Pictured are Florida Congresswoman Val Demings (D-FL) and former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee for the Democratic nomination for president
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio-Florida Congresswomen Val Demings, a contender to be on former vice president Joe Biden's ticket for president as his vice presidential running mate, is chastising him for his controversial comment on Black voters, Biden apologizing for saying in a radio interview last week that if Blacks “have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black."
The remark by the former vice president provoked negative feedback from supporters of President Donald Trump, whom Biden will face in November as the presumptive Democratic nominee, and it brought constructive criticism from some Black leaders and politicians who stopped short of ditching Biden as their choice for president, many calling the comment inappropriate and "White privilege."
“The vice-president shouldn’t have said it,” Rep. Demings said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
Some Biden supporters said he said what some Blacks are thinking.
"He [Joe Biden] was making an observation and I agree with him," said Veronica Deloach in a Facebook post on Saturday.
A Black Californian and Biden supporter, Deloach said that Trump's policies are detrimental to America's Black community and that "someone had to say it ,and it is unfortunate that a Black person did not have the guts to say it."
Biden has publicly expressed regret for the remark, calling it "really unfortunate."
And he said he should not have made the comment.
" I shouldn't have been such a wise guy," Biden said in apologizing.
Whether Demings' comment in response to Biden's now infamous racial remark will hurt her chances of becoming his running mate remains to be seen.
Biden committed to a female running-mate during the 11th Democratic Debate on March 15 in Washington, D.C., elevating curiosity on exactly whom he will choose to walk with him on the campaign trial, an election contest limited by the coronavirus pandemic that began storming the U.S. in early March.
Other women on his short list, say sources, are former presidential candidates U.S. Sens Kamala Harris Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, former Atlanta state legislator Stacey Abrams, who is Black Latina Congresswoman Catherine-Cortez-Mastro, and Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Both Demings, a Jacksonville native who has represented Florida's 10th congressional district since 2017, and Harris are Black, and in American politics, race does often matter.
U.S. Rep James Clyburn has said publicly that he wants a woman on Biden's ticket and "preferably an African-American woman."
A seasoned and respected congressman, Clyburn is Black and is credited with reviving Biden's then failing campaign by endorsing him for South Carolina's primary, which Biden won over former Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen Bernie Sanders, and never looked back, his campaign saying also that he did not necessarily expect to win in the earlier primaries like in Iowa and in New Hampshire, White voters territory without a doubt.
Harris took on Biden on race too.
A junior U.S. senator and former California attorney general, Harris raised eyebrows when she took on Biden during the First Democratic Debate on the race issue, saying he fraternized with segregationists when he was U.S. senator and that he should not have opposed court-ordered public school busing plans, busing a 1970s, 80s and 90s phenomenon in place to seek to remedy racial disparities and intentional discrimination against Black children in America's general largely Black public school districts.
A former longtime U.S. senator who served as president under Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, Biden's recent comments on race and his efforts to act as arbiter of the black vote reignited criticism of his support as a senator of the 1994 anti-Black crime bill he backed when democrat Bill Clinton was president.
Pundits have said that the push back will likely blow over, given Biden's universal appeal among Black voters, particularly southern and elderly voters, and due to the fact that he is the front-runner for winning the presidency this year, polls show.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday has Biden up by 11 points in a head-to-head- match-up with President Trump 50%-39%.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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