President Biden on Friday warned about the “extreme voices” in the country he said are targeting Black Americans.
During virtual remarks at the National Action Network Convention, the president said there are threats to turn back the clock on civil rights.
“There are real threats we face. The more extreme voices out there who simply don’t want to see people of color in the future of our country, they want to turn back the clock — voter suppression, election suppression, ripping away reproductive freedom … affirmative action, gutting it,” Biden said.
“And attacking diversity across American life. Banning books — this is 2024, banning books, attempting to erase history, embracing political violence like what happened on Jan. 6. These extremists are determined to erase the progress we’ve made, but together, we are determined to make history, not erase it,” he added.
He listed policies that he called “transformational change” under his administration, including providing $76 billion in federal contracts to small, disadvantaged businesses, providing tax credit for first time homebuyers and curbing bias in home appraisal process.
He also noted that more Black Americans have health insurance than ever before, more Black businesses are starting up than seen in the past 25 years, and Black wealth is up 60 percent.
The president told the convention that he sees an America “where we defend democracy, we don’t diminish it.” He said he wants a future where he would sign into law the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and a bill to codify Roe v. Wade — all legislation that would likely take a Democratic majority in the House and Senate.
Biden was introduced by the Rev. Al Sharpton and spoke to the National Action Network Convention as he has been looking to court Black voters in order to rebuild the coalition that brought him the White House in 2020.
A The Wall Street Journal survey this week found that Biden’s support amongst Black voters in seven swing states has dipped when compared to the last election cycle and that 30 percent of Black men in swing states said they would likely support former President Trump.