Biden avoids embarrassment at Morehouse
The president's commencement speech was one of the flagship events in a weeklong flurry of Black community outreach as he looks to shore up support ahead of the election.
The White House made the right bet.
In the weeks leading up to President Joe Biden’s commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta, there was legitimate concern in and around the administration that it would be disrupted following threats of demonstrations protesting the war in Gaza.
But his top aides advised him to forge ahead. And the speech, one of the flagship events in a weeklong flurry of Black community outreach, went off without any major interruptions.
“The speech started lukewarm,” a senior Democratic congressional aide texted Once Upon a Hill from the ceremony. “But it ended well.”
Biden acknowledged the war in his speech and reaffirmed his commitment to brokering a ceasefire, hostage release, and ultimately, a two-state solution to facilitate lasting peace in the region.
He spoke about his healing journey after he lost his first wife and daughter in a fatal automobile accident in 1972 and the fate that led him to marry First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, serve the first Black president, grieve the loss of his son Beau, and select the first Black woman Supreme Court justice in Ketanji Brown Jackson and first Black vice president in Kamala Harris—a graduate of Howard University, another HBCU.
Biden recognized all the graduates lost to the pandemic but encouraged them to enter the next chapter of their lives with hope and optimism. He also envisioned a nation, with the leadership of the graduating seniors, where racism and other forms of discrimination were scourges of the past, reassured the graduates that democracy was still a worthy pursuit and reminded them of his achievements on behalf of the Black community.
“To the Class of 2024, you join, as you know, a sacred tradition. An education makes you free, and a Morehouse education makes you fearless,” the president said. “Congratulations, you are Morehouse men. God love you.”
A few graduates and faculty wore Keffiyeh scarves with their gowns in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Valedictorian DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas after the terrorist group attacked Israel last fall.
“The Israel-Gaza conflict has plagued the people of its region for generations,” Fletcher said. “It’s important to recognize both sides have suffered heavy casualties since Oct. 7.”
Most graduates and alumni rose to their feet and applauded when Biden approached the lectern, but at least one graduate in a mortar and blue gown stood still in the back with his back turned to Biden and his right fist raised.
Jamal Simmons, a Morehouse alum and former communications director to Vice President Kamala Harris, observed the president didn’t shake hands with any of the awardees before his speech, giving no one an opportunity to deny his hand.
“I want to say that from my point of view, you’ve been listening,” Morehouse President David Thomas said once Biden concluded his remarks. “You spoke to us. You spoke to the hard issues confronting our nation and the world at this moment. We are honored to have had you here with us today.”
Thomas then awarded Biden with an honorary degree.
A group of students expressed displeasure when the president was announced as this year’s commencement speaker—part of a broader rebuke from pro-Palestinian students and faculty against US foreign policy on the Israel-Hamas war—and demanded the college rescind its invitation, which Morehouse refused. Instead, Thomas said he would immediately cancel the ceremony if disruptive behavior prevented attendees from enjoying it. (Several students sent a letter to the faculty asking staff to vote against awarding Biden the honorary degree. 50 of 88 faculty members voted to do so anyway.)
The White House dispatched Director of Public Engagement Steve Benjamin to the college earlier this month to meet with five graduating seniors, four faculty members and two administrators who wanted a commitment that the president would center the students and issues that are top of mind to them.
“It’s so important to realize that no community is monolithic. People have their different thoughts about what they might want to hear,” Benjamin told reporters ahead of the speech. “We [listened] very closely. We received those messages and we shared those with the president and his speechwriting team.”
The president arrived in Atlanta a day early to partake in a day of the retail politics he’s built his career on.
He was greeted at the airport by members of Georgia’s Democratic congressional delegation, including Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and Reps. Nikema Williams and Sanford Bishop, plus several Morehouse alumni. (Warnock is a Morehouse man too.)
Then, Biden made his way to Mary Mac’s Tea Room, a popular small business in downtown Atlanta owned by a Morehouse alumnus. There, the president spoke to and met with more than 50 local supporters and volunteers. Biden also met with members of the Morehouse community. A senior at Morehouse and a graduating student spoke during the event.
In addition to the Morehouse students and alumni, two-time Georgia gubernatorial Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams, Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), former Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) and celebrity influencer couple Devale and Khadeen Ellis were among the notable attendees.
The crowd enjoyed food catered by the restaurant and a performance by Grammy-nominated DJ Willy Wow before the president arrived.
Following the event at Mary Mac’s, the president spoke at a campaign fundraiser at Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s family office.
He told attendees that Georgia was the reason for his 2020 win and why he would be reelected in November.
“Tell people that if you doubt the power of the vote, come visit Georgia,” Biden said. “What you’ve done is incredible.”
The president added that his campaign is stronger than national polls indicated and that former President Donald Trump would be a greater threat to democracy, reproductive rights and the economy if given a second term.
“It’s clear that when he lost in 2020, something happened with Trump,” Biden said. “He lost—he knows that. That’s why January 6th happened. Every legal avenue to try to change the election failed, so he unleashed an insurrection.”
Rep. Lucy McBath, a three-term Atlanta-based congresswoman who faces a tough primary on Tuesday, attended the fundraiser.
The president is now on his way to Detroit where he will give the keynote address at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner that, according to a senior campaign official, will spotlight the issues Black America cares about most.
Ahead of the NAACP speech, the president will visit a Black-owned small business and discuss his work to build Black wealth and close the racial wealth gap.
This week marked the 70th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, which desegregated public schools.
On Thursday, President Biden met with the plaintiffs from the case and their families at the White House. One of the litigants' families asked the president to push Congress to make the anniversary a federal holiday, a request the president did not commit to fulfilling during the meeting.
“It’s important to note that the first major national holiday established in decades in Juneteenth—that’s [the president’s] legislation,” Benjamin said. “The establishment of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Memorial in Illinois and Mississippi—also because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s leadership. Even some of the tough things left to do—hopefully, the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act someday—each of these elements are part of the president’s executive order as it relates to federal law enforcement agencies.”
The day after meeting the families, the president spoke about the legacy of the Brown v. Board decision the next day in a speech at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
“The Brown decision proves a simple idea: “We learn better when we learn together,” Biden said.
Despite the landmark ruling and the most public-school racial diversity in US history, these schools remain deeply segregated. In 2021, approximately 60 percent of Black and Hispanic public school students attended schools where 75 percent or more of students were students of color. And the schools that serve these racially segregated students tend to be high poverty.
“Equal access to high-quality education should not be a partisan issue. It’s a problem we must confront together as Americans,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “Unfortunately, there are people who are more concerned with banning books, rewriting history and bullying children.”
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member on the House Education and Workforce Committee, hosted a briefing on the significance of the Brown v. Board decision and the fight for educational access and opportunity for all students. (Scott requested House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) to hold a hearing on the state of school segregation, but Committee Republicans have yet to do so this Congress and declined to accommodate a request to use the Committee’s space for the hearing, according to Democrats.)
Following the Brown v. Board speech, the president returned to the White House to meet with leaders of each of the Divine Nine, a group of historically Black fraternities and sororities.
The centering of Morehouse is an acknowledgment of how critical Black people—particularly Black men—and young people are to the Biden coalition.
A senior campaign official said there was no better speaker for this year’s ceremony than the president given the results his administration has delivered for Black America and HBCUs.
Earlier this week, the White House announced it has invested a record $16 billion in HBCUs since he took office through funds from the American Rescue Plan, the Education Department’s Strengthening HBCUs program and the expanded Pell Grant.
The announcement comes amid relentless attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in higher education and less than a year after the Supreme Court overturned race-based affirmative action.
“For generations, HBCUs have created opportunities for countless students, particularly first-generation students, students with low incomes and students of color,” Ranking Member Scott said in a statement to OUAH. “President Biden’s continued investments for HBCUs build on Committee Democrats’ work to address decades of chronic underfunding and economic fallout from the pandemic.”
Benjamin told OUAH that President Biden leads from the belief that equity is good for America and that the US is a stronger nation when everyone has a fair shot.
“The president just doesn’t talk the talk, he walks the walk,” Benjamin said. “And that’s been proven in every respect from HBCU investments to unemployment and wage gains we’re seeing across every sector to some of the great things he’s doing on criminal justice reform and social justice reform. He’s going to keep on walking the walk in spite of the incredibly litigious efforts and legislative attacks that we face every day.”
Beyond the HBCU investments, 2.5 million jobs have been created under Biden’s watch, resulting in record-low Black unemployment and the fastest pace of Black business ownership growth in 30 years. The share of Black households owning a business has doubled since the pandemic and Black Americans have disproportionately benefited from student loan cancelation to the tune of $160 billion.
Prior to its expiration, the Child Tax Credit President Biden signed into law in 2021 slashed child poverty in half during the pandemic and more Black Americans have health care coverage than ever. 65 percent of Black moms now receive 12 months of postpartum coverage under Medicaid, up from 60 days before Biden and Harris took office, and the president has confirmed more Black women to the federal bench than all his predecessors combined.
However, legislation to extend the Child Tax Credit languishes in the Senate, and Congress has yet to replenish funding for an expiring program that provides discounts to affordable high-speed internet for the one in four Black households enrolled in it. Not to mention, national polls show Trump ahead of Biden in swing states and fewer Black Americans who plan to vote this November.
“Look, here’s the deal: You hear about how, you know, we’re behind in the polls. Well, so far, the polls haven’t been right once,” Biden said at Mary Mac’s. “We’re either tie or slightly ahead or slightly behind. But what I look at is actual election results. And election results are in the primaries. Look at the primaries.”
To shore up support within the community, the Biden campaign announced last September the earliest and largest investment in Black voter outreach in the history of reelection campaigns. In March, following his State of the Union address, Biden and Harris traveled to Black battleground-state enclaves, including Atlanta, Milwaukee and Philadelphia in an attempt to meet voters where they are.
The vice president is in the middle of a nationwide economic empowerment tour focused on spreading the word in the Black community about the administration’s work to increase access to capital, invest in small businesses, address the affordable housing crisis, cancel student loan debt and invest in infrastructure.
The tour kicked off in Atlanta and has included stops in Detroit and Wisconsin.
“Part of how I’m thinking about this Economic Opportunity Tour is to speak truth and acknowledge both the opportunities that exist but also the disparities and obstacles that exist,” she said during a moderated with actor and stand-up comedian D.L. Hughley. “It’s about acknowledgment and then pushing through the actual policies that are not just about lip service, but actually making a difference.”
The campaign is currently rolling out across swing states an organizing model it developed with small businesses in March and targeting Black and brown voters through a seven-figure paid-media program. The campaign has also done 11 Black radio interviews this year, including two with Sherwin Hughes on 101.7 The Truth in Milwaukee and Big Tigger on V-103.3 in Atlanta this week. (Nielsen data shows Black people spend almost 10 hours a week listening to this medium—13 minutes more each week than the general population. The gap is even bigger among 18- to 34-year-olds.)
“From the very beginning, the president and vice president have made clear that this canyoning will not take a single voter for granted. We are not, and will not, parachute into these communities at the last minute, expecting their vote,” Biden campaign senior advisor Trey Baker said. “Every day, from now until Election Day, we will continue working diligently to ensure that come November, Black voters send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back to the White House to continue delivering for Black America in unprecedented ways.”
CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect that the campaign fundraiser President Biden spoke at following the event at Mary Mac’s was a personal event hosted by Arthur Blank instead of his foundation. Once Upon a Hill regrets the error.