareTweetSendSharePinShare
Previous Post

Mellon launches $250M project to remake American monuments – AP News

Next Post

Gold holds steady as market eyes Trump’s health

Next Post
Gold holds steady as market eyes Trump’s health

Gold holds steady as market eyes Trump's health

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
7-Year-Old Black Boy Writes His First Book About a Superhero Who Loves Making the World a Safer Place

7-Year-Old Writes First Book About Superhero Who Loves Making the World a Safer Place

January 15, 2023
Tyler Perry’s Sistas’ Devale Ellis and Crystal Hayslett Trumpet ‘Zatima’ — Plus, Get the Season 3B Premiere Date

Tyler Perry’s Sistas’ Devale Ellis and Crystal Hayslett Trumpet ‘Zatima’ — Plus, Get the Season 3B Premiere Date

August 25, 2021
Black Bears sweep series from Tomahawks | Sports

Black Bears sweep series from Tomahawks | Sports

October 30, 2022
Season 3, Episode 30 – Heart Health, Business Health, and History in the Black Community – Black Press USA

Season 3, Episode 30 – Heart Health, Business Health, and History in the Black Community – Black Press USA

October 29, 2022
Prime Time Calendar: May 2022 | Arts & entertainment

Prime Time Calendar: May 2022 | Arts & entertainment

April 11, 2022
Copy of MLK Commemorative Event

Copy of MLK Commemorative Event

January 30, 2023
Pitts: Mississippi’s water woes an embarrassment

Oregon voice for racial equality Willie Richardson dies

January 30, 2023
Federal Proposal of ‘MENA’ Category Long Overdue, Advocates Say – NECN

Federal Proposal of ‘MENA’ Category Long Overdue, Advocates Say – NECN

January 30, 2023
Westfield's Chinese Community Celebrates Lunar New Year with … – TAPinto.net

Westfield's Chinese Community Celebrates Lunar New Year with … – TAPinto.net

January 30, 2023
Breckenridge honors pioneering Black civil rights advocate and entrepreneur Barney Ford ahead of Black History Month

Breckenridge honors pioneering Black civil rights advocate and entrepreneur Barney Ford ahead of Black History Month

January 30, 2023

Recent News

Students threaten to sue DeSantis over rejection of AP course on African American studies

Students threaten to sue DeSantis over rejection of AP course on African American studies

January 26, 2023
Jalen Hurts deserves more respect: Black quarterbacks face racism

Jalen Hurts deserves more respect: Black quarterbacks face racism

January 29, 2023
Why can’t I take a train from Chattanooga to Nashville? Lawmakers are talking, but challenges run deep

Why can’t I take a train from Chattanooga to Nashville? Lawmakers are talking, but challenges run deep

January 28, 2023
The Strokes to headline All Points East 2023 | Entertainment

The Strokes to headline All Points East 2023 | Entertainment

January 23, 2023
OvaNewsBlast.com

A reliable source for African American news, from a different lens. Yours. News about us, by us.

Follow Us

Recent News

Copy of MLK Commemorative Event

Copy of MLK Commemorative Event

January 30, 2023
Pitts: Mississippi’s water woes an embarrassment

Oregon voice for racial equality Willie Richardson dies

January 30, 2023

Topics to cover !

  • African Americans
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • News
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Get in Touch
  • Get in Touch with our Support!
  • Privacy Policy

© 2020 ovanewsblast.com - All rights reserved!   Download Our App   Read News on odbnewsblast.com

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • African Americans
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Entertainment

© 2020 ovanewsblast.com - All rights reserved!   Download Our App   Read News on odbnewsblast.com