To Build Back Better, Biden Needs to Invest in Black Workers

Now that Democrats have passed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, the Congressional Black Caucus must advocate for priority investments in the Black workforce. As important, the Biden White House has an obligation to use the infrastructure money to remedy the legacy of racial injustice.

After the signing ceremony, the Biden administration will begin awarding contracts behind closed doors. Absent CBC lobbying, there appear to be no provisions for using the money to “build back better” the Black labor force.

Yet not long ago, during the Black Lives Matter protests, Democratic candidates campaigned on the promise to explore reparations for the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. For example, my senator, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), endorsed a platform of “reparations” during the presidential primaries.

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Senator Warren was not alone in stating a commitment to make things right. In the House, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), sponsored bill H.R.40 for a “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act.” ” In February, as the bill was being debated in the House judiciary committee, President Biden supported its mission to devise remedies for past wrongs.

Now, as Democrats prepared to divvy up a historic trillion dollars for infrastructure investments, the leaders appear to have forgotten the promises. The neglect should not come as a surprise—the designation of funds can become a ritual of deal-making akin to a “Grand Bazaar,” according journalist William Greider in Who Will Tell the People: The Betrayal of American Democracy. He cautioned that the interests of weaker groups in a coalition will be ignored unless their representatives are prepared to champion for funds.

Understand that no group in the Democratic coalition is as vulnerable as Black workers, according to leading indicators of unemployment, income, wealth, education, and other factors. They are among the most endangered sectors in the economy—yet continue to be the most reliable supporters of the party.

That is why the Congressional Black Caucus—along with its allies—has a responsibility to demand priority attention to infrastructure investments in the Black workforce and ghettos. The CBC was the brainchild of Congressman Charles Diggs Jr. of Detroit, who proposed the creation of a forum to discuss common concerns and priorities. About 50 years ago, the organization was founded by 13 legislators: among the pioneers were Shirley Chisholm of Brooklyn, Louis Stokes of Cleveland, John Conyers of Detroit, Ronald Dellums of Oakland, and Charles Rangel of Harlem.

Over the years, the intentions of the CBC have meandered. Some envisioned it as a vanguard for Black empowerment—a “Congress within the Congress” to promote the interests of the folk. Others viewed their role in the traditions of district legislators; most favor a coalition with the center-left wing of the party. In the current Congress, the CBC boasts a historic 56 members in the House and Senate, representing more than 41 percent of the total African American population.

That being the case, there should be unanimous consent on the question of linking the infrastructure spending to Black workforce, business, and community development. The CBC can even argue that the literature on the urban economy encourages such an approach.

Scholars of urban poverty tend to agree on the profound impact of two trends: the inadequate education and training of the labor force, and the structural shifts in the industrial economy. The infrastructure law has the potential to address both concerns:

The dilemma of “inadequate human capital” is the consequence of generations of discriminatory practices. Moreover, Black workers face the looming threat of unprecedented lay-offs due to automation in the years ahead, according to the 2019 McKinsey Report, “The Future of Work in Black America.” The report called for corporate and government intervention to “help stem the challenges automation poses to African Americans.”

Among the proposed interventions are retraining for the “middle-skill” occupations in growth industries. Such interventions could converge with the enormous need for skilled workers to carry out the infrastructure initiatives. Projects will require the training of hundreds of thousands of workers in multiple fields, according to Harry Holzer, a Georgetown University professor of public policy.

The projects will require skilled workers for roads, bridges, internet, drinking water, mass transit, and clean energy projects, among others. A critical question is, who will do the work and how will they be trained? The answer presents a unique opportunity to invest in the upgrade of skills and job switching of the Black workforce.

The linkage of struggling Black labor and small business to the many infrastructure projects could be a modern day version of the New Deal projects of the 1930s—an earlier period of critical investments in which Black workers were cut out of the deal.

Meanwhile, the conditions in the ghettos are the result of industrial disinvestment carried out under corporate and government policies. Urban sociologist William Julius Wilson studied the effects on Black workers and community in pioneer research like the 1996 book When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor.

Since then, organizations such as The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis have shed light on the dire challenges for Black male workers in the inner cities. Its 2010 report, “Economic Progress of African Americans in Urban Areas: A Tale of 14 Cities,” was a call for action.

The infrastructure spending could help restore industrial activity in the blighted urban areas. For that reason, the Biden Administration should direct industrial production projects like battery plants, drinking water facilities, mass transit upgrades, and clean energy projects to the ghettos in the Midwest, Northeast, and South. The approach might even draw genuine support from the Republican proponents of urban “opportunity zones.”

In closing, the literature on the state of the Black economy makes the case for priority attention in infrastructure spending. The CBC and its allies need to stake a claim on the investments as an instrument of industrial necessity and compensatory justice. If done right, it could help repair the Black workforce and community in the 21st century.