Silke Jasso
Former Vice President Joe Biden is currently trying to clarify some remarks he made suggesting a lack of diversity in the Black community by comparing African American and Latino communities during an interview. Biden was asked about normalizing relations with Cuba he went on to explain his beliefs on the difference of opinion between the two communities. Telling a panel of journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists-National Association of Hispanic Journalists 2020 virtual convention, he noted,
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“And by the way, what you all know but most people don’t know, unlike the African American community with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things. When you go to Florida you find a very different attitude about immigration in certain places than you do when you’re in Arizona. So it’s a very different, very diverse community.”
On Thursday night, the former vice president tweeted a clarification. He stated that he did not mean to suggest that African-American communities are a monolith, not by identity, and not on issues. He noted that through his career he has witnessed the diversity of background, though, and sentiment within the African-American community. He noted, “it’s this diversity that makes our workplaces, communities, and country a better place.”
Earlier today, I made some comments about diversity in the African American and Latino communities that I want to clarify. In no way did I mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith—not by identity, not on issues, not at all.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 7, 2020
The Democratic presidential candidate then made it a point to reiterate his commitment to the United States, saying that he will always listen and won’t stop fighting for the African American community in order to find a more “equitable future.” President Donald Trump quickly jumped on the topic, telling reporters that the remarks were “incredible.” He stated, “I just watched a clip and Joe Biden this morning totally disparaged and insulted the Black community. I don’t know what’s going on with him, but it was a very insulting statement he made.”
The Biden campaign also attempted to clarify Biden’s comment stressing that the former Vice President was referring to a diversity of outlook on immigration policy within this community. Symone Sanders, who is the senior advisor to Biden, told ABC News that the video circulating on social media is conveniently cut to make his remarks about racial diversity, which is not the case.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1291722355471941633
Despite the campaign’s comment, the former Vice President one again compared the diversity of African American and Latino communities geographically during remarks he made at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference. Biden stated,
“We can build a new administration that reflects the full diversity of our nation. The full diversity of Latino communities. And when I mean full diversity, unlike the African American community and many other communities, you’re from everywhere. From Europe, from the tip of South America, all the way to our border and Mexico and in the Caribbean. And different backgrounds, different ethnicities, but all Latinos, we’re gonna get a chance to do that if we win in November.”
Biden has expressed his support in the African American community for a while now, which helped him in a way by claiming victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary which jump-started his campaign to become the presumptive Democratic nominee.
