Without even having to mention his name, President Joe Biden excoriated Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis during a speech he gave Sunday during a visit to Selma, Alabama to commemorate “Bloody Sunday.”
Speaking to black leaders, the president brought up that some in the GOP want to ban the teaching of civil rights and black history, including learning about Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Some, like DeSantis, even want to censor books from appearing in libraries because they might make some white children feel uncomfortable.
“History matters. I am here as your president. The truth matters. And I understand the other team is trying to hide the truth. No matter how hard some people try, we can’t just choose to learn what we want to know, and not what we should know. We should learn everything. The good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation. And everyone should know the truth of Selma.”
The president then reflected on “Bloody Sunday,” which took place in 1965.
“Six hundred believers put faith in action to march across that bridge named after the grand dragon of the KKK. They were on their way to the state capital of Montgomery to claim their fundamental right to vote lain in the bedrock of our Constitution, but stolen by hate and harbored in too many hearts.”
Biden concluded his remarks with a powerful reminder of his thoughts on the brave men and women who marched at Selma and what they had to endure:
“With unflinching courage, foot soldiers marched for justice, marched through the valley of the shadow of death and they feared no evil. The forces of hate can conspire to demise, but they endured. They forced the country to confront the hard truths, and the act to keep the promise of America alive. I was just student up north in the Civil Rights movement. I remember feeling how guilty I was I wasn’t here. How could we all be up there and you’re going through what you went through? Looking at those — I can still picture, I can still picture the troopers with their batons and wands and whips.”
It should be interesting to see if Gov. DeSantis responds to the president’s remarks. If he does, and doubles down on his state’s bans, he can kiss the vote of almost every black person in this country goodbye.
Here’s video of President Biden’s remarks:
