Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s comments about black Americans have sparked backlash — again.
The video: In an interview that aired on Thursday during the 2020 National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ virtual conference, Biden evinced a unique understanding of U.S. “communities of color.”
Speaking to NPR “Weekend Edition” host Lulu Garcia-Navarro about U.S.-Cuba relations, Biden offered that the “African-American community” is not as diverse as are Hispanics in the United States.
- Garcia-Navarro’s question: “Are you going to reengage with Cuba, though? I mean, I’m specifically wondering about the Florida communities that are, you know, incredibly interested in the Cuba issue and see status given to Venezuelans while Cubans are being deported. Will you engage with Cuba?”
- Biden’s answer: “The answer is yes, I’m gonna engage. Yes. Yes.”
- “And by the way, what you all know, but most people don’t know, unlike the African-American community – with notable exceptions – the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.”
The reaction: Commentators on Twitter responded with disgust and mockery.
British rapper Zuby said Biden “speaks as if he owns Black Americans,” recalling the former vice president’s controversial remarks to a black New York City radio host in May.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani imagined the reaction if Trump had said what Biden did.
Katrina Pierson, a senior Trump campaign advisor, said Biden’s remarks were “RACIST AF.”
The damage control: Biden’s campaign quickly sought to clarify that the candidate had been speaking about political as opposed to racial diversity.
“If you look at the full video and transcript, it’s clear that Vice President Biden was referring to diversity of attitudes among Latinos from different Latin American countries. The video that is circulating is conveniently cut to make this about racial diversity but that’s not the case,” said Symone Sanders, a senior Biden campaign adviser, in a statement to Politico Thursday.
More damage: But Biden immediately undercut Sanders by getting more explicit during a roundtable discussion at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ virtual conference on Thursday.
- “We can build a new administration that reflects the full diversity of our nation, the full diversity of the Latino community,” he said. “Now when I mean full diversity, unlike the African-American community, many other communities, you’re from everywhere: from Europe, from the tip of South America, all the way to our border and Mexico and in the Caribbean, and different backgrounds, different ethnicities, but all Latinos.”
More damage control: That evening, Biden issued a statement in his own voice on Twitter.
“In no way did I mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith—not by identity, not on issues, not at all,” he said.
Trump, echoing comments he made in a Thursday interview on Fox News, tweeted on Friday that Biden is “no longer worthy of the Black Vote!”
Racial politics: Following Biden’s “you ain’t black” gaffe in May, for which he apologized, commentators on both the left and the right accused him of embodying the Democratic Party’s alleged exploitation of black voters.
- Last month, amid a nationwide surge in racial justice activism, Biden called Trump America’s first racist president.
- He is widely expected to pick a black female running mate.
- A June Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that 92% of black registered voters plan to cast ballots for Biden in November.
