President Joe Biden delivers the commencement address during the 2023 Howard University spring graduation ceremony at Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden used a commencement address at Howard University to appeal to young Black voters, offering a preview for how his campaign plans to regain waning enthusiasm from a key demographic.
Speaking at the school’s 155th commencement ceremony on Saturday, the president echoed rhetoric from his 2020 campaign, characterizing the current moment as a “battle for the soul of our nation” and calling on graduates to help lead the country into a new era of progress.
“We’re living through one of the most consequential eras of our history with fundamental questions about the stake for our nation,” he told the crowd at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. “Who are we? What do we stand for? What do we believe? Who will we be? You’re going to help answer those questions.”
Biden also cast himself as the antidote to what he implied was a rising tolerance for racism, directly mentioning Donald Trump’s infamous characterization of the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville as “very fine people on both sides.”
“I don’t have to tell you that fearless progress towards justice often meets ferocious pushback from the oldest and most sinister of forces,” Biden said. “That’s because hate never goes away.”
“But on the best days, enough of us have the guts and the hearts to stand up for the best in us,” he added, “to choose love over hate, unity over disunion, progress over retreat. To stand up against the poison of white supremacy.”
Biden’s support from Black voters, key to his 2020 victory, continues to…
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