The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on Friday rejected claims that it had endorsed presumptive Democrat nominee for president Joe Biden.
In an interview on The Breakfast Club on Friday, Biden promoted what he called a long career of defending civil rights.
“Take a look at my record, man! I extended the Voting Rights [Act] 25 years. I have a record that is second-to-none,” Biden said, adding, “The NAACP’s endorsed me every time I’ve run.”
Following Biden’s claim of the NAACP’s endorsement, Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, issued a statement denying that the organization had thrown its weight behind the former Vice President.
“We want to clarify that the NAACP is a non-partisan organization and does not endorse candidates for political office at any level,” Johnson said, adding that anyone associated with the NAACP who endorses a candidate does not speak on behalf of the organization.
“Persons affiliated with the NAACP at the national, state, and local levels are free to make candidate endorsements in a personal capacity, but they do not reflect support by the NAACP as an organization,” he added.
Johnson also said that the sole objective of the organization is “fighting for and advancing our Black communities towards an equitable reality.”
During the same interview on “The Breakfast Club,” Biden made another statement that landed him in hot water, when he said that, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Biden later apologized for the remarks, calling them “really unfortunate” and saying he “shouldn’t have been such a wise guy.”
The 2020 presidential hopeful said during a phone call with the U.S. Black Chamber of Commerce on Friday that perhaps he had been “much too cavalier.”
“I know that the comments have come off like I was taking the African American folks for granted … but nothing could be further from the truth,” Biden said.
“I’ve never ever done that, and I’ve earned it every time I’ve run,” he said, adding that he sees winning over the African American voter demographic is crucial to his plans to win the White House in November.
“I know in order to win the presidency, I need the African American vote,” Biden said.
The Trump campaign called Biden’s remarks “racist and dehumanizing.”
“He truly believes that he, a 77-year-old white man, should dictate how Black people should behave,” said Katrina Pierson, a senior adviser with the campaign, in a statement.
Biden adviser Symone Sanders said in a tweet that the remarks were made in jest.
“He was making the distinction that he would put his record with the African American community up against Trump’s any day. Period,” she said.
Hawk Newsome, chairman of Black Lives Matter in Greater New York, told CNN he found Biden’s comments objectionable, particularly their tone.
“There is no place for a white man to define blackness in America,” Newsome said, adding, “The tonality of Mr. Biden’s statement was condescending and insensitive.”
“If he would have stated differently, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” he added.
From The Epoch Times
