Biden to speak at Morehouse, a spotlight in front of Black voters

ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden will be the commencement speaker at Morehouse College in Georgia, giving the Democrat a key election-year spotlight on one of the nation’s preeminent historically Black campuses, as he works to shore up the racially diverse coalition that propelled him to the Oval Office.

The White House confirmed Tuesday that Biden would speak May 19 at the alma mater of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., and then address the graduating class at the United States Military Academy at West Point on May 25.

The Morehouse announcement has drawn some backlash among the school’s faculty and ers who are critical of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. That could put the White House and Biden’s reelection campaign in a difficult position as the president works to shore up the racially diverse coalition that propelled him to the Oval Office.

By Tuesday afternoon some Morehouse alumni were circulating an online letter that condemns the istration’s invitation to Biden and seeking signatures to pressure Morehouse President David Thomas to rescind it.

The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, claimed Biden’s approach to Israel effectively s genocide in Gaza and runs counter to the pacifism that King expressed with his opposition to the Vietnam War.

“In inviting President Biden to campus, the college affirms a cruel standard that complicity in genocide merits no sanction from the institution that produced one of the towering advocates for nonviolence of the twentieth century,” the letter states, emphasizing King’s stance that “war is a hell that diminishes” humanity as a whole. “If the college cannot affirm this noble tradition of justice by rescinding its invitation to President Biden, then the college should reconsider its attachment to Dr. King.”

Late last week, before the school and the White House formally announced commencement plans, Morehouse Provost Kendrick Brown, Thomas’ top lieutenant, sent an email to all faculty acknowledging concerns about “rumors” and affirming that the school issued the invitation to Biden last September. That would have been before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, spurring the sustained counter-offensive that the Morehouse alumni letter called an act of genocide against Palestinians. Brown’s email did not reference anything about the Middle East conflict.

Brown invited faculty to an online forum, scheduled for Thursday afternoon, to discuss the matter. But, he added: “Please know going into this conversation that the College does not plan to rescind its accepted invitation to President Biden.”

Morehouse officials have not responded to an Associated Press inquiry.

Biden’s speech will mark the second consecutive spring that Biden has spoken to the graduating class of a historically Black school. In 2023, the president delivered the commencement address at Howard University.

The Washington, D.C., school is the alma mater of Vice President Kamala Harris, the first nonwhite woman to hold that office. Morehouse, a private all-male school that is part of the multi-campus Atlanta University Center, also is the alma mater of Sen. Raphael Warnock, Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator.

Warnock celebrated Biden’s selection, sidestepping any potential unhappiness in the Morehouse community.

“I could not be more thrilled and honored to see President Biden return to our great state,” Warnock said in a statement. “I know the president will have a timely, poignant, forward-looking message for the men of Morehouse.”

It would not take a significant drop in Black turnout for Biden to yield several states to former President Donald Trump in their rematch.

Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes over Trump out of about 5 million ballots cast. The combined enrollment at Morehouse and its ading schools that make up the Atlanta University Center is about 9,000 students.

Biden’s margin in Wisconsin, where Black voters in greater Milwaukee are an anchor of Democrats’ statewide vote totals, was less than 21,000 votes. The president had more comfortable margins in Michigan and Pennsylvania, but still cannot afford to lose Black across the metro areas of Detroit and Philadelphia.

Among states Trump won, Biden is targeting North Carolina, which has a notable Black college student population. Trump’s margin in the state was about 75,000 votes.

The istration and reelection campaign have targeted HBCUs since Biden took office in January 2021. Harris and Cabinet have spoken on several campuses. Among other policy achievements and priorities, they have touted increases in federal money for HBCUs; Biden’s efforts to forgive up to $10,000 in student loan burden per borrower and increase Pell Grants for low-income students; energy investments to combat the climate crisis, and Democrats’ for abortion rights and decriminalizing marijuana possession.

Reflecting the nation’s overall racial gaps in income and net worth, Black college students are disproportionately dependent on Pell Grants, which typically cover only a fraction of overall college costs, and student loans. According to Federal Reserve data, about 1 out of 3 Black households has student loan debt, compared to about 1 in 5 white households. The average Black borrower also is carrying about $10,000 more in debt than the average white borrower. Additionally, federal statistics show about 60% of Black undergraduates receive Pell Grants, compared to about 40% of the overall undergraduate population and a third of white students.

Most historically Black colleges and universities, both state-d and private, were founded in the years after the end of the Civil War and ratification of the 13th Amendment that ended chattel slavery. Most established white campuses in that post-war era, especially in the Old Confederacy, denied ission to Black applicants altogether or, in the case of many northern schools, itted only a few Black students.

Morehouse was founded in 1867, and Spelman College, its adjacent private all-women’s school, was founded in 1881. The University of Georgia, the state’s flagship public university, meanwhile, was chartered in 1785. That was more than three years before the U.S. Constitution was ratified, but UGA did not serve Black students until Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter were enrolled under a federal court order in 1961.

Biden’s undergraduate alma mater, the University of Delaware, traces its roots to 1743, and its modern iteration began classes in 1867. The university did not integrate to include any Black students until 1948, when the 81-year-old president was 6 years old.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.