Houston Republic

Black Americans have been seeking real criminal justice reform from Democrat leaders, but they failed to deliver.

Instead, Democrat politicians like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have spent their careers duping the Black community. 

Joe Biden led the charge of inequities in sentencing for Black Americans beginning in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1984, Biden co-sponsored the Comprehensive Crime Control Act, which imposed new mandatory minimums and increased federal sentences for marijuana possession. Then in 1986, Biden helped write the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which created the 100:1 crack cocaine sentencing disparity. Black American incarceration rates increased after the above mentioned bill was passed. 

The inequities of sentencing didn’t stop there for Joe Biden. In 1994, Biden authored the notorious 1994 Crime Bill, which imposed a “three strikes” rule, which resulted in prisoners receiving life sentencing for non-violent crimes. Throughout his career in the Senate, he bragged that ever major crime bill had his name on it. 

Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, certainly did her part in the inequities of sentencing for Black Americans in California. 

As the District Attorney of California, Harris would stop at nothing to appear tough on crime. She fought hard to keep inmates in overcrowded prisons for years. Harris went on to “champion,” a law that put the parents of children who missed school in jail. 

The Biden-Harris ticket would be dangerous for the Black community. As Black Americans seek to demand fair sentencing over the years, there was the only person that delivered – President Trump.  

President Trump saw how these types of policies had hindered Black Americans for decades. He spearheaded the most significant criminal justice reform, First Step Act, that confronted the injustices in black communities everywhere. This historic reform ended unfair sentencing. As a result of the First Step Act, more than 3,000 Americans have been released from prison and returned to their families. 

The First Step Act didn’t stop there. The law also encourages professional skills training for former prisoners so that they can have a successful life outside of prison. As part of the continuation of bringing the American Dream back to them, President Trump launched the “Ready to Work” initiative to ensure former prisoners have meaningful employment and reduce recidivism. 

Now, President Trump is pledging to go even further to uplift the Black community. President Trump’s newly released Platinum Plan calls to enact additional commonsense criminal justice reform. The President and his administration are committed to work on a Second Step Act . 

Criminal justice reform was long overdue for the Black community, and not one Democrat leader was able to get it done. President Trump didn’t sign the First Step Act to win votes; he did it because it was the right thing to do. I’m confident his build on that historic criminal justice reform if voters re-elect him to a second term. 

– C.L. Bryant is a Baptist minister and former radio and television host based in his native Shreveport, Louisiana. Formerly, Bryant was the President of the NAACP chapter in Garland, TX, and a Senior Fellow with D.C.-based Freedom Works.