Jamaal Bowman blames a lack of police reform for Biden’s low numbers with Black voters

The sole male member of the Squad lambasts the president for not living up to his commitments in an interview with The Independent.

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Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York has blamed President Joe Biden’s lack of action on police reform for his tumbling numbers among African American voters.

Mr Bowman, the sole male member of the Squad, spoke with The Independent at length about his first year in the House. Mr Bowman largely won his primary against longtime incumbent Representative Eliot Engel after Mr Engel was caught on a hot mic saying “If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care” at a rally after the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.

Along with being a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Mr Bowman is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“As the president loses support in the African American community, it's important for the president to be in strategic planning sessions with both legacy and contemporary civil rights and the CBC and activists, so that we can get something done that the Black community has been fighting for, and demanding, and dying for for many years, which is not just voting rights, but police reform,” he said.

Last week, Derek Chauvin, the officer who murdered Mr Floyd by kneeling on his neck, pleaded guilty to violating Mr Floyd’s civil rights. After Mr Chauvin’s initial conviction in April, Mr Biden said that he pledged to Mr Floyd’s family that Congress would pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. But negotiations between Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat, and Senator Tim Scott, a Republican, as well as Representative Karen Bass of California, failed and police reform has essentially fallen by the wayside since then.

After talks fell through, Mr Biden lamented lack of progress.

“Regrettably, Senate Republicans rejected enacting modest reforms, which even the previous president had supported, while refusing to take action on key issues that many in law enforcement were willing to address,” he said.

Since then, the White House has mostly focused on passing the bipartisan infrastructure package that he signed in November and that Mr Bowman voted against, as well as his proposed Build Back Better legislation, which would include provisions to combat climate change, an expanded child tax credit, child care, universal pre-school and home care for elderly people and people with disabilities. But as Senator Joe Manchin blocked the measure, Democrats have said they will attempt to pass voting rights but have been silent on police reform.

“The fact that George Floyd right now is dead in the Senate is completely unacceptable. Something needs to be done about that, and the president needs to be more of a leader on that, because that, it was maybe even as big of a lie as the student loan lie,” Mr Bowman said in reference to Mr Biden not cancelling student loan debt.

“And we haven't done anything, even though the world stood up after we watched George Floyd be lynched by Derek Chauvin. That that was a lie that the president needs to respond to when it comes to the African American community.”

Mr Bowman’s words come as Mr Biden’s numbers have dropped precipitously among Black voters. During his victory speech in November 2020, he explicitly thanked Black voters, who helped put him over the top against Senator Bernie Sanders.

“And especially for those moments when this campaign was at its lowest – the African American community stood up again for me. They always have my back, and I’ll have yours,” he said at the time.

In April, 78 per cent of Black voters polled by Quinnipiac University approved of the job he was doing. But last month, that number tumbled to 63 per cent.