Black voters reacted strongly to President Biden’s commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta over the weekend, accusing him of “race baiting” as his support in the Black community continues to wane ahead of November.
New York resident Lou Valentino expressed his frustration accusing Biden of trying to undermine the progress of Black Americans. “Race baiter,” Valentino called him a “race baiter”. “It’s tough to hear that because imagine you going to college for four years, ready to start a career, and this guy is trying to set you back to the civil rights era. I don’t know what’s going on with the Democrats. Instead of uplifting us and saying, ‘Congratulations. Let’s do our best,’ they’re not showing us that kind of support.”
In his speech at Morehouse, Biden questioned whether American democracy would work for the African-American graduates. “You missed your high school graduation. You started college just as George Floyd was murdered, and there was a reckoning on race. It’s natural to wonder if the ‘democracy’ you hear about actually works for you.
What is democracy? That Black men are being killed in the street,” Biden told the graduates. “What is democracy? The trail of broken promises still leaves Black communities behind. What is democracy? You have to be ten times better than anyone else to get a fair shot. Most of all, what does it mean to be a Black man who loves his country even if it doesn’t love him back equally?”
Virginia business owner Ajay Brewer echoed Valentino’s sentiment accusing the Democrats of promoting a sense of hopelessness. “It’s the party of hopelessness, I was a Democrat my entire life until I opened my business. It’s like a drug—victimhood. The Black folks I surround myself with just want the government to get out of the way. We don’t need people to baby us. It’s disturbing that they pander to us like this because they depend on our vote, but I think that’s going to change this election.”
A new poll indicates that Biden’s support among Black voters has declined by 7% since October 2020, while Trump’s support has increased by 9% over the same period. Georgia independent voter Bernadette Wright told “Fox & Friends First” that Americans are becoming more attuned to individual issues rather than being categorized by race.
“Accountability season is here, and America is ready for someone who leads from understanding. You have to meet with states and local governments to impact communities at a micro level,” Wright said. “As an African American, I need you to pay attention to my business. It’s not always about, ‘Oh, you’re Black, so you must need this in your community.’ They don’t know who we are. We’re looking for someone to lead from the middle.”
Following the announcement of Biden as the commencement speaker in April, some Morehouse students and professors called for the speech to be canceled. During the speech, a group of students and faculty protested by turning their backs on Biden.