Photo: Elijah Nouvelage Getty Images via Agence France-Presse A student turned his back on Joe Biden during the graduation ceremony at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, but his speech went off without disruption.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds – Agence France-Presse and Danny Kemp – Agence France-Presse in Atlanta and Washington respectively
Posted at 1:05 p.m.
- United States
US President Joe Biden promised on Sunday to listen to “peaceful and non-violent protests” against Israel's war in Gaza, during a visit to the university where Martin Luther King studied intended to seduce the African-American and young electorate.
“I support peaceful, non-violent protests. Your voices must be heard, and I promise you that I will hear them,” the president said during the graduation ceremony at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
A student turned his back on Joe Biden during the ceremony, but his speech went off without disruption.
Students at this historically African-American university asked their management to cancel the Democrat's speech, pointing out his support for Israel, the subject of strong criticism in the middle of an election year.
During his speech, Joe Biden also called for a ceasefire in Gaza, for the return of Israeli hostages, and assured that he was working for “a lasting peace” in the entire region, including “a solution to two states”, with the creation of a Palestinian state, “the only solution”.
“This is one of the most difficult and complex problems in the world. There is nothing easy about this situation,” said the Democratic president, who wore a brown and black robe, the colors of Morehouse College.
“I know this angers and frustrates many of you, including my family, but most importantly, I know it breaks your heart. It breaks mine too,” he assured.
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Young people and African-Americans
This visit to Atlanta, in the state of Georgia, is for Joe Biden the most direct face-to-face meeting with students since the wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations which swept through American universities .
By coming to Morehouse, Joe Biden wants to pay tribute to the hero of the civil rights movement who studied there, but students pointed out that Martin Luther King opposed the war and particularly that of Vietnam in the 1960s.
The Democratic president initially remained silent on protests against the war launched by Israel in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attacks of October 7, before declaring that “order must prevail” on American campuses, where police intervened to dislodge camps.
But the unconditional support of the United States for Israel makes the Democratic camp fear losing votes among the young electorate and among sympathizers of the Palestinian cause.
More generally, polls show the Democrat's broader difficulties winning support from black voters and younger Americans, two groups who helped him defeat rival Donald Trump in 2020 and who will be decisive again this year to prevent a return of the Republican to the White House.
According to a recent survey New York Times/Siena, Donald Trump could collect the votes of 20% of African-Americans in November, approximately double the number in 2020. This would be a record for a Republican candidate and a disavowal for his opponent Democrat.
To prevent this score, Joe Biden on Friday castigated the “extremism” of his rival and his supporters who “attack diversity, equity and inclusion through all of America,” during a speech at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.
The day before, in the Oval Office, he had received personalities and relatives of plaintiffs in the case called “Brown v. Board of Education” (Brown v. Topeka Board of Education), which resulted in a landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling outlawing school segregation, a turning point in the state civil rights movement. -United.
The American president is scheduled to continue his campaign trip on Sunday in Detroit, where he will address the country's main civil rights association, the NAACP.