Precisely because Blow is not averse to context, his recent visceral reflections on President Trump’s reelection reminded me of his meditations, nearly a decade ago, on the context that gave us the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (VCCLEA).
During the 2016 Democratic primaries, Blow released an impassioned video intended to contextualize Hillary Clinton’s advocacy for the omnibus crime act. After acknowledging the bill’s disastrous impact on “the black community,” Blow noted, correctly, that support for the VCCLEA ran deep among Democrats and liberals. Sen. Joe Biden helped draft it. President and First Lady Bill and Hillary Clinton stumped publicly for it, while the president lobbied Democrats in Congress to vote for it.
Thanks in part to the Clintons’ efforts, the bill received more support from congressional Democrats than Republicans. Perhaps most striking, or maybe just telling, roughly two-thirds of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted for the Crime Act, which was also enthusiastically greeted by black mayors and ministers alike.
Since New Democrats had little interest in redressing poverty, tough-on-crime policies offered many blacks, particularly low-income African Americans, the only available pathway to safe and stable communities.
Blow insinuated the VCCLEA’s long-term consequences were not altogether clear in 1994; however, this wasn’t quite right. In fact, while Bernie Sanders voted for the bill because it included the Violence Against Women Act, he also warned, on the floor of the House of Representatives, that tough-on-crime policies absent programs designed to address poverty — a major contributor to violent and property crimes — would compound extant racial disparities in the US criminal justice system while swelling the nation’s already appallingly large inmate population.
One has only to reflect upon the racial connotations…
Auteur: Touré F. Reed
