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White Politicians Fear Outcomes of Democrat's $3.5 Trillion Budget

Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer

The $3.5 trillion budget bill passed by the U.S. Senate has game-changing potential for the middle class, poor, and the underserved.

It’s so enticing for African Americans and the historically underserved that some white politicians call it racist and anti-white.

“[The bill] discriminates against white people at every turn,” lamented former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey in an opinion piece for a New York newspaper.

If you’re white, you’re low-priority,” McCaughey wrote in the piece rich with irony. African Americans have faced white supremacy since the first Black person landed against his will on this nation’s soil hundreds of years ago. But, McCaughey continued to lament.

“Americans should be outraged — but not surprised. After all, President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act, passed in March, also put into place an ugly system of discrimination against whites,” she posited.

“It offered debt relief to Black farmers but not white farmers. Another provision offered billions in aid to minority-owned and women-owned restaurants but told struggling restaurants owners who happened to be white men that they had to go to the back of the line.”

While there’s optimism for ultimate passage in both chambers of Congress because Democrats are using the reconciliation process for the budget, Sen. Schumer and others in his party know a battle remains ahead.

Moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia already has raised the possibility that he might ultimately vote against his party on the budget bill.

“I’m concerned about the grave consequences [for the nation’s debt] as well as the ability to respond to other crises,” Manchin said. “Given the current state of the economic recovery, it is simply irresponsible to continue spending at levels more suited to respond to a Great Depression or Great Recession – not an economy that is on the verge of overheating.”

A summary of the budget blueprint passed by the Senate shows that if passed, the bill would establish universal Pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds and a new child care benefit for working families. In addition, it makes community college tuition-free for two years and increases the Pell grant award.

The bill also makes investments in historically black colleges and universities, minority-serving institutions and Hispanic serving institutions. It creates the first federal paid family and medical leave benefit and adds a new Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefit to the Medicare program.

“When you look at this budget in its totality, it is the strongest hint yet that we have a president, an administration, that believes reparations to African Americans should happen,” said Adam Clevinger, a CPA in Landover, Maryland.

“The bill is like a downpayment for reparations even though it’s not only about Black people. It’s about helping all underserved people -- people that whites and the wealthy have repressed for so long,” he said. “But, overall, it’s good for America.”

The proposed budget also attacks much of the climate and infrastructure provisions that the environmental scientists believe are needed to prevent ultimate human destruction.

It includes new clean energy tax incentives, electrifying the federal vehicle fleet and making the “largest-ever one-time investment” in Native American infrastructure projects.

“At its core, this legislation is about restoring the middle class in the 21st century and giving more Americans the opportunity to get there,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) insisted. WI @StacyBrownMedia

5 HBCUs will get a boost from the Democrats' proposed budget. (Courtesy photo)

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The District Pit Caters to D.C.’s Raw Barbecue Market

James Wright WI Staff Writer

When the subject of barbecue comes up, North Carolina, Memphis, Tenn., Kansas City, Mo. and Texas dinner bells ring, but if Southeast chef Roger Sherman has anything to say, the District will elbow into those ranks soon.

“D.C. has no barbecue culture here,” Sherman said. “I want to make sure my hometown and my business becomes known as a place to get some good barbecue.”

Sherman got into the barbecue business, informally, early in his life. He talks about growing up and eating his mother’s Kentucky-style southern cooking. He speaks about being born on Christmas Day and how, because she was in labor, she was unable to finish the holiday turkey, his father and older sister went without Christmas dinner that year.

He said in his family, he’s the butt of a long-running joke that has him owing them a Christmas dinner when he gets old enough. Years later, he bought his first smoker and made good on that promise. He then started smoking turkeys and hams for Thanksgiving and Christmas events. Word got around about his culinary skills, resulting in the launch of The District Pit in 2016.

“People in this city eat a hodgepodge of barbecue types from around the nation. The District Pit caters to all of the popular types around the nation. I have the molasses-based sauce that is popular in Kansas City and the vinegar-based sauce that is well known in North Carolina. For example, I offer my customers both pork and beef ribs,” he said.

THE PIT’S OFFERINGS

In addition to ribs, The District Pit offers brisket, smoked chicken, pulled pork and, if requested, venison and beef shoulder, for his customers. Sherman plans to add sausage to the menu someday. During the holiday season, he offers smoked turkey and smoked ham. The District Pit offers macaroni and cheese, baked beans, coleslaw and corn bread as side dishes.

The food in platters and if requested, individual dishes with a single serving of meat. The platters are a mixture of meat and side dishes. The individual platters are for one person. Five congressional platters range in price from $150 to $250 and can feed a small event. Five senatorial platters vary in price from $300 to $475 and feed medium and large gatherings.

“I specifically named those platters because Washington, D.C. is the seat of national power and that is something people can identify with,” Sherman said.

THE FUTURE

Sherman said The District Pit best days are ahead. He has developed a

5 Southeast D.C. resident Roger Sherman is the owner of The District Pit. (Courtesy photo/Roger Sherman) business relationship with the Mansion on O Street in Northwest that will have the entities cooperating with barbecue catering and urban wineries.

“My wife Dawn and I are really caught up in the wine culture here in D.C., which is quite extensive,” he said.

On Aug. 7, Black Men Ventures-an organization with the mission of supporting businesses owned by African-American males--named The District Pit the winner of its second annual pitch competition. Sherman expressed elation at winning the $5,000 first-place prize.

“I decided to compete, thinking ‘What do I have to lose?’ ” he said. “I am used to making presentations so I went for it. I made the presentation and apparently the judges liked it. I am ecstatic about winning the $5,000.”

Sherman said he plans to own a food truck within the next two years. In a few years, he would like to open a brick-and-mortar establishment. For now, he wants to keep his eye on the immediate future.

“At this point, we are focusing on building our catering business,” he said. WI @JamesDCWrighter

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