Morehouse graduates turn their backs on Biden in silent protest during commencement speech after backlash over Israel stance

SEVERAL graduates of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, turned their backs on President Joe Biden in silent protest as he delivered the commencement address Sunday morning.

The silent demonstration followed reports of fliers spread across campus encouraging graduation attendees to turn their backs on Biden or avoid clapping during his speech.

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Several college students from Georgia were sighted with their backs and chairs away from Biden during his speech.

Some were seen wearing a kaffiyeh, a traditional headdress that resembles a sign of solidarity with Palestinians, or holding a Palestinian flag.

Other reports revealed that some students walked out of graduation when Biden received an honorary degree from the college.

In their protest, the students joined hundreds of other university students who protested Biden’s response to the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

Before Morehouse’s graduation, hundreds of alumni reportedly signed a letter asking the college to rescind its invitation to Biden.

“By inviting President Biden to campus, the college asserts a cruel standard that complicity in genocide does not deserve sanction from the institution that produced one of the 20th century’s greatest advocates of nonviolence,” says the letter obtained by the Associated Press. read.

College officials later said they would not rescind the invitation.

Protests have been taking place on college campuses across the country for weeks, with students calling on their schools to divest from companies that support Israel.

Dozens of students were arrested as several of the protests were considered disruptive and resulted in chaos.

Students have also condemned Israel’s military action in Gaza, which left more than 35,000 people dead, according to to Palestinian health authorities.

The war began after a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which left more than 1,200 people dead.

For months, the Biden administration has vocalized its support for Israel, saying the country has the right to defend itself.

This support was highly criticized by students and progressive Democrats in Congress.

Earlier this year, the president finally issued a call for an “immediate ceasefire” in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden reiterated his call for an “immediate ceasefire” during his commencement address, saying a “two-state solution” is the only way forward.

He also appeared to acknowledge the ongoing student demonstrations during his speech, saying, “In a democracy, we debate and disagree about America’s role in the world.

“I want to say this very clearly: I support peaceful, nonviolent protests,” Biden said.

“Your voices should be heard. I promise, I hear them.”

The graduates’ silent protest on Sunday is a pivotal moment in the president’s re-election campaign this year.

Biden is expected to face former President Donald Trump in November, who has been leading in polls for months.

While Biden appears to maintain an overwhelming majority of support from Black voters, this has declined notably since the 2020 presidential election.

In late February, a CBS News poll found that only 76% of likely black voters said they would vote for president.

This represents a drop of 10 percentage points compared to the 87% who voted for Biden in 2020.

Morehouse College was founded in 1867 and is a private liberal arts college, historically for black men.

Its alumni include notable figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Herman Cain, and Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia.