President-elect Joe Biden said his administration will prioritize businesses owned by minority and female Americans, which sparked backlash, with some calling it “discrimination.”
“Our priority will be Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American owned small businesses, women-owned businesses, and finally having equal access to resources needed to reopen and rebuild,” Biden said in a video posted Sunday by his transition team.
Biden’s comments were met with harsh criticism from political commentators, supporters of President Trump, and others, who described the message as discriminatory.
This is actual discrimination. The opposite of what my hero, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, fought & died for in America. https://t.co/sI37ojyle6
— Kimberly Klacik (@kimKBaltimore) January 11, 2021
Open discrimination https://t.co/Jb0yNZtdF1
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) January 11, 2021
Does @JoeBiden still think gays are a security threat? Why not include gays in the identity politics list? Separating people into groups means you have to list all of them…right?https://t.co/nGQrfQt0jW https://t.co/zEu26AK9tM
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) January 11, 2021
A woman running a small business gets more help than a man running a small business. Why?
I thought the goal was equality? I also thought gender was a social construct?
More importantly, men pay more into the public purse – why should they be punished? @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris https://t.co/dEDnsZQEzw
— Peter Lloyd (@Suffragentleman) January 11, 2021
What gives it away here is that he lists Asians as a priority. Asians do better in this country than white people, so he can’t pretend that he’s trying to prioritize the “disadvantaged.” This is simply a matter of excluding white males for the sake of it. Pure bigotry. https://t.co/gvUTDwj76o
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 11, 2021
This is quite literally RACISM!! https://t.co/W09CrYzSnL
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) January 11, 2021
“But we’re gonna make a concerted effort to help small businesses in low-income communities, in big cities, small towns, rural communities that have faced systemic barriers to relief,” Biden added in the video. “Think of the mom and pop owner with a couple of employees, who can’t pick up the phone and call a banker, who doesn’t have a lawyer, an accountant, to help them through this complicated process to know if they’re even qualified or who simply didn’t know where this relief is available in the first place.”
