President Biden Wants to Meet With Stevie Wonder To Discuss The ‘Black Agenda’

According to April Ryan, music icon Stevie Wonder wants to meet with President Biden to discuss the former's commitment to the "Black agenda."

President Joe Biden is being asked to meet with music icon Stevie Wonder to discuss a commitment to the “Black agenda.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke with reporters on Monday, Nov. 27, where she was informed about Stevie Wonder’s request to meet with Biden to ensure the concerns of the Black community would be addressed as we head into the 2024 presidential election, the Washington Examiner reports.

“I had an in-depth conversation with Stevie Wonder last night, who was asking, requesting a meeting with the president,” theGrio correspondent April Ryan said. “He’s very concerned about the Black agenda falling along the wayside and issues like laws of 50 years ago that are now being abolished or gutted to include issues like the Voting Rights Act, what happened in Arkansas last week, affirmative action, Supreme Court issues, we’ve seen it, ban on books.”

Ryan also noted Wonder’s past meeting with former President Ronald Reagan, which was a “major impetus for getting the holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

Jean-Pierre said that while Biden took Wonder’s concerns “very, very seriously,” she could not confirm a meeting between the two parties.

“I also want to say that on the president’s first day in this administration, he has taken this very seriously as it relates to what we’re seeing. Why, as it relates to racial inequality, he called it one of the four major crises that we have to deal with as a country when he stepped into office,” she explained.

“We’ve met with civil rights leaders multiple times, the president himself and the vice president, as well, and have sat in rooms listening to them and listening to their concerns and also taking in their feedback,” Jean-Pierre added.

Biden promised to pass new voting rights legislation during his campaign in 2020. However, laws protecting voting rights continue to face growing threats from conservatives. But Jean-Pierre said the president is taking the concerns “very seriously.”

“That’s why we’ve taken the actions that we’ve had throughout the past almost three years in this administration. That’s why we’re going to continue to be vocal about the importance of making sure that we keep an open door of opportunity for communities,” Jean-Pierre said. “I don’t have anything to share about a meeting with Mr. Stevie Wonder, but obviously, this is something that both the president, the vice president, and also the first lady, takes incredibly seriously.”

On the same day of the press conference, two conservative judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit voted to end what is left of the Voting Rights Act, according to MSNBC. If the decision is successful, it will remove the ability of minority voters to vindicate their right to vote.