Janice R. Andrews
When President Joe Biden was talking about creating jobs for Black Americans in a recent speech, he accidentally used a term made famous by former President Donald Trump. This caused a lot of attention. Biden said, “We’ve put racial equity at the center of everything we do,” at an event that showed off his administration’s economic successes. We’ve made over two million new jobs for Black Americans in just three and a half years with your help.
During his presidency, Trump often talked about creating jobs for Black Americans as a major accomplishment of his government. This made the word “Black jobs” very closely linked to him. Whether Biden meant to or not, the term quickly led to similarities between him and President Obama.
Biden went on with his speech and made a funny comment: “By the way, the next Black job to be filled is President of the United States of America.” Okay, keep an eye on me. It made people even more excited about talking about Biden’s job and the idea of a Black candidate becoming the next president of the United States.
People who agreed with and disagreed with Biden responded to the comment on social media. Some praised his focus on race equality, while others pointed out the accidental reference to Trump’s rhetoric. Every speech and comment will be closely watched as the 2024 election draws near, especially since Biden is running for re-election in a political climate that is becoming more divided.
That mistake shows how tricky it can be to talk about race and jobs, two very important problems for both the Biden and Trump campaigns.
