Bankole Thompson

Wielding entitlement politics and leveraging deep relationships with the old, black political establishment to mount his campaign against President Donald Trump, Joe Biden has pulled a page out of Hillary Clinton's playbook.

But Clinton’s campaign failed to connect with new black voters and the growing demand for radical change.

Clinton relied heavily on the longstanding civil rights establishment to get her to the finish line even after failing to connect with emerging activist groups like the Black Lives Matter movement. Biden expects the same red-carpet treatment from black voters, especially because he served as vice president to the first black president, Barack Obama.

But unlike Obama, Biden has so far failed to offer a radical vision for change in government that would aide many black families trapped in the dungeons of inequality, including those who lost generations of black men and women to a prison-industrial complex fueled by a 1994 crime bill that Biden supported.

In their effort to return the white liberal establishment to power in Washington, Democrats have missed the obvious: Biden is a man whose time has passed. He does not represent the future and has offered no policies to empower the changing demographics of the nation.

From his debate performances it’s clear he does not appear to grasp the urgency of the times. All he does is remind people he was Obama’s vice president and that he knows Washington because he’s long been a part of that system — a system that has failed time and again to produce change.

The full court press on Bernie Sanders’ campaign is a selfish, destructive effort by the white liberal establishment, who reject the revolutionary values and policies Sanders represents. Real change in our communities will not take place unless the establishment is forced to come to terms with its hypocritical politics as the vanguards of progress and diversity in black communities.

For example, take Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, whose overall policies have sidelined many black people in the city’s economic recovery. Yet, despite his disgraceful record on racial equity, Duggan enjoys the support of the older civil rights leadership in Detroit. It’s no accident that Duggan has endorsed Biden for president. White liberals are not interested in the type of revolution that Sanders seeks.

Sanders condemned the water shutoff crisis in Detroit. Biden hasn’t said a word about it. And I don’t expect him to because Duggan, backed by the old guard of the civil rights leadership, has already refused to declare water a human right.

If Biden gets the nomination, many young people will sit out the vote. He doesn't represent their aspirations, and in many ways they see him as part of the problem in Washington.

Democrats seem to have little vision aside from making Trump a one-term president. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren remain the only candidates in the race who are speaking to the deep inequities in this nation.

The reason many black communities suffer today is because we’ve not pushed the envelope with white liberal power brokers.

If Biden is elected president, there will be an adult in the White House. But not much will change for black lives.

bankole@bankolethompson.com

Twitter: @BankoleDetNews

Catch “Redline with Bankole Thompson,” which is broadcast at 11 a.m. weekdays on Superstation 910AM.