Mayor Pete on Racial Equity and 2054
By now you’ve likely seen at least part of Pete Buttigieg’s newsworthy speech to the LGBTQ Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch.
Watching the full remarks is well worth the 20 minutes it’ll take you. The comments Buttigieg openly shares about his sexuality are, so far, the only thing said by a 2020 candidate history will surely remember.
But three days prior, Buttigieg gave another 20 minute speech you may have blinked and missed. He addressed the National Action Network Convention in New York City that Thursday morning, and his speech is worth a close examination by anyone curious about Buttigieg’s views on how we can deliver racial equity to black Americans.
Buttigieg’s remarks were described as “very specific” and “substance, not soundbites” by Rev. Al Sharpton, who hosted and moderated the appearance.
The remarks also began to answer an important question: as a white millennial candidate focused on intergenerational justice, how is Buttigieg using his privilege to advance racial equity in America?
NBC News clipped some key lines into this 2-minute story:
Unfortunately, due to apparent technical difficulties, the only video I can find of the full speech is an often choppy livestream archive. Buttigieg’s apperance is about 20 minutes long, from 04:30 to 24:00, including a brief Q&A session at the end.
Since the remarks got sucked up by the swirling, unforgiving vortex of our national news cycles, I wanted to offer a recap of the speech’s contents and explain how it connects to Buttigieg’s overall vision — especially intergenerational justice and the philosophical lens of John Rawls.
If “the philosophical lens of John Rawls” doesn’t mean anything to you in the context of Buttigieg’s candidacy, I encourage you to read The Case for President Pete and The Plan to Reshape American Politics.
Otherwise, let’s jump right in.
Building a New Agenda for Black Americans
“I am here precisely because I believe the moment we are living in calls for different kinds of leadership than what we’re used to. That it is time for something completely different.
And I believe that the time has come for a new generation to put forward leaders in enterprise, in activism, and yes, in politics at the highest levels.
I believe the experiences of our best-run cities and towns point the way toward what we most need in our future as a country, especially when it comes to building a new agenda for black Americans.”
These line from early in Buttigieg’s speech best state the thesis of his argument. Given the federal government’s failure to address racial equity in any meaningful way since the end of the 1960s, it’s certainly an argument worth taking seriously.
Buttigieg goes on to name five policy areas that ought to be part of building a new agenda for black Americans: homeownership, entrepreneurship, education, health, and justice.
Buttigieg also emphasises the overarching importance of protecting our democracy and voting rights in order to deliver this agenda:
“I believe for us to make progress on any of those issues we have to tend to our democracy. And face the fact we aren’t truly a democracy if some people are systematically restricted from voting because one party has decided they would be better off if fewer people voted.
But when we have better democracies, I believe we will be able to better address these issues — in ways that benefit all Americans, yes — but that are not experienced by all Americans equally.”
Before going into the specific policies he’s proposing, Buttigieg explains why he views building a new agenda for black Americans as a moral necessity:
“In so many ways, our times have shown that the idea that a rising tide lifts all boats just isn’t true. Not when some of those boats are still rope-bound to the ocean floor.
If we are not intentional about untying those ropes, then my generation too will become wanton. And I want to be certain that all of us are better off, but in particular that patterns of inequity have been erased by the time we get to 2054.”
(He also explains 2054 is the year he will be the current age of the current president, a line which always gets a positive reaction from audiences.)
Buttigieg then dives into the substance of his speech. Over the course of the next 10 minutes, he points to at least a dozen specific policy ideas the federal government could implement to deliver racial equity:
- National housing policy targeting resources and investments at historically red-lined neighborhoods
- Federal investment in entrepreneurship centers assisting minority-owned businesses in neighborhoods with racial wealth disparities
- Federal support for in historically black colleges and universities (Buttigieg calls HBCUs “engines of empowerment”
- Target federal subsidies for teacher pay to Title I schools that have experienced historic exclusion and discrimination
- When designing federal efforts to get people more healthcare, invest resources to make sure those at greatest risk receive the greatest effort to ensure they are covered and enrolled and cared for (including black Americans and other communities with health disparities)
- Use the resources of the Department of Justice to support local police departments looking to do the right thing as South Bend did: body cams, becoming more transparent about use of force, stepped up civil rights training and implicit bias training
- Ending private prisons
- Ending mandatory minimums
- Ending prolonged solitary confinement, which he notes is “a form of torture”
- Abolishing the death penalty
- As we move towards legalizing cannabis, expunging and removing of non-violent offenses
- Investment in rehabilitation and reintegration for the formerly incarcerated
In a Q&A with Rev. Sharpton immediately following the remarks, Buttigieg also commits to three more specific ideas:
- National legislation restoring the right to vote for formerly incarcerated individuals
- Using the legal force of DOJ to hold accountable local police departments acting in a racially discriminatory manner
- Signing legislation establishing a commission to study reparations
Several lines in the policy section were particularly well-received by the convention audience:
“It should enhance, not diminish, the value of a good police department when we assert what should go without saying but in these times must be said clearly, and again, and again: that black lives matter.”
…
“And speaking of sentencing disparity, it is time to face the simple fact that capital punishment as seen in America has always been a discriminatory practice and we would be a fairer and safer country when we join the ranks of modern nations that have abolished the death penalty.”
…
“And lastly, in criminal justice, we’ve got to be more intentional on drug policy. It is a very good thing that Americans are realizing in the context of the opioid crisis that we need to start recognizing that addiction can be a medically-treatable condition and not an individual moral failing.
But! People are right to raise the question: ‘Where were you with this enlightened attitude on drugs during the crack epidemic?’”
When describing the actions he’d take as president to deliver racial equity for black Americans, there’s one word Buttigieg keeps coming back to throughout his speech: intentional.
He says the word at least 10 times and uses it to close out the remarks:
“So let us be intentional about these opportunities around homeownership, and enterprise, education, health, and justice.
Let us be honest about the disparities that did not happen by accident and will not go away on their own.
But not one of those issues will get better if we are not first attending to our democracy. Access to our democracy is the stuff of civil rights.
And the activism and the effort that has gone into expanding access to our democracy — that is what I have above all to thank you for. That’s what politics is about.
To mend what is broken, make right what is wrong, and make us all better and safer in our everyday lives.
That is the nature of American greatness. I am eager to work with you and your leadership in making it so.”
I’ve posted a transcript of the speech as best I can hear it, but I actually want to focus in on the comments Buttigieg makes after his remarks — specifically the ones about intergenerational justice.
When asked by Rev. Sharpton whether he would sign legislation creating a national commission to study reparations, Buttigieg responds:
“I would. And let me tell you why it’s is so important: because some of those issues I was talking about, these are issues where inequity happened in material ways. On purpose.
So sometimes we talk about some of these patterns of exclusion or discrimination like they just happened. Like our neighborhoods just got segregated just because.
Or our schools, and even our school districts have their boundaries drawn so that within any given district they may be integrated, but if you hold up the districts next to each other you begin to realize that the county as a whole is effectively segregated by race.
And the resources are different. There is a direct connection between exclusion in the past and exclusion in the present.
So I talk a lot about in this campaign about intergenerational justice. What one generation owes to another. I talk about it a lot in terms of climate change, because I’m worried that my generation will be living with the decisions for the rest of our lives that are made right now around climate.
The conversation about reparations is also one that is about justice between generations. You can’t tie something down and then wonder why it’s getting flooded as the water’s rising.”
Buttigieg does indeed talk a lot about intergenerational justice in this campaign. So what is it?
In short, intergenerational justice is a governing philosophy drawn from the idea that each generation ought to build, preserve, and pass on a healthy, democratic, just society to the next generation. It’s a concept hugely relevant to the circumstances confronting our country today.
In The Plan to Reshape American Politics, I explain how Buttigieg thinks he can use intergenerational justice to both create good public policy and assemble an electoral coalition that can reshape the nature of politics in this country —in other words, “win the era”.
I also explain how intergenerational justice can be applied to some of the most pressing issues facing us today: climate change, income inequality, student loan debt, and more.
But since the existence of racial inequity for black Americans is a special kind of problem, I felt the connection between intergenerational justice and racial equity deserved a special level of attention. I think Buttigieg does too.
Because no matter how much potential, opportunity, or possibility Buttigieg offers in his vision for our country, Buttigieg also knows our future cannot be built on a foundation ignorant of America’s pervasive racial disparities and injustices.
Buttigieg knows our future cannot be built on a foundation infested with the very things that have torn our country apart time and time again: hate, racism, and white supremacy.
Buttigieg knows we must remove this rot from American society if we ever hope to deliver racial equity for black Americans.
He knows the rot won’t go away on its own.
He knows we must act intentionally to remove the rot.
And because he knows all this, Buttigieg also knows he must intentionally use his privilege as a white millennial to help dismantle white supremacy.
Doing anything else would mean failing to achieve his vision for America.
Recall this line from his speech:
“I want to be certain that all of us are better off, but in particular that patterns of inequity have been erased by the time we get to 2054.”
Pause and consider this statement. Buttigieg is suggesting erasing America’s hundreds-years-old patterns of inequity in 35 years.
Not making progress, not working towards — erasing.
It’s as bold and audacious as anything Buttigieg is proposing. It may seem impossible right now.
But is setting any other goal really an option?
Consider this: by 2054, the Census Bureau projects 55% of the United States population won’t identify as white. If by that year we haven’t erased patterns of inequity, what sort of country will we be living in?
A country where the legacy of slavery and the continued presence of white supremacy shapes our society, even once our population has become majority-minority?
This is not a vision for America we can accept. Therefore, we must accept the alternative Buttigieg is proposing.
And then we must act intentionally through our laws to achieve the vision.
While all Americans will play some role in delivering racial equity for black Americans, white millennials bear a particular responsibility.
Buttigieg explains why:
“If we are not intentional about untying those ropes, then my generation too will become wanton.”
Writing as a white millennial — an identity I share with Buttigieg and many readers of this essay — let be me clear: we cannot let the racial inequities of past generations persist beyond our own.
We cannot hand our country’s inequities off to another generation.
We cannot neglect our particular responsibility if we seek to achieve intergenerational justice.
For there can be no intergenerational justice if the justice is only afforded to white millennials.
This is a truth we must remember as the years and decades go on.
Intergenerational racial justice will not be easy. It will not happen overnight. It will not happen on a linear timeline. There will be setbacks, failures, and deep disappointments. We will all make mistakes. We will all be responsible for owning our mistakes.
But we must persist. We have a moral duty to intentionally act to correct the flaws of our nation’s past. Every generation bears a particular responsibility in the course of our country’s history. This is ours, and we must not shirk it.
Our generation’s leaders must look like our generation. For a generation that is only 56% white, this means elevating, supporting, and embracing the political leadership of millennials of color at every level. We cannot let our generation perpetuate the power structures built by white supremacy.
But for the white millennials like Buttigieg who do step forward as political leaders, they must understand their privilege, and then they must use it to erase the patterns of racial inequity. Only then can we hope to establish true intergenerational racial justice.
Buttigieg believes this is possible by 2054. And he’s correct. It’s in our power to bend the long arc of the moral universe towards justice.
But only if we — and he — act intentionally to right these wrongs: in our daily lives, in our workplaces, in our cities and towns, on the campaign trail, and from the Oval Office.
Racial inequity will forever be a part of the American story. But there’s no reason why delivering racial equity cannot be the next part of our story.
As Buttigieg said last Thursday:
“It’s a very American thing to do. When something is broken, we ought to fix it.”
Let’s fix it.
If you want to hear Pete talk more about building a new agenda for black Americans, check out his appearance on The Breakfast Club starting at 19:15.
