In Tulsa Speech, Biden Announces Anti-Discrimination Efforts in Housing, Business: ‘Everybody Will Do Better’

During his remarks in Tulsa to commemorate 100 years since the 1921 Tulsa massacre on Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced that his administration is committed to two efforts to combat race-based discrimination.

“Today we’re announcing two expanded efforts targeted towards Black wealth creation that will also help the entire community,” Biden said. “My administration has launched an aggressive effort to combat racial discrimination in housing. That includes everything from redlining to the cruel fact that a home owned by a Black family is too often appraised at a lower value than a similar home owned by a White family,” Biden added, as the audience applauded.

“Just imagine, instead of denying millions of Americans the ability to build their own home and build generational wealth, we made it possible for them to buy a home and build equity into that home and provide for their families,” Biden also said.

The president also said he would commit more federal spending to help small, minority-owned businesses.

“Second, small businesses are the engines of our economy and the glue of our communities,” Biden said, adding that his administration oversees “hundreds of billions” in federal contracts.

“I’m determined to use every taxpayer’s dollar that is assigned to me to spend going to American companies and American workers to build American products, and as part of that, I’m going to increase the share of the dollars the federal government spends to small disadvantaged businesses, including Black and Brown small businesses,” Biden said. “Right now it calls for 10%. I’m going to move that to 15% of every dollar spent. I have the authority to do that.”

Biden also spoke about increasing investments in infrastructure, schools, and historically Black colleges and universities, and said that that the expanded efforts would benefit all Americans.

“Does anyone doubt this whole nation would be better off with these investments?” Biden asked. “The rich will be just as well off. The middle class will do better, and everybody will do better. It’s about good paying jobs, financial stability and being able to build some generational wealth. It’s about economic growth for our country and outcompeting the rest of the world which is now outcompeting us.”

Watch above, via CNN.