PResident Biden drew a parallel Friday between Donald Trump “and his MAGA Republican allies” and the 1950s segregationists who tried to prevent black and white Americans from attending school together.
Speaking to black leaders gathered at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Biden described meeting some of the nine people who faced racist taunts and abuse to attend Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957, three years after the Supreme Court ruled segregation in education was unconstitutional.
Biden said the same animosity that led segregationists to try to prevent these students from attending high school with white students is now emerging in “other insidious forms,” such as efforts to destroy affirmative action in college admissions and eliminate corporate initiatives that try to bring more people of color into the workplace.
“The Little Rock Nine were met with sarcasm and violence. Today, the vitriol takes other insidious forms – an extreme movement led by my predecessor and his MAGA Republican allies, supported by an extremist Supreme Court that has gutted affirmative action in college admissions. My predecessor and his radical MAGA friends now seek diversity, equity and inclusion across America,” Biden said. “They want a country for some – not for all.”
Biden joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1954 Brown v Board of Education decision, which led to a wave of integration across the country. But even after that ruling, local segregationist leaders in many states flouted the court’s ruling. In an iconic confrontation, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent troops from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect black students who faced violent threats while attending school.
“My name is Joe Biden and I am a lifetime member of the NAACP,” he said as he began his remarks. He then joked: “When I said this a little earlier to the president, he said, ‘Are your debts paid?’ I have to check.
Biden’s speech was part of an effort to engage the African-American community at a time when his approval ratings are falling among young black voters. Later on Friday, Biden met at the White House with presidents of the “Divine Nine,” the influential network of black sororities and fraternities. “I know true power when I see it,” Biden said of the Divine Nine.
On Saturday, Biden will speak at Morehouse College in Atlanta, the prestigious historically black college home to Martin Luther King Jr. The event is expected to draw some protests amid unrest on campuses across the country. “I have more Morehouse men in my administration than Morehouse,” Biden said, adding that he views historically black colleges and universities as “vital to our nation’s progress.” After pointing out that these colleges have graduated 70% of the black doctors and dentists in the US and 80% of the black judges, Biden added: “And 100% of the black vice presidents. You get it.” Vice President Kamala Harris graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
When white supremacists rallied to stop the removal of the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, then-President Donald Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides” of the clashes. let him enter the race to prevent Trump from a second term. Combating intolerance also bolsters Biden’s desire for a second term, says a close White House adviser.
Biden’s comments to the NAACP dovetailed with others he has made in recent months as he argues for a second term, many of which focus on the need to defend freedoms from right-wing extremists who want to reverse decades of work by expanding access to education and jobs. for people of color and further restrict access to abortion. “My predecessor and his MAGA friends are responsible for taking away other freedoms, from the freedom to vote to the freedom to choose,” Biden said. “But I have always believed that the promise of America is great enough for everyone to succeed.”
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
