A top voting rights group has issued a scathing rebuke of Democrats who’ve been pressuring President Joe Biden to end his 2024 campaign after a poor debate performance.
And it packs a punch.
Black Voters Matter is one of the pre-eminent Black voter advocacy and mobilization groups in the country. In the statement, the group’s leaders accused liberal elites of leading the effort to oust Biden and said that doing so would undermine the democratic process by overruling Black primary voters, many of whom have dedicated their time and energy to re-electing the Biden-Harris administration.
Black Voters Matter is one of the pre-eminent Black voter advocacy and mobilization groups in the country.
The statement, written by Black Voters Matter co-founders LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright, along with the group’s national legal director, April England-Albright, says the Biden-Harris administration has delivered on promises to invest in Black communities, implement police accountability, fund historically Black colleges and universities, and more.
But they wrote that “the recent nervous cry for Biden to step aside” is being “led largely by white congresspeople, pundits, and donors” and add that it threatens to “mute and overlook the voices of Black Voters.”
The sentiment reflects a palpable irritation I’ve detected from Black folks lately — journalists and otherwise — as they’ve watched some in the media push for Biden to drop out or cite polls that they believe indicate he should, when that hasn’t seemed to match what many Democrats, especially Black Democrats, say when asked face-to-face.
Ditching the Biden-Harris ticket could negatively “impact Black turnout for decades to come while deepening the widespread belief that the Democratic Party takes our voters for granted,” Black Voters Matter argues.
The statement speaks to frustrations that the calls to replace Biden have generally been made without articulating realistic plans for how voter mobilization groups could re-educate voters about whatever fantasy ticket these Democrats want instead. Admittedly, it’s a thought that’s come to mind as I’ve read and heard about what I feel are far-fetched scenarios for a change atop the ticket. Because despite what George Clooney or James Carville might want, for example, I don’t think they’re going to be knocking on doors to turn out the vote.
The statement addresses this:
Also, time and time again grassroots organizers on the ground are called upon and depended upon to deliver the vote of marginalized communities. Billionaires, celebrities and political pundits have the right to their opinions but they don’t speak with or motivate our communities. Groups like ours do. Based on our years of organizing in some of the most difficult circumstances we DO NOT believe this is the moment to take a risky and ill prepared move that can further splinter the vote and add confusion to the process for voters.
The group’s leaders make clear they’re not denouncing people who voice principled policy disagreements with the Biden administration. They write:
But the hyperbolic, coordinated and well-funded dissent over the past two weeks is something very different. Dissent that seeks to dismantle the Biden/Harris ticket solely on a debate performance, unreliable polls (which are actually moving in favor of President Biden) and/or quiet but racist paranoia over the vice president potentially stepping into the presidency, is not productive dissent and should cease immediately.
The statement ends with a call to “[b]uckle up, do the work, have some courage and stay the course to create the society and the world we all need and deserve.”
You should really read the statement in full. I think the Blacklash toward those who have been driving the “Biden drop out” campaign is an underreported story these days. At minimum, it seems to have saved the Biden-Harris campaign from a feeding frenzy.