Sept. 13 (UPI) — President Joe Biden touted the “historic results” his administration has delivered for minority communities Friday during a “Black Excellence Brunch” event held on the South Lawn of the White House.
In an appearance at the event, Biden said he wanted to acknowledge Black history as well as the strides made by Black Americans under his administration, including “the lowest Black unemployment rate on record” and more Black Americans having health care than at any time.
“I also wanted to host this brunch because we have progress to celebrate,” he said. “Together, we’re making the most significant investments in Black America in all of American history. We’ve centered racial equity as the center of everything we do.”
With Vice President Kamala Harris, an American of Black and Indian descent, securing the 2024 Democratic nomination for president and locked in a tight battle with Republican nominee Donald Trump, Biden sought to remind attendees of the “commitment” the pair have made to make their administration “look like America… and it does.”
“The bottom line is the Black community has always had my back, and I’ve always had yours,” he said.
The Black Excellence Brunch is a series of gatherings founded and developed by Trell Thomas, who has said they are meant to evoke the tradition of family-style dinners — originally begun in the days of chattel slavery — that are a staple of the Black community in his home state of South Carolina.
Thomas says he has tried to mold the brunches into vehicles to celebrate impactful moments in Black culture and history.
Washington, D.C.’s St. Augustine Gospel Choir provided the musical backdrop for the event, while the guests included Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, the first Black woman to hold the position, along with actresses Marsai Martin and Kyla Pratt, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and many other prominent Black politicians and cultural figures.
Also among the attendees was White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, a Haitian-American. During his remarks, Biden blasted Trump’s amplification of a debunked far-right conspiracy theory falsely accusing Haitian immigrants of killing and eating household pets in Springfield, Ohio.
The GOP nominee’s repeating of the slur during this week’s presidential debate with Harris has resulted in bomb threats that necessitated evacuations of the city’s schools, public buildings and courthouse.
“I want to today take a moment to say something,” the president said. “Like so many Americans, like Karine, as you pointed out, a proud Haitian American — a community that’s under attack in our country right now. It’s simply wrong. There’s no place in America. This has to stop, what he’s doing. It has to stop.”