Joe Biden Recounts Personal History with Black Community and Civil Rights

Founding of the National Bar Association

• 💡 The National Bar Association was founded 100 years ago to support black lawyers who were excluded from professional organizations due to unadulterated racism.
• ✅ The NBA and its members have fought to make the country live up to its ideals, believing the soul of the nation is worth fighting for.

Biden's Early Engagement with the Black Community

• 🤝 As a young man in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden formed friendships within the black community that felt like family, long before understanding the civil rights movement politically.
• ⛪ He describes attending 7:30 AM Mass at his own church and then an 10:00 AM service at an AME church across town every Sunday.

Post-Assassination Wilmington and Civil Rights Fight

• 💔 Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, riots erupted in Wilmington, leading to the governor keeping the city under National Guard occupation for 10 months.
• ⚡ The prolonged military operation in Wilmington was the longest in a US city since the Civil War, with soldiers on every corner.
• ✊ Biden felt the pain due to his friendships and became more involved in the fight for civil rights and basic democracy.

Political Career and Civil Rights Advocacy

• ⚖️ He left a prestigious law firm to become a public defender, representing mostly black clients in Wilmington.
• 🗳️ In the 1970s, he was convinced to run for county council, a seat no Democrat had ever won, and subsequently ran for the United States Senate.
• 🌟 Throughout his career, Biden championed legislation to protect civil rights and support marginalized communities, serving as Vice President to Barack Obama and advocating for Kamala Harris to be the first Black woman Vice President.
• 🎯 As president, he made the cause of civil rights and equality the foundation of his administration.