Policy
President Joe Biden delivers the commencement address to the graduating class of Morehouse College in Atlanta, May 19, 2024. Michael A. McCoy/The New York Times
ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden told Morehouse College graduates during his commencement speech Sunday that he heard their voices of protest against the war between Israel and Hamas and that scenes from the conflict in Gaza had been heartbreaking.
“I support peaceful, nonviolent protests,” he told students at the all-male, historically black university, some of whom wore keffiyeh scarves around their shoulders over their black graduation gowns. “Your voices need to be heard, and I promise I will hear them.”
The president said there was “a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which is why I called for an immediate ceasefire to stop the fighting” and bring home hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. of his speech, which also reflected American democracy and his role in safeguarding it, was the most direct acknowledgment to American students of the campus protests that have swept the country.
“This is one of the most difficult and complicated problems in the world,” Biden told the graduates. “There’s nothing easy about it. I know this angers and frustrates many of you, including my family. But above all, I know it breaks my heart. It breaks mine too.
The speech — and one planned later Sunday in Detroit — is part of a wave of outreach by the president to black voters, who has seen his support among those voters weaken since their strong support helped him enter the Oval Office in 2020.
Biden spent much of his speech focusing on domestic issues. He condemned Donald Trump’s rhetoric on immigrants and pointed out that the Class of 2024 started college in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the killing of George Floyd. Biden said it was natural for them and others to wonder whether the democracy “you hear about actually works for you.”
“If black men are killed in the street. What is democracy ? He asked. “The series of broken promises that still leave black communities behind. What is democracy ? If you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a chance. »
Anti-war protests shook American campuses. Columbia University has canceled its main commencement ceremony. At Morehouse, the announcement that Biden would be the opening ceremony speaker sparked backlash among professors and those who oppose the president’s handling of the war. Some Morehouse alumni circulated a letter online condemning administrators for inviting Biden and solicited signatures to pressure Morehouse President David Thomas to rescind it.
The letter claimed that Biden’s approach to Israel amounted to support for genocide in Gaza and was out of step with the pacifism expressed by Martin Luther King Jr., Morehouse’s most famous graduate.
Hamas attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s health authorities.
But ultimately there were no major disruptions at the event and applause for his remarks was muted. At least seven graduates and one faculty member sat with their backs turned during Biden’s speech, and another student draped himself in a Palestinian flag. Protesters near the ceremony carried signs reading “Free Palestine,” “Save the Children” and “Ceasefire Now” while police on bicycles kept watch.
On the stage behind the president as he spoke, academics unfurled a Congolese flag. The African country is mired in a civil war and many racial justice advocates have called for greater attention to the conflict as well as U.S. help to end the violence.
Valedictorian DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher said at the end of his speech that it was his duty to speak out about the war in Gaza and that it was important to recognize that Palestinians and Israelis have suffered.
“From the comfort of our homes, we watch as unprecedented numbers of civilians mourn the loss of men, women and children, while calling for the release of all hostages,” he said. “My position as a Morehouse man, indeed as a human being, is to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. »
Biden stood up and shook his hand after Fletcher finished.
Kingsley John, a senior, said that “the temperature on campus was to be expected given that the President of the United States came to speak.” John said he was “in solidarity” with his classmate and that Biden “seemed thoughtful and open to hearing feedback.”
The college also awarded Biden an honorary degree. After accepting the honor, Biden joked, “I’m not going home,” as chants of “four more years” erupted from the audience before leaving the stage. He was traveling to Detroit to speak at an NAACP dinner.
Georgia and Michigan are among a handful of states that will help decide the expected November rematch between Biden and Trump. Biden narrowly won Georgia and Michigan in 2020 and needs to repeat — with strong Black voter turnout in both cities.
Biden spent the end of last week reaching out to Black voters. He met with plaintiffs and relatives of those involved in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision that outlawed racial segregation in public schools. He also met with members of the “Divine Nine” black fraternities and sororities and spoke with members of the Little Rock Nine, who helped integrate a public school in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.
In Detroit, Biden planned to tour a Black-owned small business before delivering the keynote address at the NAACP’s Freedom Fund dinner, which traditionally draws thousands of attendees. The speech gives Biden a chance to reach thousands of people in Wayne County, an area that has historically voted overwhelmingly Democratic but has shown signs of resistance to his re-election bid.
Wayne County is also home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the country, primarily in the city of Dearborn. That state’s leaders were at the forefront of an “uncommitted” effort that garnered more than 100,000 votes in the state’s Democratic primary and spread across the country.
A protest rally and march against Biden’s visit was planned in Dearborn. Another protest rally was expected at the dinner venue.
Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, and Colleen Long and Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.
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