Biden says 10-15% of Americans 'not very good people' while speaking on race in virtual town hall
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden gave his critics some food for thought on Thursday, June 4, when he said roughly "10 to 15 percent" of Americans are "just not very good people". The 77-year-old former vice president made the remark during a virtual town hall where he faced questions from a number of young African-Americans. The discussion, which featured black American actor Don Cheadle and The Gathering Spot CEO Ryan Wilson, was on issues like race and police violence.
"Do we really think that this is as good as we can be as a nation? I don't think the vast majority of people think that. There are probably anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of the people out there that are just not very good people. But that's not who we are. The vast majority of people are decent. We have to appeal to that and we have to unite people," Biden said, addressing the ugly repercussions that the US has witnessed in the wake of the brutal death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black American, at the hands of the police in Minneapolis on May 25.
Biden recently courted a racist controversy by telling a popular African-American radio host that those from the black community who failed to pick between him and Donald Trump as a better president "ain't black". The remarks saw the veteran Democrat facing a backlash but he has tried to make it up in the wake of the Floyd killing. Biden is known to have wide support in the African-American community and he has been trying to project a better alternative to the minority community if elected the president in the November 3 election this year.
During his virtual town hall, Biden started with a mention of Floyd, who met an agonizing death after being forced under the knee of a white policeman. He conceded as a white man, he cannot fully understand what it is like to be a black man facing hostile law-enforcement forces. He called the moment a "wake up call" to deal with "systematic racism".
'Words of a president matter'
One man later asked Biden on the show how he would be different as the president, especially for the black people of the country. Biden said he loves people before tearing into Trump. "The words of a president matter, no matter who the president is. How many of your friends do you know who have children, who when the president comes on there they pull them away from the TV?" he asked.
"Hate didn't begin with Donald Trump. It's not going to end with him," Biden added. He said as the president, he would take responsibility for his actions as a president and address the major issues. It is not the first time that presidential nominees in the US have stereotyped a section of the people while promoting their own cause. In 2012, Republican candidate Mitt Romney told donors at a fundraiser that "47 percent" of the voters were determined to support then president Obama "who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims." He faced heavy criticism for the remark.
In 2016, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton described half of Trump's supporters as people who fitted into a "basket of deplorables". She later said she regretted the words. Trump has also used divisive rhetoric at various times to attack his critics. Biden yet gave the majority of the population a positive image.