A day after being put on the defensive over issues of race and generational change, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden came to Chicago on Friday to defend his civil rights history and shift the discussion to “how we can move forward.”
Speaking for 25 minutes at the kickoff labor luncheon of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the former vice president launched into a forceful rebuttal against critics of his civil rights record and declared, “If I get elected president, I will be a president who stands against racism.”
It was Biden’s first public appearance after Thursday night’s debate of Democratic hopefuls in Miami. The early front-runner faced criticism from U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris over comments during a June fundraiser in which he cited “civility” in past dealings with two staunch proponents of segregation — the late “Dixiecrat” Sens. James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia. Harris also questioned Biden’s stance on the use of forced busing to integrate public schools.
Biden’s appearance at PUSH gave the vice president to the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama, a platform before an African American organization headed by civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson to explain himself — which he sought to do shortly after taking the lectern.
“I heard and I listened to and I respect Sen. Harris. But you know we all know that 30 seconds to 60 seconds on a campaign debate exchange can’t do justice to a lifetime commitment to civil rights,” Biden said.
“I want to be absolutely clear about my record and position on racial justice, including busing. I never, never, never ever opposed voluntary busing,” he said. “I did support federal action to address root causes of segregation of our schools and our communities including taking on the banks and redlining and trying to change the way in which neighborhoods were segregated. I’ve always been in favor of using federal authority to overcome state-initiated segregation.”
During the Miami debate, Harris, the only black candidate on Thursday night’s stage, noted Biden’s comments about Eastland and Talmage and called it “hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.”
“And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing,” she said, citing her own experience being bused as part of the integration of public schools in Berkeley, Calif.
In the debate, Biden called Harris’ critique “a mischaracterization of my position across the board.” Defending his opposition to busing, Biden said he was referring to actions ordered by the federal Department of Education and not local authorities.
“So that’s where the federal government must step in,” Harris replied. “There are moments in history where states fail to preserve the civil rights of all people.”
The interaction, the most dramatic over two nights of debates featuring 20 candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, raised questions about the 76-year-old Biden’s place in the contest as the party’s ideology has moved more progressive, pushed by the views and attitudes of a younger generation.
The early front-runner, Biden was forced to use his PUSH speech to address issues of the past, including states’ rights versus civil rights, even as he sought to move ahead.
“I know and you know I fought my heart out to ensure that civil rights and voting rights, equal rights are enforced everywhere. These rights are not up to the states to decide. They are federal government’s duty to decide,” he said.
Before Biden spoke, Jackson addressed the crowd and said state’s rights often were used to trample civil rights, such as in the refusal of some state and local authorities to use busing to integrate schools.
“Busing for racial balance was not about transportation. It was about race. It wasn’t the bus. It was us,” Jackson said.
While Biden has sought to use his lengthy public service history as a qualification for the presidency, he quickly tried to move forward from the debate.
“Folks, the discussion in this race today shouldn’t be about the past. We should be talking about how we can do better, how we can move forward and give every child in America the opportunity for success stories,” he said.
Biden frequently invoked his time as the two-term vice president to the former home-state president and touted how the two worked together on issues of race, including criminal justice reforms aimed at reducing the incarceration of people of color.
“With all due respect, I say to Chicagoans and everyone, my president gets too little credit for what he did and I’m tired of hearing what he didn’t do. This man had a backbone like a ramrod,” Biden said.
“Chicago, you had a great, great man out there and he’s still a great man and he has a lot to offer.”
Biden contended he could repair divisions in the country that he said had been exacerbated by President Donald Trump.
“We have to start by uniting the country. I know I get criticizing for saying we can unite the country. But ladies and gentlemen, I refuse the status quo — the status quo of this miserable, ugly politics that we have today guarantees that we will do the same,” he said.
Jackson, who has long known Biden, said it was “too early” to determine the reaction among the dedicated Democratic demographic of black voters toward the former vice president following the debate performance.
Jackson cited his own past in the civil rights movement and the black experience when he said he and Biden “stand on a different side of history.”
“It doesn’t make him a bad guy, just a different side of history than we’re on fighting for civil rights,” Jackson said.
Still, he said Biden has earned some goodwill from African Americans by encouraging reluctant whites to support Obama for president and that there was still time for him to modify his positions.
“Without Biden on that ticket we may have lost. He gained the favor of a number of whites who had unfounded fears about Barack Obama. That ticket won the election twice, so he has favor among many people because of that position, because of what he did for Barack Obama,” Jackson said.
“But there’s a body of issues now that he must address, and I think that in the give and take of this campaign, it will allow for him to change positions,” he said.
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