Biden’s Executive Orders Chart a Path for Racial Equity
This week, President Biden signed several executive orders that propel the federal government to take important steps towards securing racial equity for all Americans, “including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.”
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights applauds the new administration for beginning this urgent and important project to make our country more just. As one order reads: “Entrenched disparities in our laws and public policies, and in our public and private institutions, have often denied that equal opportunity to individuals and communities. Our country faces converging economic, health, and climate crises that have exposed and exacerbated inequities, while a historic movement for justice has highlighted the unbearable human costs of systemic racism.”
These words -- and the executive actions they carry -- mark a clear and welcome departure from the previous administration, which tried to reverse anti-discrimination laws and propped up white supremacist ideas for four long years. As advocates and community members, we are grateful to this administration for reminding the nation what responsible leadership can achieve in a time of crisis.
One of the orders signed by President Biden directs federal agencies to assess “whether, and to what extent, its programs and policies perpetuate systemic barriers to opportunities and benefits for people of color and other underserved groups.” The order requires that community members historically underrepresented and underserved by the government must be consulted in this process, and orders federal agencies to increase coordination with community-based and civil rights groups. It also establishes an Equitable Data Working Group tasked with improving data collection to measure equity.
As written in a separate memorandum for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, “This is not only a mandate to refrain from discrimination but a mandate to take actions that undo historic patterns of segregation and other types of discrimination and that afford access to long-denied opportunities.”
Another order signed by President Biden combats xenophobia against Asian American and Pacific Islanders, a critical protection against communities who have been especially targeted in the age of COVID-19. Among other measures, the order directs the Department of Justice to work with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities "to prevent hate crimes and harassment against AAPIs."
Of course, these are only the first steps on a long road, and government leaders will need to faithfully put these ideas into action. Racial injustice in America has an extensive and ugly history going back centuries, but the recent disasters of COVID-19, a white supremacist insurrection, and the unending barrage of police violence against Black Americans have pulled back the curtain on just how far we are from achieving equity. We hope these executive orders signal the beginning of a new and righteous path forward.