WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden, in the final months of his four-year term, outlined his administration’s efforts to improve opportunity and equality for black communities at the inaugural White House Brunch Celebrating Black Excellence on Friday.
The event came as Congressional Black Caucus The Foundation held its annual legislative conference this week in Washington, DC
“Today we honor this simple truth: Black history is American history, Black excellence is American excellence, and folks, we are not erasing history like others are trying to do – we are making history,” Biden told a crowd on the South Lawn that included members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other black leaders.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Trell Thomas, founder of the Black Excellence Brunch, Marsai Martin, actress and producer, and Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, gave brief remarks before Biden.
“I know because I saw it. I was vice president of the first black president in American history, president of the first black vice president – and, God willing, the first black female president in American history,” Biden added.
Biden, who had originally sought a second term, passed the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris in mid-July after a disastrous performance in the debate against Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, in June.
Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, now has the chance to become the first woman president, the first black president and the first president of South Asian descent.
Biden also highlighted some of the administration’s key efforts related to black communities, such as achieving the lowest black unemployment rate ever. As of August, the administration has White House Fact Sheet.
He also highlighted the administration’s efforts to ensure that more Black Americans have health insurance than ever before. The White House says this has been accomplished by “reducing premium costs by an average of $800 for millions of Americans and increasing the number of Black citizens covered under the Affordable Care Act by 95%, or over 1.7 million people, since 2020,” the fact sheet states.
Biden added: “On this very lawn in front of the White House, built by slaves, we held the very first Juneteenth concert after I declared Juneteenth a federal holiday, and on this very lawn we celebrated the first Black woman appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States, the best decision I ever made: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.”
He also condemned racism against Haitian migrants in the U.S., saying the community is “under attack right now in our country” and calling it “just wrong.” Conspiracy theories about migrants and bomb threats continue Rocks Springfield, Ohio.
Trump at The presidential debate on Tuesday The ABC News-hosted program amplified false claims about Haitian migrants, saying, “In Springfield, they eat the dogs, the people who came here, they eat the cats,” adding, “They eat the pets of the people who live there.”
Apparently alluding to Trump, Biden added: “There is no place for this in America. What he is doing has to stop. It has to stop.”
Meanwhile, Biden and Harris are both scheduled to speak at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, DC, on Saturday.
