WEDNESDAY SNAPSHOT 5/17/23

BIPOC DAILY NEWS

BIDEN’S MESSAGE - ‘STAND UP’ TO WHITE SUPREMACY IN HOWARDS COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

President Joe Biden delivered the commencement address at Howard University’s 155th Commencement Convocation ceremony. on Saturday, urging graduates to lead the fight for progress in a nation facing a number of challenges. President Biden also spoke on the importance of investing in HBCU's (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and he also spoke on tackling white supremacy.

There were more than 2,000 Howard graduates and Biden opened with congratulating the graduates, thanking the Howard community. Biden spoke about the importance of education and opportunity, and he called on graduates to use their skills and talents to make a difference in the world.

Biden’s half-hour speech spoke on “excellence” in which HBCU graduates represent and continued with how HBCUs produce nearly a quarter of all Black STEM professionals. Biden also spoke about how the institutions suffer from “chronic underfunding” according to the United Negro College Fund.

photo courtesy of ABC News

“That’s why I asked and we’ve invested $6 billion and counting in HBCUs, including to create new research and development labs that prepare students for jobs of the future in high-income fields, from cybersecurity, engineering, biochemistry, [and] healthcare,” Biden said. 

In 2021 the Biden Administration’s cumulative HBCU investment plan, $1.6 billion of student loan debt “provided to HHBCUs for capital improvements through the Department’s HBCU Capital Financing Program” according to the White House

Biden also stressed how white supremacy has permeated the country and he reflected on the racial climate in the United States at this current time.

“I don’t have to tell you that fearless progress towards justice often meets ferocious pushback by the oldest and most sinister of forces,” Biden said, “That is because hate never goes away. I thought when I graduated we could defeat hate.” 

Biden continued to speak on the heightened racial tensions in the country during the many killings of Black people since the killing of George Floyd in 2020. During his speech, Biden avoided invoking the name of former president Donald Trump, by quoting that there were “very fine people on both sides” of national protests. Furthermore, Biden pointed out how Trump was complicit in confronting white supremacy.

“On our best days, enough of us have the guts and the hearts to stand up for the best in us. To choose love over hate, unity over disunion, progress over retreat, to stand up against the poison of white supremacy,” Biden said. “I did my inaugural address to single out that the most dangerous terrorists in our homeland is white supremacy. I am not just saying that because I am at an HBCU.”

Fox News Calls Biden Speech ‘Evil,’ Declares America the ‘Least Racist Country in the World’

WHAT????