By — Courtney Vinopal Courtney Vinopal By — Associated Press Associated Press Leave a comment 0comments Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-biden-rice-lead-roundtable-with-black-essential-workers Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: Biden, Rice lead roundtable with Black essential workers Politics Updated on Feb 23, 2021 3:43 PM EDT — Published on Feb 23, 2021 12:44 PM EDT U.S. President Joe Biden and domestic policy adviser Susan Rice held a virtual round-table meeting Tuesday with four essential front line workers, discussing the impact the coronavirus pandemic was having on their communities. Watch the roundtable in the video player above. Biden said his administration was focusing on those “most left behind.” He spoke with a EMT from Missouri, a pharmacist from Illinois, a child care worker from Ohio and a grocery store manager from Iowa. The president use the discussion to promote his COVID relief package that is currently in negotiation on Capitol Hill. “Make me one promise, you all take care of yourself,” Biden said. “We need you for real. ” Black workers are more likely than others to be employed in frontline essential jobs, according to a June 2020 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. Black Americans make up more than a quarter of public transit workers, nearly 20 percent of child care and social service workers, and 18 percent of trucking, warehouse and postal service workers. This demographic has also been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for 15 percent of virus deaths where race is known, according to the COVID Tracking Project. By — Courtney Vinopal Courtney Vinopal Courtney Vinopal is a general assignment reporter at the PBS NewsHour. @cglennvino By — Associated Press Associated Press
U.S. President Joe Biden and domestic policy adviser Susan Rice held a virtual round-table meeting Tuesday with four essential front line workers, discussing the impact the coronavirus pandemic was having on their communities. Watch the roundtable in the video player above. Biden said his administration was focusing on those “most left behind.” He spoke with a EMT from Missouri, a pharmacist from Illinois, a child care worker from Ohio and a grocery store manager from Iowa. The president use the discussion to promote his COVID relief package that is currently in negotiation on Capitol Hill. “Make me one promise, you all take care of yourself,” Biden said. “We need you for real. ” Black workers are more likely than others to be employed in frontline essential jobs, according to a June 2020 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. Black Americans make up more than a quarter of public transit workers, nearly 20 percent of child care and social service workers, and 18 percent of trucking, warehouse and postal service workers. This demographic has also been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for 15 percent of virus deaths where race is known, according to the COVID Tracking Project.