Saying it's time to act "because that's what faith and morality require us to do," President Biden on Tuesday signed four executive orders aimed at advancing racial equity, including phasing out the use of private prisons at the federal level (article available here). "Our soul will be troubled," he said, "as long as systemic racism is allowed to exist."
The four executive actions President Biden signed:
- direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development "to take steps necessary to redress racially discriminatory federal housing policies";
- direct the Department of Justice to end its use of private prisons;
- reaffirm the federal government's "commitment to tribal sovereignty and consultation";
- and combat xenophobia against Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
In announcing the actions, President Biden cited the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer last May, which touched off demonstrations in cities across the United States. 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."
The Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities directs the attorney general to create no new contracts with private prisons, but only applies to Department of Justice facilities. The order will impact the 12 private prison facilities housing roughly 14,000 inmates that are currently contracted by the DOJ, but not other government agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security.
On Monday, the Senate confirmed Biden’s pick for treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, who is the first woman to lead the department. Last week, the Senate confirmed Lloyd Austin as the nation’s first Black defense secretary.