NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden virtually addressed the Rev. Al Sharpton’s racial justice conference on Friday, telling a sympathetic crowd “we’ve kept our promises” as he ramps up efforts to energize Black voters who will be vital to his reelection bid this fall.
Addressing several hundred attendees at the annual National Action Network Convention in New York, Biden ticked through a long list of what he said were some of his administration’s key accomplishments for Black Americans. He detailed providing federal public works funding to reconnect city neighborhoods that were divided decades ago when highways were built, and also investing billions in historically Black colleges and universities.
“Together, we’ve kept our promises to make some of the most significant investments in the Black American community ever,” Biden said. He also noted his pardoning thousands of inmates convicted on federal marijuana charges, combating racial discrimination in the real estate market and canceling student debts for millions of Americans.
He called that “transformational change” but said, “We know there’s much more work to do.” He said he still hoped to sign major legislation expanding voting rights and the George Floyd Act, a police reform package named for a Black man whose murder by Minneapolis police in 2020 sparked widespread racial justice protests and calls for federal legislation.
Biden is facing a November rematch with Republican former President Donald Trump, who has tried to step up his own appeal to Black voters.
Trump has suggested that his four criminal indictments have boosted his standing with members of the key voting bloc because they see him as a victim of discrimination — comparing his legal jeopardy to the historic legacy of anti-Black prejudice in the U.S. legal system. The former president has also repeatedly compared himself to anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela,…
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