Biden embraces black voters but keeps distance from demands

Bloomberg

Joe Biden is working to show he’s an ally for black voters in their fight against police brutality, yet the likely Democratic nominee is only willing to go so far.
In the wake of George Floyd’s death while in Minneapolis police custody, Biden has taken a tough stance against police misconduct, urging additional training for law enforcement and an end to choke-holds. Yet his calls for change stop short of the policies the protesters say they want to see.
He has held off on agreeing with demands to “defund the police,” making clear instead that he wants community policing and body cameras. He’s yet to talk to protest leaders. And he hasn’t followed other prominent Democrats in joining marchers on the streets.
With his stance towards police misconduct, Biden is trying to show his support for protesters while preserving his appeal with a more moderate base that sees tougher laws and new training as the way to overhaul policing.
It resembles the line he’s threaded with progressive activists who saw him refuse to support Medicare for All or the Green New Deal but take a few steps in their direction.
Biden must encourage younger black voters to turn out in higher numbers in November than they did in 2016, when Hillary Clinton’s failure to engage them contributed to her narrow loss, while not losing older black voters or white voters who could make a difference in key battleground states.
Three of those crucial states — Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — all have substantial African-American populations in their largest cities that Clinton relied upon but did not inspire enough to get the turnout she needed, when few thought Donald Trump could actually win.
“Joe Biden is competitive in places that no Democrat has been competitive and no Democrat if you just look at the demographic should be competitive, because he’s talking to everybody about the type of country that we need, the type of country that actually supports all our people,” said Malcolm Kenyatta, a 29-year-old Pennsylvania state representative from Philadelphia. “And that’s what young activists are asking for, too.”
Biden is approaching the moment by offering an empathetic ear and a stark contrast with Trump, who threatened to order a military response to the protests and has urged law enforcement and elected officials to “get much tougher” with protesters.
The former vice president started with his own campaign. An all-staff meeting after Floyd’s death lasted two hours, more than twice what was expected, as people spoke about their experiences with police and about race more broadly.
Black campaign staff gathered for a virtual conversation with Representative Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, an African-American campaign co-chair, to discuss their concerns that Richmond could take back to Biden. One aide in the session described it as a chance to grieve. The aide said the conversations within the campaign have been blunt as he recalled his own experience of having a police officer hold a gun to his head.
Moreover, Biden took pains to keep a low profile when he went to Houston to meet with Floyd’s family. His campaign was careful to contrast that with Trump’s widely criticised pose in front of St John’s Episcopal Church near the White House last week.