I was Detroit's police chief. Joe Biden has failed our community. | Opinion

Having served as the chief of the Detroit Police Department, and after seeing the issues facing our cities and neighborhoods, I can tell you firsthand that President Joe Biden’s policies are devastating our community. Whether it is “Bidenomics” or the crisis at the southern border, the Biden Administration has proven that it will stop at nothing to continue its failed agendas, even if it means turning its back on the Black community.

The truth is, we are being left behind by Biden’s economic policies. “Bidenomics,” Biden’s label for his $11 trillion in new federal spending for green jobs and infrastructure, has led to lower real wages. Michigan has dropped five places since 2019 in terms of median household income, a Bridge Michigan analysis found, and according to 2022 U.S. Census data, we’re below the national median household income average. In the Black community, we are feeling that pain at the grocery store and at the gas pump. In fact, a poll from October 2023 found that 80% of Black voters have a negative view of Biden’s economy. Hardworking American families everywhere are feeling it, too. But what you may not know is that the Biden Administration’s inflation is hurting Black households more than white households, with 53.7% of Black respondents to a Dallas Federal Reserve Bank survey reporting inflation stress, compared to 43.6% of whites.

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This is only the start. In 2022, five of the 50 most violent cities in the nation were in Michigan, with violent crime increasing higher than the national average, even as the homicide rate dropped faster than the nation. This rise in crime has disproportionately affected Black Americans. And despite the rise in crime, Democrat politicians have been hindering efforts to keep criminals off our streets with anti-police rhetoric, repeated calls to defund the police, and efforts to slash funds from police budgets. With Joe Biden’s border crisis, fentanyl has been pouring into our communities, and Black men are at a higher risk than any other demographic to die from a drug overdose, along with American Indian and Alaska Native men.

Hollier off ballot? So much for Black representation for Detroit in Congress.

In Chicago, New York, and in Michigan, the allocation of federal funds for temporary public housing for immigrants has been this administration’s clear priority over Black communities. Biden’s reckless agenda is costing money and depleting resources that our community and our country cannot afford to spare.

For too long, the Democrat party has taken advantage of the historic ties it has had with our community. A January Fox News poll found that Joe Biden’s approval rating in the Black community has dropped almost 25% since 2021, and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs found in a December poll that only 50% of Black adults approve of the job that Joe Biden is doing. Years of inaction and broken promises have led to little more than the same old, same old.

Meanwhile, Republicans are reaching out to the Black community. Last cycle, the RNC made a multimillion-dollar commitment to our strategic minority engagement efforts, including in Black American communities across the country. Overall, the Republican Party gained 6 points with Black voters this past midterm election cycle and remains committed to building on those gains ahead of the 2024 election. Republicans want to welcome everyone into a party that is prioritizing economic freedom and putting Americans first. These aren’t just words; the Republican Party and Trump have the results to back it up.

After Biden’s 1994 crime bill was shown to have targeted Black Americans, Trump secured the first significant federal criminal justice reform in years with the First Step Act, intended to make federal sentences more fair, and to improve conditions in federal prisons. Trump has also been committed to prioritizing and supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including signing the FUTURE Act, dedicating a funding mechanism for HBCUs. And it was Trump who created the Opportunity Zones program, a program that provides tax incentives for redevelopment in distressed communities, which led to $75 billion of new private investment and supported more than 7 million Black Americans.

The choice this November is simple. A vote for Trump is a vote for our country, our state, our city and our community.

James Craig served as chief of the Detroit Police Department from 2013 to 2021. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters and we may publish it online or in print.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Former Detroit police chief: Biden fails Black Americans