November
7, 2020
My
Response to the Biden-Harris Plan
My name is Alberta
Parish, and I read the Biden-Harris plan, which addresses the health and
economic impact of COVID-19 on the African American community as well as the
wealth and income disparities. The plan also proposes to close the wealth and
income gap for African Americans and ensure access to capital for minority and
black business owners, particularly women of color. There are a few key points
I would like to highlight from the Biden-Harris plan relating to student loan
forgiveness, wealth and income disparities, access to affordable and
high-quality health care during the COVID-19 crisis as well as protection of
essential workers on the frontlines of the pandemic, and the racial, gender and
income-based disparities in the criminal justice system. In the Biden-Harris
plan, the new administration’s proposal, which addresses the student debt
crisis includes the following:
- Forgiving
all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two- and four-year
public colleges for debt-holders earning up to $125,000. This will also apply
to individuals holding federal student loans for tuition from private HBCUs and
MSIs.
- Forgiving
loan payments for individuals making $25,000 or less per year and capping loan
payments at 5% of discretionary income for those making more.
- Fixing
the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and forgiving $10,000 of
undergraduate or graduate student debt for every year of national or community
service, up to five years.
- Cracking
down on private lenders profiteering off of students by empowering the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau to take action against private lenders who are
misleading students about their options and do not provide an affordable
payment plan when individuals are experiencing acute periods of financial
hardship.
- Permitting
the discharge of student loans in bankruptcy.
I am a student
loan debt-holder, and forgiveness of loan payments or forgiveness of federal
student debt would immediately alleviate a lot of stress that I brought upon
myself by acquiring this debt. Forgiveness of my federal student debt or loan
payments would give me the peace of mind that I will truly need as I continue
to age. Let’s face it: aging in America sucks when you don’t have millions of
dollars in capital, land ownership, and some sort of financial inheritance or
even a decent retirement pension fund.
As a younger
woman, I could not afford college. I never should have attended college immediately
after graduating from high school. Not everyone needs to go to college. There
are many students that already know their true passion(s) before graduating
high school. Certain jobs do not require a four-year degree. Many jobs and/or
careers only require certification programs, or trade school. Before I attended
a trade school in 1993-94, I should have waited just to figure out what I
really wanted to do with my life. The logical thing would have been for me to
major in Writing & Literature at a four-year university or state college. I
have been writing since the age of 13. By the time I entered high school, I was
getting straight A’s in my English classes. I had one English teacher that
didn’t like some of the things I was writing. But he still gave me an A for much
of my work. I was always curious about people, places, certain historical
figures—primarily ancient and medieval. I read a lot of books when I was in
high school. I read classical literature, historical works, autobiographies,
biographies, and works of fiction by Stephen King, R.L. Stine, and many others.
I loved history, especially ancient and medieval history.
By the time I
figured out that writing was the ultimate career for me, it was already too
late. I also could have taught English Literature in school. I could’ve majored
in Journalism & TV Broadcasting. Instead, I’d accumulated thousands of
dollars in student debt for a low-quality, undergraduate education in a field
of study that I had absolutely no passion for, and it was truly a waste of my life.
Furthermore, I never worked in the field on which my degree was based.
I thought by
attending trade school, I would achieve more than what my mother and her mother
achieved during their lifetime. I didn’t want to feel like a loser anymore, so
I went back to school in 2014 and acquired additional student debt. I aspired
to be somebody in life and hoped that things would work out for me this time. I
just knew that I was going to be successful based on my college education. Unfortunately,
life did not turn out the way I planned. I had high hopes for a successful career
as a paralegal after completing my program at Atlanta Technical College in
2017. However, hope does not pay the bills or keep a roof over your head. I was
the victim of workplace discrimination and bullying at a Black-owned law firm
and lost my job as a paralegal. It was my first job as a paralegal case worker at
the Atlanta firm. I was devastated, and if I’m being truly honest, I had not yet
gotten over that.
Today, I am an
essential worker in retail, but I am also a published author that has written
my latest book entitled, “God is on Trial: How Religion Keeps Humanity Under
Mind Control & Fear.” Writing books, and also writing essays online for my
news magazine is my real passion. The only problem is my passion is not
generating consistent revenue that I need to survive without having to work in
retail as an essential worker where I am constantly at risk of contracting
COVID-19.
Wealth and Income
Disparities
The Biden-Harris
plan includes the following related to closing the racial wealth and income
gaps:
1.
Invest
in African American Businesses and Entrepreneurs
2. Ensuring
equal access to credit and capital
a.
To
increase investment and access to capital, Biden will:
·
Double
funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative. The Obama-Biden
Administration created the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) to
support small businesses, driving $10 billion in new lending for each $1
billion in SSBCI funds. Biden will extend the program through 2025 and double
its federal funding to $3 billion, driving close to $30 billion of private
sector investments to small businesses all told, especially those owned by
women and people of color.
· Expand the New
Markets Tax Credit, make the program permanent, and double Community
Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) funding. The New Markets Tax Credit
has helped draw tens of billions of dollars in new capital to low-income
communities, providing tax credits to investors in community development
organizations that support everything from supermarkets to real estate projects
to manufacturing plants. As part of his
plan to reinvest in communities across the country, including in rural areas,
Biden will also double funding for the Community Development Financial
Institutions (CDFI) Fund, which supports local, mission-driven financial
institutions in low-income areas around the U.S. This builds on Biden’s
proposal to support entrepreneurs in small towns and rural areas by expanding
both the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program and the number of Rural
Business Investment Companies, to help rural businesses attract capital.
· Improve and expand
the Small Business Administration programs that most effectively support
African American-owned businesses. The Small Business Administration’s (SBA)
programs have been and remain one of the most effective ways of accessing
capital for African American-owned businesses.
3. Increase
opportunities for African American-owned businesses to obtain or participate in
federal contracts.
4. Increase
funding for the Minority Business Development Agency budget. MBDA plays a
critical role in supporting the development and growth of minority-owned
businesses around the country, as well as providing needed assistance to
federal and state agencies so that they award minority-owned businesses
procurement contracts. The Trump Administration has pushed for a 75% cut in
MBDA’s budget. Biden would protect and call for increased funding for it.
Closing the racial
wealth and income gaps is not impossible. However, this remains to be seen
during the Biden-Harris administration.
Universal Basic
Income
As an immediate
response to the economic disparities that are so glaringly obvious due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, a stimulus proposal of $2,000 per month, up to 12 months or
beyond would put cash directly into the hands of millions of people who have either
been laid off or lost their primary source of income due to the pandemic. The
House and Senate leaders should also propose a universal basic income for life
because millions of jobs have already been lost and are never coming back.
There are thousands of small businesses around the country that are lost
forever.
Access to
Affordable & High-Quality Health Care
Obamacare ensures
health care coverage to millions of people who previously could not afford to
even visit a medical treatment facility for health conditions—either
pre-existing or unexpected. According to the Biden-Harris plan, he will help
address racial disparities in the health care system in the following ways:
- Reducing the
uninsured rate for African Americans by creating a public option health plan.
Nationally, 11% of nonelderly African Americans are uninsured, compared to 8%
of white people. This disparity is far greater in states with Republican
governors who have not expanded Medicaid. Biden will give all Americans a new
choice, a public health insurance option like Medicare. And he will ensure the
individuals who would be eligible for Medicaid but for their state’s inaction
are automatically enrolled on to the public option, at no cost to the
individual.
- Improving care for
patients with chronic conditions, by coordinating among all of a patient’s
doctors. This is particularly important for patients with chronic conditions,
such as diabetes and hypertension, which disproportionately impact African
Americans.
- Lowering costs for
African Americans enrolled in Obamacare plans by increasing the value of tax
credits to lower premium and lowering deductibles by making other changes to
how the tax credits are calculated.
- Lowering drug
prices, by allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug prices and stopping drug
companies from price gouging on new drugs.
- Reducing our
unacceptably high African American maternal mortality rate. African American
women are 2.5 times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than
non-Hispanic white women. California came up with a strategy that halved the
state’s maternal death rate. The Biden plan takes the California strategy
nationwide.
- Expanding access
to reproductive health care, including contraception and protecting the
constitutional right to choose. Biden supports repealing the Hyde Amendment. He
will also restore funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides services
necessary to address health disparities, including breast cancer screenings and
HIV/AIDS counseling, screening, and treatment. The breast cancer death rate is
over 40% higher for African Americans than white women, and in 2016, African
American women comprised 60% of new HIV cases.
- Doubling the
nation’s investment in community health centers. Community health centers
provide primary, prenatal, and other important care, and their patients are
disproportionately members of racial and ethnic minority groups, including
African Americans.
- Expanding access
to mental health care. African Americans are far less likely to receive mental
health services or compared to white adults.
Biden will ensure mental health parity and eliminating the stigma around
mental health are critical to closing this gap.
- Tackling social
determinants of health. Because racial health disparities are the result of
years of systemic inequality not only in our health care system, but across our
economy, other parts of Joe Biden’s agenda are also necessary to improve the
overall well-being of African Americans. For example, African Americans are
more likely to face exposure to air pollutants that cause respiratory illnesses
that make them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.
Universal Health
Care
How about the
House and Senate creating a law for universal health care in which the
government pays the bulk of health care services for its citizens? The United
Kingdom has a national health care system. Canada has universal health care.
According to the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984, Canadian citizens
have access to national health care services. Canada’s health care system may
not be the greatest, but neither is the U.S. health care system. The only
difference is the Canadian government provides payment of up to 70% for its
citizens health care needs while the remaining 30% is taken care of by
citizens. The Canadian health care system is called Medicare. Why can’t the
United States provide its citizens national health care? The U.S. already has a
form of national health care called Medicaid and Medicare. Expand that program.
Protection of
Essential Workers In the COVID-19 Crisis
Here are the
following proposals in the Biden-Harris plan concerning essential workers on
the frontlines of the pandemic:
- Ensure
all frontline workers, like grocery store employees, qualify for priority
access to personnel protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-19 testing based upon
their risk of exposure to the virus, as well as child care assistance, and
other forms of emergency COVID-19 support.
- Expand
access to effective personal protective equipment, including through use of the
Defense Production Act.
- Establish
and enforce health and safety standards for workplaces.
- Enact
premium pay for frontline workers putting themselves at risk. There is no
substitute for ensuring worker safety, but all frontline workers putting their
lives on the line should receive premium pay for their work. This premium pay
should be in addition to paid sick leave and care-giving leave for every
worker, which Biden called for in his plan, and $15 minimum wage for all
workers.
A federal minimum
wage of $15 for all workers is a great idea. But if the cost of living
increases due to a federal minimum wage increase, homelessness, food
insecurity, and income disparities will continue to persist throughout the
United States. Universal basic income is a guaranteed check no matter the job
or income status of an individual. This is what Congress, and the Senate should
focus on—universal basic income for all!
Racial, Gender
& Income Disparities in the Criminal Justice System
President-elect
Joe Biden says that we can and must reduce the number of people incarcerated in
this country while also reducing crime. Unfortunately, people in America are a
violent group and I see no possible way that the Democrats in the White House,
Congress, or the Senate can ever reduce crime in this country. There are way
too many violent people in this country. The people in this country love their
guns, and they are not willing to relinquish their right to keep and bear arms
for their own protection or for other reasons. Unless the Democrats and
Republicans plan to abolish the Second Amendment to the Constitution, there is
no possible way that crime will ever be reduced. At least, not during my
lifetime. There’s no possible way that gun violence can and will be reduced
without abolishing the Second Amendment!
The
killers and criminals aren’t going to relinquish their firearms. Can the U.S.
Government disarm the entire nation without abolishing the Second Amendment?
The Biden-Harris
plan states that “African American mothers and fathers should feel confident
that their children are safe walking the streets of America. And, when a police
officer pins on that shield and walks out the door, the officer’s family should
know they’ll come home at the end of the day. Additionally, women and children
are uniquely impacted by the criminal justice system, and the system needs to
address their unique needs.”
The truth of the
matter is black people are possibly more fearful walking the streets in their
own neighborhoods for fear of assaults, robberies, gun violence, rapes, sex
trafficking, etc. committed by members of their own community. As a Black
woman, I’ve never feared walking the streets because of a police officer. While
I recognize there are racial, gender and income disparities in the criminal
justice system, I’ve never spent a day or night behind bars. I can’t relate to
being incarcerated or wrongfully accused of a crime I did not commit, ending up
falsely convicted and sent to prison for either a false police report or bogus
accusation. However, that does not mean I’m naïve to what is happening around
me. Human beings are flawed, and unfortunately, there are more bad people in
the world than good people.
Biden proposes to
strengthen America’s commitment to justice and reform the criminal justice
system with these core principles
- Our criminal justice system cannot be just unless we
root out the racial, gender, and income-based disparities in the system.
- Our criminal justice system must be focused on
redemption and rehabilitation.
- No one should be profiteering off of our criminal
justice system.
Biden states that “no
one should be profiteering off of our criminal justice system.” But many
politicians, elected officials in all levels of government, and non-politicians
do. How do you stop corruption at the top and mid-levels of the government and
in the private sector? Private prison contractors and companies are in bed with
government.
Biden’s response
to criminal justice reform includes the immediate passage of Congressman Bobby
Scott’s SAFE Justice Act, an evidence-based, comprehensive bill to reform our
criminal justice system “from front-end sentencing reform to back-end release
policies.” The Biden Plan will also go further. Biden will take bold action to
reduce our prison population, create a more just society, and make our
communities safer. He will:
- Expand and use the
power of the U.S. Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police
departments and prosecutors’ offices. Using authority in
legislation spearheaded by Biden as senator, the Obama-Biden Justice
Department used pattern-or-practice
investigations and consent decrees to address circumstances of “systemic police
misconduct”
and to “restore
trust between police and communities” in cities such as Ferguson. Yet, the
Trump Administration’s Justice Department has limited the use of
this tool. Under the Biden Administration, the Justice Department will again
use its authority to root out unconstitutional or unlawful policing. In
addition, Biden will push for legislation to clarify that this
pattern-or-practice investigation authority can also be used to address systemic
misconduct by prosecutors’ offices.
- Establish an
independent Task Force on Prosecutorial Discretion. The Biden
Administration will create a new task force, placed outside of the U.S.
Department of Justice, to make recommendations for tackling discrimination and
other problems in our justice system that results from arrest and charging
decisions.
- Reinvigorate
community-oriented policing. Policing works best when officers are out
of their cruisers and walking the streets, engaging with and getting to know members
of their communities. But in order to do that, police departments need
resources to hire a sufficient number of officers. Biden spearheaded the
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, which authorized funding
both for the hiring of additional police officers and for training on how to
undertake a community policing approach. However, the program has never been funded to fulfill
the original vision for community policing. Biden will reinvigorate the COPS
program with a $300 million investment. As a condition of the grant, hiring of
police officers must mirror the racial diversity of the community they serve.
Additionally, as President, Biden will establish a panel to scrutinize what equipment
is used by law enforcement in our communities.
Biden further
proposes ending the criminalization of poverty. Homelessness, racial inequities
in lending, and income disparities could be ended within two years in this
country. Let’s see what the Biden-Harris administration offers and produces
within the next four years.
The black
community is tired of the excuses we hear every election cycle coming from the
Left and the Right. This is how President Donald Trump got fired from the White
House. The American people said NO to four more years of a Trump
administration. Will Biden be a one-term president? It depends on the next four
years. To accomplish the Biden-Harris plan, there will need to be
bipartisanship. Hoping that Congress or the Senate will cooperate with the
White House can no longer be camouflaged as the go-to excuse for the Democrats.
My Expectations from
the Elected Democrats
I expect to see the
provisions in the Biden-Harris plan accomplished within the next four years. This
will require bipartisanship. Cooperation from members of Congress and the Senate
working side by side with the Biden-Harris administration will get these provisions
accomplished. As a life-long Democrat, I expect the Democratic Party to honor
its arrangement with the black community in America. I did not support Trump in
2016 and neither did I support him in 2020. Biden’s non-endorsement of reparations
for black people is a problem. Whether or not Biden will be a one-term
president will possibly hang on the fact that there are pockets of the black
community that are demanding reparations in return for their vote. This may not
seem like a huge problem right now, but four years from today it may be a determining
factor in black people who voted for Biden in 2020 deciding not to vote for him
again in 2024. Although Biden has publicly admitted that the 1994 Crime Bill
was a mistake, there are pockets of the black community that do not believe
what he says. Hannah Bleau of Breitbart wrote that “Joe Biden admitted that his
1994 crime bill was a “mistake” during a televised town hall on Thursday.” People will be
closely watching to see if there will be comprehensive police reforms, and whether
the administration directly puts a halt to disproportionate incarcerations along
racial lines as well as gender and income. The violence we see in society is
also the result of moral and social decay. Also, poverty produces petty
criminals who sometimes turn into violent criminals, depending on the
circumstances and opportunities criminals have in committing violent acts. Atlanta
gang members have been committing the most heinous crimes in the Atlanta area,
many of whom have since been apprehended and sentenced whose crimes extend as
far back as the Obama-Biden administration.
In 2019, five gang
members were sentenced for killing a father of two named Christopher Dean who
showed up at their residence for a drug transaction. He was a father and
husband who had lived in California where he was once a police witness. The
gang members found out and brutally killed him. They beat him with a crowbar, crushed
his skull, sodomized and tortured him for hours.
Black neighborhoods
are rife with serial killers, rapists, child murderers, armed robbers, psychotic
persons, and pedophiles that wreak havoc upon communities of color and the black
community. I’m not making excuses for the mass incarcerations. But there are many
black people who have been railroaded by the criminal justice system. We need
these jails and prisons for the criminal element, but at the same time innocent
people also end up being railroaded for crimes they didn’t commit. In addition,
the non-violent element sometimes receives more time in prison for selling crack
than for killing someone.
Reparations Need to
be Revisited by Democrat-Elected Officials
Reparations are
owed to the descendants of American slavery for the mass murder, kidnapping,
torture, rape, abuse, lynching, horrendous medical experimentation upon black
bodies, enslavement, human and sex trafficking of millions from indigenous Negro,
and Native American populations. Neither candidate endorsed reparations for black
people, and it could end up being the nail in the coffin for many Democrat officials
in two and four years from today. Reparations should be revisited by elected
officials. But in the meantime, I expect a federal minimum wage increase of $15
for all, forgiveness of federal student debt and forgiveness of loan payments,
closing the racial wealth and income gaps, access to capital and credit for
entrepreneurs and business owners primarily in minority and urban communities,
more police funding and proper training of new officers, more social programs
for mentally-ill persons, access to affordable and high-quality health care
although I prefer universal health care, and any provision in the Biden-Harris
plan.
I don’t know fully
what the future holds in the next two to four years. But what I do know is hope
is not going to get things done in Congress or the Senate. I don’t live by hope
and faith. I live according to reality. Right now, reality says people need a
second stimulus payout. Many families and single individuals in America are
struggling to make ends meet and need some monetary assistance. These low-wage
jobs aren’t sufficient. People are going from earning $70,000 a year to less
than $25,000, which is only enough for a single person. Not an entire family.
President Trump
may not want to concede but he has no other alternative but to concede. Despite
any suspicions that his campaign and administration have regarding this 2020
Election, it is clear many people around this country doesn’t want Trump as a
two-term president. Right now, many people are out of work. Many unemployed.
Laid off from their jobs. Furloughed. We all could use a second stimulus check.
Universal basic income would be great, too. For the elected Democrats’ sake, they
need to start doing what is in the best interest of the people of this nation. We
don’t need another Nazi Germany. Neither do we need a Kim Jong-un. We don’t need
to go backwards in our thinking and mentality. We don’t need to succumb to our
basic animal instincts like Adolf Hitler and the Nazis did throughout Europe
and other parts of the world. We do not need another Holocaust on this planet. Neither
do we need another French-type Revolution. We must evolve as a species, because
if we do not, we will not survive as a species on this planet. Evolve usually
connotates positive change and development. Our technology and weapons are
going to be the very things that cause ruin to the human family. We need to
learn to evolve without technology and weapons, because our way of life is an
unnatural way of life. The human being is out of balance with the rest of nature.
Until we become one with nature again, we’re not going to see positive evolution
of our species.
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