Joe Biden.Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty
PresidentJoe Bidenoffered a message of thanks and hope on Friday, delivering a commencement address to graduates at South Carolina State University, an historically Black university.
Congratulating the class of 2021 at the school, Biden, 79, told the crowd: “Your country is counting on you to change, to turn the dial at a moment we have a chance to do it.”
Gesturing to South Carolina Rep, Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black lawmaker in Congress, Biden said the lawmaker’s success hinges largely on his roots.
“Jim never forgets where he came from,” Biden said. “Don’t you ever forget where you came from. That’s your secret power.”
Later in the morning, Clyburn — who graduated from South Carolina State in 1961, but never walked across a stage at a ceremony — was officially presented with a diploma.
Biden spent much of his address touting his administration’s accomplishments, and speaking about the importance of passing bills that will affect things like criminal justice reform.
But he also spoke about some of his administration’s goals, likepassing a major voting rights act.
“This battle’s not over. We must pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. We’re gonna keep up the fight until we get it done. And you’re gonna keep up the fight and we need your help badly,” Biden said.
Elsewhere in his speech, Biden spoke about racism, citing past events such as the 2015 shooting at the Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., and the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
“The guy before who had this job, when asked what he thought about it, he said, well, there’s some very good people there,” Biden said, referring to former PresidentDonald Trump’s now infamous remarksabout the events in Charlottesville. “Hell, very good people. They’re racists. They’re fascists.”
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“You can defeat hate but you can’t eliminate it. … When leaders give it oxygen, it comes out, ugly and mean as it was before. We can’t give it any oxygen. We have to step on it. We have to respond to it,” Biden said.
source: people.com
