Biden’s meeting with the King family and other civil rights advocates came two days after Saturday’s racist attack in Jacksonville, Florida. Three Black people were shot to death by a white man wearing a mask and firing a weapon emblazoned with a swastika. The shooter, who had also posted racist writings, killed himself.
Asked how he would stop hatred, Biden said: “By talking directly to the American people because I think the vast majority of the American people agree with this table. But we have to understand, this is serious.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, who was at the meeting, said most people in the United States have more in common with each other than what divides them.
“Yet there are those who are intentionally trying to divide us as a nation and I believe each of us has a duty, a duty to not allow factions to sever our unity,” said Harris, the first Black person elected vice president. “Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power as a nation, and I do believe that we must be guided by knowing that we have so much more in common than what separates us.”
Monday was 60 years since the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963, which drew tens of thousands to the nation’s capital to advocate for civil rights, justice and freedom. It’s where Rev. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.
The White House invited a broad group of civil rights leaders to the meeting, including Martin Luther King III, his wife, Arndrea Waters King, his sister Bernice King and the Rev. Al Sharpton, along with representatives from organizations representing Jews, Hispanics and Asian Americans, according to Sharpton’s National Action Network.
Biden also was to address a reception Monday evening to mark the 60th anniversary of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit legal organization that was established at Kennedy’s request to help advocate for racial justice.
In an opinion piece written for the Washington Post, Biden said the administration is working to advance King’s dream of a society in which people don’t judge others by their skin color.
Biden said his policies have led to a drop in Black unemployment, more small businesses being opened by Black entrepreneurs and more Black families covered by health insurance.
He’s given some $7 billion to the network of historically Black colleges and universities and has emphasized appointing Black people to his Cabinet and White House staff, throughout the federal judiciary and to independent agencies like the Federal Reserve.
The 1963 March on Washington is still considered one of the greatest and most consequential racial justice demonstrations in U.S. history.
The nonviolent protest attracted as many as 250,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial and provided momentum for Congress to pass landmark civil rights and voting rights legislation in the following years. King was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
On Saturday, the same day as the shooting in Florida, thousands converged on the National Mall for a 60th anniversary commemoration.
By Associated Press