Joe Biden’s 1994 Crime Bill
Was Backed by Blacks

Cory Booker has smeared Biden for supposedly passing a racist crime bill in 1994. What Booker and the radicals always “forget” is that Biden’s bill was backed by:

Two-thirds of the Black Congressional Caucus
58% of the black population
The 10 big-city black mayors
41 of the most prominent black ministers

That’s a lot to “forget.” So were all those black people really stupid? Or did they know something Booker doesn’t know or won’t admit?

Well, they obviously were not stupid or racist. And Joe Biden was not stupid or racist for working with them and reflecting their wishes as best he could given the horrendous opposition of Republicans.

Here is the ministers’ eloquent statement of support for Biden’s bill, just before it passed. This is what Booker and a lot of modern radicals don’t want you to know. From the Congressional Record: August 18, 1994:

STATEMENT BY AFRICAN-AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS

We believe there is no more important responsibility of society than to raise its children to become upstanding adults. … All of society — including government — must pitch in. That is why we support the President’s crime bill. While we do not agree with every provision in the crime bill,

We do believe and emphatically support the bill’s goal to save our communities, and most importantly, our children.
We believe and support the $8 billion in the bill to fund prevention programs such as grants for recreation, employment, and anti-gang and comprehensive programs to steer our young people away from crime.
We believe in drug treatment to help get federal and state inmates out of the cycle of dependency.
We believe in programs to fight violence against women.
We believe in banning assault weapons and preventing these deadly devices from falling into the hands of criminals and drug dealers.
We believe in putting 100,000 well-trained police officers on the streets of our most violence-plagued communities and urban areas.
We believe that 9-year-olds like James Darby of New Orleans, who was killed by a stray bullet only days after writing a plea to President Clinton to stop the violence, must have the opportunity to live and learn and grow in safe, decent communities.

For all these reasons, we support the crime bill and we urge others to join us in this crusade. [emphasis added]

Black religious leaders are generally a forgiving group and unlikely to be tough on crime unless their communities are at great risk. And of course, their views are not racist. Joe Biden has always been close to the black community. So he took their side.

This is the first in a series of posts that will document that while mass incarceration is a horrendous problem, the myths surrounding it are wholely misleading. Upcoming posts will show that:

The Congressional Black Caucus and black mayors supported the bill.
The black incarceration rate rose fastest for 20 years before the bill and stopped five years after its passage.
Had the bill not passed, the Republicans would have passed something awful.
The crime bill myth casts white Democrats as racist for siding with black leaders and activists and ignores Republican influence and the crime wave.

You can read the full story now in Chapter 6 of Ripped Apart: Why Democrats Should Fight Polarization.

African-American religious leaders who signed the statement

Charles Adams, National Progressive Baptist Convention, President, Detroit, Michigan.
Bishop H.H. Brookins, AME Denomination, Los Angeles, California.
Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Third Baptist Church, San Francisco, CA.
Bishop E. Lynn Brown, Christian Methodist Episcopal, Los Angeles, California.
Rev. John A. Cherry, Full Gospel AME Zion Church, Temple Hills, MD.
Rev. Howard Chubbs, Providence Baptist Church, Greensboro, N.C.
Father George Clements, The Alliance for Rights and
Responsibilities, Washington, D.C.
Bishop J. Clinton Hoggard, AME ZION Church, Washington, DC.
Rev. John Doggett, Superintendent, United Methodist Church, St. Louis, MO.
Rev. Jerry Drayton, New Bethel Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Rev. Walter Fauntroy, New Bethel Baptist Church,
Washington, D.C.
Bishop Louis Ford, Church of God in Christ, Chicago, Illinois.
Bishop William Graves, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Memphis, Tennessee.
Rev. Joe Hardwick, Praises of ZION Baptist Church, Los Angeles, CA.
Rev. Calvin A. Harper, Morning Star Baptist Church,
Cincinnati, OH.
Bishop Fred James, AME Denomination, Washington, DC.
Dr. T.J. Jemison, President, National Baptist Convention USA, Baton Rouge, LA.
Rev. E. Edward Jones, Galilee Baptist Church, Shreveport, LA.
Rev. Odell Jones, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan.
Rev. William A. Jones Jr., Bethany Baptist Church,
Brooklyn, NY.
Rev. W.B. Lewis, President, North Carolina General State Baptist Convention, Raleigh, NC.
Bishop S.C. Madison, United House of Prayer, Washington, DC.
Bishop Haskell Mayo, African Methodist Episcopal, Fourth Episcopal District, Chicago, Illinois.
Rev. Randall McCaskill, Concerned Black Clergy of
Philadelphia, President, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dr. John Miles, Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, Kansas City, Missouri.
Rev. James E. Milton, Southern Baptist Church, Cincinnati, OH.
Rev. Dr. Frank Pinkard, Evergreen Baptist Church, Oakland, CA.
Bishop Norman Quick, Church of God in Christ, New York, New York.
Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, General Secretary, National Baptist Convention USA, Mt. Vernon, NY.
Joseph L. Roberts Jr., Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA.
Bishop J.H. Sherman, Church of God in Christ, Charlotte, North Carolina.
Rev. Dr. E.E. Stafford, Mt. Tabor Baptist Church, Los Angeles, CA.
Rev. Charles Stith, Union United Methodist Church, Boston, Massachusetts.
Bishop Frederick Talbot, African Methodist Episcopal, Arkansas/Oklahoma.
Dr. M.T. Thompson, Berkeley Mount ZION Baptist, Berkeley, CA.
Wyatt T. Walker, Canaan Baptist Church, New York, NY.
Bishop George W. Walker Sr., AME Zion Denomination, New York, NY.
Bishop L.T. Walker, Church of God in Christ, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Dr. Kenneth Whalum, Olivet Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee.
Rev. Frederick Williams, Episcopal Church of the
Intercession, New York, NY.
Bishop Milton Williams, AME Zion Church, Washington, DC.