Atlanta and Detroit — President Biden began his speech at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s “Fight for Freedom Fund” dinner in Detroit on Sunday by declaring himself a “lifelong member” of the NAACP.
Several states further south, in Atlanta, Mr. Biden began his Sunday morning speech at Morehouse College — a historically black liberal arts college for men — with Scripture.
“Scripture says that the prayers of a righteous man avail much,” the president said in Atlanta, telling the story of the Rev. Richard C. Coulter, a former slave from Atlanta who helped found Morehouse College.
“You all know the story, but the rest of the world doesn’t, and so it should,” he added.
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The weekend swept through Georgia and Michigan, with Mr. Biden making direct overtures to large crowds of black voters, with the campaign looking to revive its support for black voters despite lagging voting numbers and with less than six months before the election. election.
The Biden campaign says it has invested more than $1 million this month in targeted ad buys on Black-owned media and is prioritizing interviews on Black radio. But while the president continues to receive overwhelming support from black voters in the polls, his support among that crucial voting bloc has softened somewhat.
In a March CBS News poll in Georgia, 82% of black voters said they would vote for Biden, compared to 88% in a 2020 exit poll. In an April CBS News poll in Michigan, Mr. Biden had the support of 77% of black voters, while other third parties were also on the ballot paper.
Biden praises record for black voters, taunts Trump in Detroit
During his closing events in Detroit — a campaign stop at a black-owned business and the speech at the NAACP dinner — Mr. Biden made sure to lay down his record with black voters.
He brought up the $16 billion his administration has invested in historically black colleges and universities, the low unemployment rate among black people, his efforts to lower the price of prescription drugs and the measures to pay down student debt.
“I’ve forgiven an awful lot of debt for people with student loan debt — and billions of dollars of it — so people can get their lives back on track,” he said Sunday afternoon at the CRED Café in Detroit.
“The man we’re running against wants to support all the prospects, all the progress we’ve made,” he added, referring to Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and former president.
Sonya Ellis, a 69-year-old teacher from Detroit who saw Mr. Biden speak at the NAACP dinner, said her student loans were forgiven because of his policies. But she said she was “very nervous” that Trump could win in November and felt Biden could be stronger on foreign policy.
“I think Trump voters are going to vote. “I know people who are Democrats who say they’re not going to vote,” she said.
Throughout the weekend, Biden thanked Black voters for helping him win in 2020, saying it would be the reason Trump “is going to be a loser again.”
During his NAACP speech, Biden addressed the contrasts between himself and Trump that could appeal to black voters. After touting his appointment of Kentaji Brown Jackson as the first black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, Mr. Biden asked the NAACP dinner audience of more than 4,600 attendees whether Trump would win a second term: “Who do you think he will be on the list will put? Supreme Court? Do you think he’ll put down anyone who has a brain?’
Later, noting how Trump has said he would pardon convicted Jan. 6 rioters, Mr. Biden asked the crowd to consider a hypothetical position.
“What do you think he would have done on January 6 if Black Americans had stormed the Capitol?” Biden said, with many grunts of approval.
Robert Oscar Williams, a 49-year-old Black voter who saw Biden’s comments in Detroit, believed that while the president made clear his administration’s record, he wanted to hear more about plans for a second term.
“More people want to hear tangible facts. They want to know, ‘What do I get for my vote?’ Not just a good speech,” said Oscar Williams.
“The black vote got him the victory last time. It would be unwise not to speak against that vote,” he added.
At Morehouse College, Biden says his heart is ‘broken’ over Gaza, as some students quietly protest
During his speech at Morehouse College, Mr. Biden often raised the topics of struggle, faith and democracy.
He linked restrictive voter laws and attacks on election workers to “what happens to you and your family when old minds in new clothes take power.” He repeatedly questioned whether American democracy “really works” for black citizens.
“What is democracy when a trail of broken promises still leaves Black communities behind?” Mr. Biden asked.
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Later in his remarks, he returned to that question to talk about Gaza.
“I also know that some of you are asking, ‘What is democracy if we can’t stop the wars that break out and break our hearts?’” Mr. Biden noted. He went on to say what ‘happens in Gaza and IsraelI am heartbroken,” calling it “one of the most difficult and complicated problems in the world” and calling for a two-state solution and an immediate ceasefire – which received notable applause.
The Israeli military operation in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 people, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry, has prompted numerous universities to “encampments” and protests, as well as interruptions at commencement events. Although a protest took place outside the Morehouse campus, there were no major interruptions during Mr. Biden’s speech.
Instead, the protesters took a quieter approach: Some students turned their chairs the other way, with their backs to the president, while others decorated Palestinian flags or scarves over their graduation robes. And throughout Biden’s speech, professors on stage held up a flag of the Democratic Republic of Congo, expressing their dissatisfaction with the government’s response to that country’s civil war.
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Yolanda Hutchins, a 55-year-old Democratic voter in Atlanta, said Biden is “making a lot of people angry right now with what’s going on with the genocide in Palestine.”
“It’s something I hear about every day. I hear about it on social media. I talk about it and discuss it with family and friends,” she said.
Pro-Palestinian protesters were also present outside the NAACP dinner in Detroit. Bill Osborne, a 64-year-old Democratic Detroit resident, said he believed Gaza resonates most with Arab Americans and younger black voters who “disapprove of the injustices they think Israel is doing to Gaza.”
“But if you looked at the protesters outside, there weren’t many black protesters. I wouldn’t say it’s a make or break issue for black voters; I think it’s more the alienation they feel.” he said.
