By Emily Martin
On May 22, Joe Biden appeared on the Breakfast Club. This radio program is highly regarded in the black community and is hosted by Charlamagne Tha God. Mr. Biden defended his legislative record, outlined economic proposals, and arrogantly told the black community what it means to be black.
Biden said, “if you’ve got a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or for Trump, then you ain’t black.” Here we have the presumptive Democratic nominee attempting to tell voters who they are, what their history is, and how they should act. By demonstrating his out-of-touch reach with the audience, he insulted a community. Rather, he ought to respect each voter as an individual.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott urged his colleagues to disavow the remarks by Biden. Additionally, he told reporters on a Trump campaign call, “I thought to myself, I’ve been black for 54 years. I was struck by the condescension and the arrogance.” Senator Scott continued by adding, “Race baiting in the 21st century is an ineffective tool to attract one of the most intelligent voting blocs in the nation.”
Michigan Senate candidate John James, tweeted a video addressing Mr. Biden, “You challenging me and millions of other people out there on their blackness, descendants of slaves, from you is some seriously condescending, out of touch bullcrap.” Biden’s perpetuation of utilizing “black identity” to further his agenda, is quite simply remarkable.
Over 1 million black voters supported President Trump in 2016. Since President Trump oversaw an economy which produced the lowest African American unemployment figures in history, I imagine many more will support him in 2020. Therefore Mr. Biden, I urge you to tell each one of those individuals their “blackness” is in question because they wanted Donald Trump as their president.
Biden’s comments are simply part of a larger pattern of Democrats taking black votes for granted. We saw this with Hillary Clinton, when black voter turnout decreased for the first time since 1996 because she simply did not campaign. It seems Biden is following the same pattern.
