ATLANTA – President Joe Biden will deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College on Sunday, an important opportunity for an election-year appearance before a black audience but one that could also directly expose him to the anger felt by some of these and other students across the country. have been expressing their staunch support for Israel in its war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
The White House hinted that Biden would reference concerns from students and faculty at the historically black, all-male college about his approach to the war. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “stay tuned” when asked whether the Democratic president would address concerns that have sparked weeks of student protests on college campuses across the country.
Nearly all streets around campus were closed for the event. As the capacity crowd gathered just before the graduates began to enter the court, Associate Dean Mel Foster warned, “While we respect everyone’s right to free speech, Morehouse College has issued guidelines to ensure we are in compliance with the law.” .
Some members of the graduating class showed support for Palestinians in Gaza by tying keffiyeh scarves around their shoulders over their black graduation robes. A student wrapped himself in a Palestinian flag.
The speech, and a separate one Biden will deliver on Sunday in the Midwest, are part of a burst of outreach to black constituents by the president, who has seen his support among those voters dwindle since his strong support helped put him in office. Oval Office. in 2020.
After speaking at Morehouse in Atlanta, Biden will travel to Detroit to speak at an NAACP dinner.
Georgia and Michigan are among a handful of states that will help decide the expected November rematch between Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump. Biden narrowly won Georgia and Michigan in 2020 and needs to repeat – boosted by strong black voter turnout in both cities.
Jean-Pierre said Biden is looking forward to Morehouse’s speech, just as he does all of his commencement speeches. He wrote the comments himself, along with senior advisers, she said.
“When it comes to this difficult time that we live in as we talk about the protests, he understands that there is a lot of pain,” Jean-Pierre said. “He understands that people have a lot of opinions, and he respects that people have a lot of opinions.”
Biden spent part of Saturday preparing for his big speech. He was met at the Atlanta airport by a group of Morehouse alumni and jokingly put his arm around one of their shoulders. He later stopped by Mary Mac’s Tea Room, a black-owned restaurant that opened nearly 80 years ago, to briefly address about 50 supporters. A 2024 Morehouse graduate introduced him.
The president joked about being surrounded by “Morehouse Men.”
Biden spent the end of last week reaching out to Black constituents. He met with plaintiffs and relatives of those involved in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision that banned racial segregation in public schools. He also met with members of the “Divine Nine” black fraternities and sororities and spoke with members of the Little Rock Nine, who helped integrate a public school in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.
Morehouse’s announcement that Biden would be the commencement speaker sparked some backlash among the school’s faculty and supporters who oppose Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Some Morehouse alumni circulated a letter online condemning school administrators for inviting Biden and soliciting signatures to pressure Morehouse President David Thomas to rescind it.
The letter asserted that Biden’s approach to Israel amounted to support for genocide in Gaza and was out of step with the pacifism expressed by Martin Luther King Jr., Morehouse’s most famous graduate.
Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials.
In an extensive interview with the Associated Press, Thomas sought to downplay the prospect of student protests during the ceremony. He considered the all-male campus a place that, like other historically black colleges and universities, can balance social justice and political activism with a sense of order and decorum befitting graduation and a presidential address.
“I think you’ll find that we represent both sides – those who are vehemently opposed to the president coming to speak and those on the other side who think this is a great thing… and who don’t see a contradiction between their feelings about what is happening in Gaza and the coming of the president,” he said.
But some students at Morehouse and the adjacent campuses that make up the Atlanta University Center (AUC) remain firmly against Biden’s appearance. They accuse Thomas and Morehouse trustees of prioritizing status and establishing political alliances to the detriment of the values the school stands for.
AUC students, faculty and alumni held a rally and death against Biden on Friday.
“If our illustrious HBCUs and administrators truly loved the activism they claim to champion and use as a marketing tool, then they would be with us as we pray to God, ‘From the West End to the West Bank,’” said Morehouse junior Lonnie White of Atlanta , among the students who participated in two AUC demonstrations in recent weeks.
Student protest leaders said they were not aware of any plans for an organized protest within the graduation venue itself.
“I don’t even have a ticket,” said Morehouse sophomore Anwar Karim, who led a petition asking Thomas to rescind Biden’s invitation.
Karim said he expected some students to attend previously planned upcoming gatherings to commemorate the birthday of Malcolm X, a black leader often credited with promoting the philosophy of Black Power as a Civil Rights-era alternative to King’s practice of civil disobedience.
Thomas said in the interview that quiet, undisturbed protests would be tolerated, but repeated his promise to halt the ceremony if disturbances escalated.
Former U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, a Morehouse alumnus and Biden campaign co-chair who helped broker the president’s appearance, called the graduation a “solemn event” and said the gravity of the moment should cause protesters to potentially hesitate.
“I hope people don’t interrupt a unique moment like this for those students, parents and grandparents who are there to see these young people walk across that stage,” Richmond said.
In Detroit, Biden was scheduled to visit a black-owned small business before delivering the keynote address at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner, which traditionally draws thousands of attendees. The speech gives Biden a chance to reach thousands of people in Wayne County, an area that has historically voted overwhelmingly Democratic but has shown signs of resistance to his re-election bid.
Wayne County also has one of the largest Arab-American populations in the country, predominantly in the city of Dearborn. Local leaders were at the forefront of an “uncommitted” effort that received more than 100,000 votes in the state’s Democratic primary and spread across the country.
A protest rally and march against Biden’s visit are planned for Sunday afternoon in Dearborn. Another protest rally is expected later that evening outside Huntington Place, the location of the dinner.
___
Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
