Biden signs orders on racial equity
Washington DC: US President Joe Biden has signed a series of executive orders to ensure racial equity across the country, acting on one of his core campaign promises to dismantle "systemic racism" that has plagued America far too long.
While announcing the four presidential actions on Tuesday at the White House, a week after being sworn in as the 46th US President, Biden cited the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer last May, which touched off demonstrations across the country.
Biden called the killing "the knee on the neck of justice," and said that because of it, "the ground has shifted. It changed minds and mindsets."
"In my campaign for President, I made it very clear that the moment had arrived as a nation where we face deep racial inequities in America and systemic racism that has plagued our nation for far, far too long," Biden said.
Through four executive actions to advance racial equity and take first steps to root out systemic racism in housing and criminal justice, Biden renewed his administration's commitment to making the American Dream real for families across the nation by taking bold and ambitious steps to root out inequity from the economy and expand opportunities for communities of colour and other underserved Americans.
We have never fully lived up to the founding principles of this nation, to state the obvious, that all people are created equal and have a right to be treated equally throughout their lives. And it's time to act now, not only because it's the right thing to do, but because if we do, we'll all be better off for it, Biden said at a White House ceremony to sign the executive order.
For too long, we've allowed a narrow, cramped view of the promise of this nation to fester," he said.
In an executive order, Biden directed federal agencies to combat resurgence of xenophobia, particularly against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, that he said have skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic.
This is unacceptable and it's un-American. I've asked the Department of Justice to strengthen its partnership with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community to prevent those hate crimes, he said.
He asked the Department of Health and Human Services to put out best practices for combating xenophobia in the national response to COVID-19.
He also announced to rescinded the previous Trump administration's harmful ban on diversity and sensitivity training, and abolished the offensive, counter-factual 1776 Commission. Unity and healing must begin with understanding and truth, not ignorance and lies, Biden said.
Meanwhile, Biden has announced that the US will purchase an additional 200 million doses of the two coronavirus vaccines, an increase in the available supply by 50 per cent, which will fully vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of this summer.
After reviewing the current vaccine supply and manufacturing plans, Biden on Tuesday announced that his administration will increase overall weekly vaccination distribution to states and tribal territories from 8.6 million doses to a minimum of 10 million doses.
Fulfilling a campaign promise, Biden also plans to reopen the HealthCare.gov insurance markets for a special sign-up opportunity geared to people needing coverage in the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden is expected to sign an executive order Thursday, said two people familiar with the plan, whose details were still being finalized.
The Obama-era health care law covers more than 23 million people through a mix of subsidized private insurance sold in all states, and expanded Medicaid adopted by 38 states, with Southern states being the major exception.
