President Biden declared Saturday that white supremacy was the “most dangerous terrorist threat to our homeland” and warned a predominantly black audience that “the The sinister force” supported by his predecessor and challenger to his presumption is attempting to reverse the racial progress of generations in America.
Mr. Biden never named former President Donald J. Trump in his sometimes stern speech to the graduating class of Howard University, the nation’s most historically prestigious black university. However, he alluded to Mr. Trump’s previous statements to link him to racist elements in American society and suggested that the just-started presidential campaign would decide whether justice would be done. victory over hatred, fear, and violence.
“There are people who turn people into demons and turn people against each other,” Biden said. “And there are people who will do anything and everything, no matter how reckless or immoral, to stay in power. It will never be an easy battle. But I know this – the oldest, most sinister powers can believe they will determine America’s future. But they were wrong. We will decide the future of America. You will decide the future of America.”
Dressed in a blue and white academic gown, the president sought to draw young graduates into what he presented as the cause of the moment. He cited the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in 2020, which sparked widespread protests against police brutality and expressed sympathy for fearing Black motorists. scared when stopped by the police.
“Fearless progress toward justice is often met with fierce pushback from the oldest and most evil forces,” he said. “That’s because hate never goes away. I thought when I graduated that we could defeat hate. But it never goes away.”
Likewise, Mr. Biden said that “after the election and re-election of the first black American president, I was hoping the fear, the violence, and the hate would be significantly reduced.”
He said he discovered the opposite when neo-Nazis and white supremacists clashed with protesters in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017, and he recounted Mr. Trump’s reaction. “What did you hear?” he asks. “That famous saying: ‘There are very good people on both sides.’ That’s when I knew, and I’m not kidding, that’s when I knew I had to stick around and get back into public life.”
Trump’s supporters say his line has been distorted and note that he has at times condemned neo-Nazis. But when he launched his presidential re-election campaign, Mr. Trump more openly accepting elements of racism and extremism in American life. Last winter, I organized for dinner Rap artist Ye, who has made anti-Semitic statements, and Nick Fuentes, a prominent white supremacist, attended the far-right rally in Charlottesville.
The selection of Howard gives Biden the chance to win support in the most staunch Democratic constituency, the area he needs to be re-elected next year. While polls show Black voters continue to strongly support Mr Biden, political analysts and party strategists have expressed concern about an enthusiasm gap that could complicate the outlook for the president, who needs high turnout from his base.
Mr. Biden has been thwarted in goals such as cracking down on police brutality and strengthen the right to vote. He signed a executive order on federal law enforcement last year, although significant portions of the order were not fulfilled. Many advocates say he has failed to deliver on his pledge to make systemic changes to the criminal justice system.
But he chose Kamala Harris (a Howard graduate) as the first Black vice president; appointed the first black woman to the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson; and put more Black women on the federal bench than any other president combined. Unemployment of Black Americans fell to a record low of 4.7% in Apriland the gap between white and black unemployment has fallen to the smallest level ever measured.
Of particular interest to the audience on Saturday, Mr. Biden developed a $400 billion write-off program for student loans over the next several decades, wiping out up to $20,000 each for those who qualify. . But the Supreme Court seems ready to disable it.
Mr. Biden won 92% of Black voters in 2020, but only 58 percent said they approve of his performance in Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research latest poll. A May survey of The Economist and YouGov The percentage of Black adults who approve of it is 71%, but only 46% want him to run for re-election.
Mr. Biden found a friendly but not very enthusiastic crowd on Saturday. Graduating seniors and their families filled much of the Capital One Arena, home of the Capitol and Washington Wizards, and greeted him warmly, though dozens of people stood up in protest. , some held up signs on issues such as military research. The conflicts between students and graduates evident in campus interviews prior to the ceremony.
“He was a pretty good guy,” said 19-year-old Mariah Davis, a mechanical engineering student, of Biden. “He’s just really trying to advocate for so many groups of people that haven’t been heard.”
But some students said they weren’t sure they could connect with him. “We felt a little strange about him coming to the graduation ceremony because he could obviously teach us things about values, but what would he say that he hasn’t said before?” Alisa Drake, 19 years old, sophomore. “What can Biden tell us as black students enter the workforce?”
If the choice next year was between Mr. Biden and a Republican, she said she would vote for Mr. Biden. But she is indifferent about it. “I’m not really excited,” she said. “I feel like there aren’t any candidates that have caught my eye lately, it’s like, ‘Wow, they really care about something and care about helping my generation.’”
