However, what I found out is that this isn’t the first time that Biden has made public remarks that have seemed racist at the most or condescending at the least towards Black people. In 2007, when evaluating the field of 2008 Democratic presidential candidates, he had this to say about then-Sen. Barack Obama.
“You got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” Now once again this could be seen as innocent, and for the record, Obama said he wasn’t offended, but some of us Black people are able to decipher these comments from White people and know when they are trying to be slick with their words.
In 2012, while criticizing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s economic policies, Biden said this to Black people: “He’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, unchain Wall Street,” he said, before adding: “They’re going to put you all back in chains.”
I don’t think that statement needs interpretation, but here is one more that happened while Biden was talking with The Breakfast Club radio program in 2020. “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black,” he said while on the show.
Do I think the President is a racist or bigot? I’m not sure and will not go that far to accuse or label him with that. On the other hand, I do believe he lived in a time when other races, particularly White people, were able to say certain things about Black people and it was not only normal but accepted.
I think Biden has a problem adjusting to the political correctness of our new society. To take it a step further, I don’t think he wants to adjust. I think he is comfortable being what he is, whatever that is, and saying what he wants. I don’t think he has a problem with what he occasionally says publicly that people deem offensive. I can only imagine some of the things he says about Black people in private.
The problem is Biden is not only a politician, but he is the President of the United States, so he must be politically correct. Especially in front of Black people that he has heavily relied on to put him in office and keep him there.
That’s why he was so quick to correct himself when he called LL a boy, not because he made a mistake, but because he made the mistake in front of us.