Former Vice President Joe Biden promised on Saturday to “pluck the roots of this country’s systemic racism” in a July 4 message that contrasted sharply with President Trump’s warning on a bush. Rushmore’s fireworks show that “angry crowds” at protests against racism were attacking the history and culture of the United States.
In a video posted on Twitter, Biden, Trump’s alleged Democratic challenger, said the United States never lived up to the statement in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal.” That phrase has “gnawed at our conscience” through more than 200 years of institutionalized racism, including the recent police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, he said.
“The United States is not a fairy tale,” said Biden. “It has been a constant push between the two parts of our character, the idea that all men and women, all people, are created equal and the racism that has torn us apart. Now we have the opportunity to give the marginalized, the demonized, the isolated, the oppressed, a complete part of the American dream. “
Biden’s comments came hours after Trump told a crowd of mostly white supporters on Friday night at Mt. Rushmore said the United States was facing increasing danger due to the “ruthless protesters campaign against racism to erase our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children.” He accused them of promoting what he called a “new extreme left fascism”.
In another July 4 celebration on Saturday in the South Lawn of the White House, Trump hit the same theme, underlining how Appeals to racial resentments are at the heart of his reelection campaign.
“We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters and the people who in many cases have no idea what they are doing,” Trump said.
Trump’s combative response to the Black Lives Matter protests that have swept the nation for weeks comes despite polls that indicate that most Americans support the movement. When New York City recently announced that it would paint “Black Lives Matter” on Fifth Avenue outside of the Trump Tower, the president denounced it as a “symbol of hatred.”
In an essay published Saturday by NBC News, Biden said Americans had “marched and bled” to build a better democracy since the nation’s founding, citing the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement.
“That search for a more perfect union has been deflected in recent years, and no one has more responsibility than President Donald Trump,” said Biden. “Every day he finds new ways to tarnish and dismantle our democracy, from unfounded attacks on our voting rights to the use of military force against Americans who peacefully protest racial justice.”
Biden said he would restore democratic values in part by reversing Trump’s “cruel and counterproductive” immigration policies, including separating families on the US-Mexico border.
He also promised to eradicate “systemic racism from all areas of society it infects: from unfairly administered COVID-19 recovery funds, to laws that perpetuate racial wealth gaps, health disparities, housing policies, policies, our system of justice and everywhere in between. “
