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I
neither expected sparks nor extreme surprises as President-elect Joe
Biden began to announce his Cabinet. I did expect diversity, and
we’ve seen it. But I didn’t expect the number of Obama-era
retreads to be included in this Cabinet. As I write this in
mid-December, I can hardly contain my disappointment that Tom
Vilsack, the man who fired Shirley Sherrod for specious reasons, is
being asked, again, to lead the Department of Agriculture. Many of us
had hoped that Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, who served several years
on the House Committee on Agriculture, would get this position.
Instead, she has was nominated to be the Secretary of the Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), still a cabinet position.
HUD, however, is one of those “black folk or people of color”
positions. Robert Weaver, an African American Harvard Ph.D. in
economics, was the first HUD Secretary. Noted attorney and civil
rights activist, Patricia Roberts Harris, was the eighth. Some HUD
secretaries were quite distinguished and qualified, others (like
present secretary Ben Carson) much less so. In any case Congresswoman
Fudge will do an exemplary job, no matter where she serves. But I am
among those, including the legacy civil rights leaders, who are not
excited about Vilsack returning to Agriculture.
There
is no one under 50 among the Biden nominees. There are few
progressives among the Biden nominees. A glimmer of hope lies in the
fact that the Council of Economic Advisor leans somewhat left and is
also labor-centered, with the nominated chair, Cecilia Rouse, a
Princeton University labor economist. The others, Jared Bernstein and
Heather Boushey, have past relationships with the Economic Policy
Institute, a worker-focused think tank in DC (I serve on their
board). It is also hopeful that Janet Yellen has been nominated as
Treasury Secretary. She is worker-focused and the first woman to hold
the position. But in retreading Vilsack and Kerry, choosing
international expert Susan Rice to lead the Domestic Policy Council,
and choosing other mainstream moderates, Biden has thrown ice water
on the hopes and dreams of the progressives who put their interests
aside to unite around him.
Where
is the appointment for Mayor Pete Buttigieg, whose youth and
knowledge would bring much to the Cabinet? Who will be the Secretary
of Labor? Bernie Sanders would like the position and is highly
qualified for it. But so, too, is Thea Lee, President of the Economic
Policy Institute, or Bill Spriggs, an African American labor
economist who was an Assistant Secretary under President Obama. What
about the Attorney General? Of the four top picks, only one, Former
Massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick, is African American. There are
opportunities for the Cabinet to be younger, more progressive, and
more diverse. President-elect Biden has to consider their concerns.
For
a week or so, I’ve been encouraging patience, telling people we
need to wait to see “the whole thing” of this Cabinet. But I’m
reminded (thank you, Congressman Jim Clyburn) of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.’s book, Why We Can't Wait, that Black people are always waiting, always being cautioned to be
patient, always being told that it is not yet time for our concerns
to be addressed. We have been cautioned on patience by both our
friends and by those who would oppose us.
President-elect
Jo Biden still has selections to make and he can make them younger
and more diverse. I’d also encourage him to speak up about the
racism that has increased in our streets with these “Proud Boys”
defacing Washington DC churches and roaming through our streets
picking fights with people.
We
need a strong voice to stand against this racism. It wouldn’t
necessarily come from the mainstream, moderate and middling. Those
like the so-called Proud Boys (what are they proud of) aren’t
likely to listen to Biden since they’ve been given the thumbs up by
the tantrum-throwing loser who can’t figure out how to concede this
election. But President-elect Biden would be well advised to speak
firmly about this racism. Perhaps he should, as NAACP President
Derrick Johnson said, appoint a race czar, just as he has selected
the climate czar in John Kerry. In any case, the middling and the
moderate, those who enjoy the status quo, aren’t the ones to fix a
mess that has been brewing for more than four hundred years.
President-elect has never been especially bold, but this is a moment
for boldness.
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