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Political
Updates and Observations
Democrats
must recognize that they must re-energize the turnout of youth and a
cross-section of minority voters if they are to win the Georgia U.S.
Senate seats in the January 5th runoff election.
Unless
a truce is negotiated in the current political infighting between
progressive and centrist Democrats, the Party will experience
crushing Congressional losses in the next midterms.
Due
to his slowness in appointing Blacks to major cabinet posts, Biden
is bleeding Black support, and Republicans are seizing on this
opportunity to organize their base as they ready themselves for
2022.
Donald
Trump is very unlikely to run in 2024 as his hold over his base has
waned, and he and his family are likely to be indicted in Manhattan
and the State of New York for tax issues and fraud.
The
K-12 public education of poor Black, Latinx, Native American, Asian
American and Pacific Islander children is being devastated by remote
learning as the overwhelming majority lack consistent access to the
laptops/chrome books and Wi-Fi needed to sustain it. These children
and their parents, who comprise nearly one-third of all Americans,
are also being victimized by food insecurity.
Trump’s
outgoing Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, has already viciously
assaulted these children with her attacks on the rights of
transgender students, attempts to direct coronavirus funds to private
schools, her refusal to address racially disproportionate school
discipline, and the increased funding of for-profit charter schools.
DeVos’
most enduring legacy is her defunding of public education and hostile
attacks on teacher unions. These two initiatives have combined to
further disenfranchise the education of children of color during the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the incoming Biden-Harris
administration has not focused on these realities.
Although
Dr. Linda Darling Hammond is heading the Education transition team,
the Biden team has not put forth a list of candidates for Secretary
of Education. Whoever they select for this position will need to hit
the ground running and will be tasked with rectifying the
aforementioned crises.
The
Biden-Harris administration needs to place these realities front and
center as it takes office. The parents of the children discussed are
primarily responsible for Biden-Harris victories in the key
battleground states - Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and
Wisconsin, the latter three by narrow margins. Poor and working-class
voters of color were the margins of victory in those states.
As
a result, the educational needs of their children must be high on the
Biden-Harris administration’s agenda as it kicks off its
four-year term. Specific plans need to be highlighted now if they
hope to galvanize these parents to come out again in Georgia on
January 5th to give Biden-Harris the Senate majority they need to
govern.
Tangible
public education benchmarks that these parents can witness before the
2022 midterms, that meet the needs of their children, also must to be
at the forefront of Biden-Harris plans. Obama’s inattentiveness
to his constituency and Republican deployment of the race-baiting Tea
Party caused him to lose the House in 2010.
In
2014, Obama’s ongoing failure to consolidate his base resulted
in his loss of the Senate. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who replaced Harry
Reid (D-NV) as Majority Leader, blocked Obama’s appointment of
D.C. Circuit Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme
Court in 2016. If Biden does not attend to his base of supporters, he
will suffer a similar fate.
His
laser beam focus on the coronavirus pandemic was morally and
politically dead on, but he now needs to address a major need of his
most loyal voters, the poor and working-class. By quickly targeting
and addressing the failures of remote learning for their children’s
education, the Biden-Harris administration will deliver on a campaign
promise to improve the lives of their families.
As
we move further into the 21st century, literacy, critical thinking,
technical, and digital skills will be the key to employment readiness
and the opportunity for the middle-class life that parents want for
their children. Thus, it is imperative that their parents see
progress in their children’s learning situations and
opportunities.
Remote
learning for millions of K-12 poor children has been an unmitigated
disaster and a major burden for their teachers. Viewing this issue in
purely political terms, and dealing with this problem immediately can
yield positive electoral benefits - invigorated voters and increased
and reliable turnout as citizens see a return on their investments at
the polls.
The
Biden-Harris team has a unique occasion to unite key elements of the
Democratic Party which could help ameliorate the current
progressive-centrist tensions. Education has been given short shrift
as it prepares to kick off its 2021 administration. In the past,
overlooking key sections of their base has led to Democrats’
failure to maintain their majorities.
Given
the challenges of remote learning for poor and working-class children
coupled with rising hunger, these children and their parents need
help, and it needs to occur now as a sign that they and their
parents’ votes matter. From 1980 to 2020, Republicans have held
the White House 24 of the 40 years because they have cultivated,
identified, and attended to the needs of their supporters (e.g.,
focusing on anti-abortion legislation, religious freedom, school
choice, immigration, etc.).
It
is surprising indeed that the most progressive elements of the
Democratic Party, Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and her squad,
have not attacked the remote learning problem head on as it is an
issue in their districts. Biden-Harris and other Democrats need to
make it an urgent priority.
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