Joe Biden has spoken out about the racism former President Obama faced while in office.
Joe Biden has spoken out about the racism former President Obama faced while in office.
He recently told Fresh Air’s Terry Gross, “The fact is: There is racism; it does exist.”
The former Vice President added that Obama “was the brunt of it many times, but because of his caliber, because of his integrity, because of his humanity, he was able to rise above what I would have found difficult to dismiss and go on and get a lot of business done.”
Obama also acknowledged the role that race played during his administration, telling CNN’s Fareed Zakaria during his last month in office, “I think there is a reason why attitudes about my presidency among whites in Northern states are very different from whites in Southern states.”
He continued, “Are there folks whose primary concern about me has been that I seem foreign, the other? Are those who champion the 'birther' movement feeding off of bias? Absolutely.”
Nevertheless, news outlets including The Atlantic have pointed out that Obama had largely avoided talking about race during his time as president.
That distance was bridged, however, after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin when Obama said, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
He also addressed the issue during his speech mourning the victims of the 2015 church shooting in Charleston; Obama said, in part, “The fact that this took place in a black church obviously also raises questions about a dark part of our history…hatred across races and faiths pose a particular threat to our democracy and our ideals.”
