Biden tells Morehouse graduates scenes from Israel-Hamas war in Gaza also break his heart | National

ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden offered his most direct acknowledgment Sunday of American students’ anguish over the war between Israel and Hamas, telling graduates of historic Black Morehouse College that he had heard their voices protest and scenes of the conflict in Gaza broke out. his heart too.

“I support peaceful, non-violent protests,” he told students at the all-male college, some of whom wore Palestinian scarves called Palestinian scarves on their shoulders over their black graduation gowns. keffiyehs. “Your voices need to be heard, and I promise I will listen to them.

Biden said there was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, “which is why I called for an immediate ceasefire to end the fighting” and bring home hostages still being held by Hamas after its militants attacked Israel on October 7. toward the end of a keynote address in which he also reflected on American democracy and his role in preserving it.

“This is one of the most difficult and complicated problems in the world,” Biden said. “There’s nothing easy about it. I know this angers and frustrates many of you, including my family. But above all, I know it breaks my heart. It breaks mine too.

Until now, Biden had limited his public comments on protests on U.S. college campuses to defending the right to peacefully protest.

The speech — and the one he will deliver later Sunday in Detroit — is part of a wave of outreach to the Democratic president’s black voters, whose support among those voters has softened since their strong support helped him to enter the Oval Office.

Biden spent much of his roughly 30-minute speech focusing on domestic issues. He condemned Donald Trump’s rhetoric on immigrants and noted that the class of 2024 entered college during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the murder of George Floyd, a black man killed by a police officer. Minneapolis. Biden said it was natural for them and others to wonder whether the democracy “you hear about actually works for you.”

“If black men are killed in the street. What is democracy?” he asked. “The series of broken promises that still leave black communities behind. What is democracy ? If you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a chance. »

Anti-war protests have rocked American college campuses. Columbia University has canceled its main commencement ceremony. At Morehouse, the announcement that Biden would be the opening ceremony speaker sparked backlash among professors and those who oppose the president’s handling of the war. Some Morehouse alumni circulated a letter online condemning administrators for inviting Biden and solicited signatures to pressure Morehouse President David Thomas to rescind it.

The letter claimed that Biden’s approach to Israel amounted to support for genocide in Gaza and was out of step with the pacifism expressed by Martin Luther King Jr., Morehouse’s most famous graduate.

Hamas attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s health authorities.

Ultimately, there was no interruption to Morehouse’s start, while the applause for Biden was mostly subdued. At least seven graduates and one faculty member sat with their backs turned during Biden’s speech, and another student draped himself in a Palestinian flag. Protesters near the ceremony carried signs reading “Free Palestine,” “Save the Children” and “Ceasefire Now” while police on bicycles kept watch.

On stage, behind the president, while he spoke, academics unfurled a Congolese flag. The African country is mired in a civil war and many racial justice advocates have called for greater attention to the conflict as well as U.S. help to end the violence.

During his speech, Maj. DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher of Chicago said it was his duty to speak out about the war in Gaza and recognize that Palestinians and Israelis have suffered. He called for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”

Graduate Kingsley John said, “The temperature on campus was to be expected given that the President of the United States came to speak. » John said he was “in solidarity” with his classmates and that Biden “seemed thoughtful and open to hearing feedback.”

Morehouse awarded Biden an honorary doctorate of laws. After accepting the honor, he joked, “I’m not going home,” as chants of “four more years” erupted from the audience. Biden then flew to Detroit to address the thousands attending the local NAACP chapter’s annual Freedom Fund dinner.

Georgia and Michigan are among a handful of states that will help decide the expected November rematch between Biden and Trump. Biden narrowly won Georgia and Michigan in 2020 and he needs strong Black voter turnout in Atlanta and Detroit if he hopes to repeat his term in November.

Biden spent part of last week reaching out to Black voters. He highlighted key moments in the civil rights movement, from the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation in public schools, to the Little Rock Nine, who helped integrate a public school. in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. He also met members of the “Divine Nine” black fraternities and sororities.

Before the NAACP speech in Detroit, Biden visited supporters at the CRED Café on the city’s East Side, which is partly owned by former NBA players Joe and Jordan Crawford.

The speech will give Biden a chance to reach thousands of people in Wayne County, which has historically voted overwhelmingly Democratic but has shown signs of resistance to his re-election bid.

The county is also home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the country, primarily in the city of Dearborn. That state’s leaders were at the forefront of an “uncommitted” effort that garnered more than 100,000 votes in the state’s Democratic primary and spread across the country.

A protest rally and march against Biden’s visit took place in Dearborn in the afternoon.

In Detroit, guests at the NAACP dinner were greeted by more than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside the entrance to the convention center. They waved Palestinian flags, held signs calling for a ceasefire and chanted “free and free Palestine.”

“Until Joe Biden listens to his core voters, he risks handing the presidency to Donald Trump,” said Lexi Zeidan, a protest leader who helped lead a protest effort that resulted in more 100,000 people voted “without commitment” during the February Democratic primary.

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Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, and Colleen Long and Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.