Shut up. Don’t think. Do as your told. See you in four years. That’s what Joe Biden essentially projected to America’s Black community Friday morning.
"If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black," Biden said on the popular New York City-based Breakfast Club radio show.
Biden’s remarks sent shockwaves across social media and in the political press, but it shouldn’t have shocked anyone. Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have long sowed racial division and promoted identity politics in order to maintain power and control.
His condescending remark is indicative of the Democratic Party’s overall attitude towards blacks and minority groups — Shut up and listen. We decide what you think and how you vote.
When one looks beyond the superficial rhetoric of the Washington-political-class and liberal elite, Joe Biden’s demeaning, arrogant attitude towards the black community over the course of his 40-plus year political career comes into sharper focus.
Biden was ahead of his time when it came to promoting destructive policies and empty promises.
In the 1980’s and 1990's, Biden fought for expanded federal government involvement in policing and prison systems. He salivated at the opportunity to expand a non-focused demand-side war on drugs with legislation aimed to increase criminal penalties for drug use and expand civil asset forfeiture. For instance, Biden led the push to increase sentencing on crack cocaine-related offenses that unfairly targeted low income, black communities.
The result of Biden’s onerous policies was disastrous for America’s black communities, especially young black men.
The twisted part of Joe Biden’s record is that his intentions were never to actually solve any major issues afflicting the communities most affected by his heavy-handed policies — his intentions were purely for personal, political benefit in an effort to come across as tough on crime.
“Give me the crime issue and you’ll never have trouble with it in an election,” Biden is said to have told Democratic Party leadership in meetings as they sought to push back on public perception of being weak—or even indifferent — on violent crime in America.
Contrast Biden’s record in the black community with President Trump, who has led the way on criminal justice reform, increased funding to HBCU’s and ushered in the lowest black unemployment rate of all-time low before the coronavirus global pandemic artificially shut down the economy.
Today, Biden’s empty rhetoric and cheap shots against President Trump ring hollow. Biden and the Democrats are desperate to demonize the president in the Black community because they know Biden can’t defend his racist, antagonistic, and deeply harmful record.
And now, despite an atrocious record and gaffes ranging from 2007 when he called Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean,” to 2019 when he said, “poor kids are just as bright and talented as white kids,” Biden and the Democrat Party expect the Black community to “do as their told” and vote for Joe Biden.
Diversity of thought does not exist in today’s Democratic Party. Just ask Michigan Democrat State Rep. Karen Whitsett of Detroit, who was censured by her own Party for meeting with the president and thanking him. Whitsett, who is black, is now suing Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer and other Democrats for defamation and violating her free speech.
Democrats aren’t interested in solving the big issues — rather their singular goal is to do whatever it takes to maintain control. They attempt to achieve this goal through intimidation and the stifling of competing viewpoints. Biden’s remarks Friday was a Freudian slip.
Joe Biden and the Democratic Party will continue to talk down to the black community and lie about President Trump’s record in an effort to sow division and hate, while President Trump is laser-focused on criminal justice reform, rebuilding our economy and safely re-opening America so that all Americans can continue to pursue greater economic opportunities for themselves and their families.
Ken Blackwell is the former Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.