Presidential candidate Joe Biden ignited a firestorm of controversy during a radio interview with Charlemagne Tha God on “The Breakfast Club,” the most popular nationally syndicated morning radio podcast among a demographic the candidate must do well with …black millennials.
The former V.P. apologized Friday afternoon for telling the radio/podcast host that any black voters that are torn between voting for him or voting for tRump “ain’t black.” While the comment was impolitic, one I wish he had not made, I agree with the sentiment. What I wish he would have said instead is that any blacks who supports tRump have not been paying much attention to what he’s been saying and where the country is headed; or he could have even said that black tRump supporters are filled with self-hatred … but a comment such as that would have landed him in hot water also, in spite of its validity with a wide segment of black voters. The fact is, I can call some blacks Uncle Toms, but Biden can’t.
The root cause of distrust of Biden lies with the fact the Democratic Party is by and large not trusted by blacks, who rightly posit that the party of Clinton and Obama has seemingly taken us for granted many times, which is certainly true. But it’s also very true that when Democrats enact legislation that is designed to help those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder, Republicans come along behind them and water down (or complete gut) any programs that would aid minorities … and then blame Democrats for doing nothing. The problem is, some blacks believe the mendacious remarks of self-serving Republicans.
“I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy,” Biden said about his remark in a later call with black political leaders, “I shouldn’t have been so cavalier.”
But there’s something else Mr. Biden should be careful of: trying to sound too black. In his conversation with Charlamagne Tha God, he repeatedly said, “Come on, man,” in a tone that I doubt he would use with a white interviewer. He was tipping his toe into the touchy pond. While it wasn’t that pronounced, it’s a speech inflection that could grow since he’s of the generation of politicians that think they are clever enough to adjust their delivery to whichever group of potential voters they are addressing.
There once were a couple of Cleveland politicians that were infamous for language switching: former Sheriff Gerald McFaul was the absolute worse. He’d been raised around blacks and thought that he could do a perfect imitation of our speech patterns, and the fact is, he was very good at it. He could straight-up talk black. But because he was so adapt at it doesn’t mean it wasn’t offensive to many blacks. The other politician was a woman whom I once watched addressing a Puerto Rican festival audience with broken, Spanish-inflected English. It was truly cringe-worthy.
A black Biden spokesperson, Symone D. Sanders tweeted, “The comments made at the end of the Breakfast Club interview were in jest, but let’s be clear about what the VP was saying: he was making the distinction that he would put his record with the African-American community up against Trump’s any day. Period.”
Does Biden, with his long voting history in the Senate, come with some baggage? Baggage? More like full steamer trunks. In retrospect some of his votes on issues (as well as his friendship with other senators that were avowed racists) certainly raises eyebrows. Nonetheless, at his absolute worst he will be 100 times better for black people — as well as the rest of the country — than the racist monster currently occupying the White House.
With that absolute truth in mind we blacks should cut Biden all of the slack he needs when he makes another boneheaded remark about race, something he is bound to do because he simply doesn’t know any better. We must keep our eye on the prize.
