Photos: CBC
On Monday the Executive Board of the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Biden and senior White House officials to discuss the Black agenda and released the following statement:
“The Congressional Black Caucus is squarely focused on the issues of the Black agenda for Black America. Including voting rights, police reform, economic justice, and the plight of Black men and boys. Moving forward, we have laid out plans to enshrine voting rights into law, advance prevention methods to combat police violence, uplift diversity, equity, and inclusion at all levels of the private and public sectors and address the glaring issue of Black unemployment in this nation.
“President Biden personally addressed each of our issues at great length, from potential legislation, executive orders, and commissions. Further, he reaffirmed his long-standing commitment to the Black agenda. We were also pleased with the dialog we had with President Biden on issues of international importance, from African immigrants in Ukraine and Haiti to Brittany Griner’s detention.
“The fierce urgency of this moment required us to reiterate to the president that we still have much more work to do, to build a better America. From economic justice, diversity, equity and inclusion, to supporting small and Black-owned businesses and a myriad of other issues.
“Additionally, we thanked the president for his leadership on the life-saving funding included in the American Rescue Plan, the Build Back Better agenda, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was shepherded through Congress under the leadership of CBC Chairwoman Joyce Beatty.
“This meeting came on the hills of many CBC members marching across the Edmond Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 57th anniversary, just as so many did on Bloody Sunday in 1965. While we cannot and will not let any setback stop us, we were reassured by President Biden and senior members of this administration that the issues of the Black community remain of paramount importance and will be prioritized.”
