Transcript for Biden and Trump speak on institutional racism in America
Let’s talk about our next section which is race in America. And I want to talk about the way black and brown Americans experience race in this country. Part of that experience is something called the talk. It happens regardless of class and income. Parents who feel they have no choice but to prepare their children for the chance that they could be targeted, including by the police, for no reason other than the color of their skin. Mr. Vice president, in the next two minutes, I want you to speak directly to these families. Do you understand why these parents fear for their children? I do. I do. You know, my daughter is a social worker and she’s written a lot about this, she has her gramg watt degree from the university of Pennsylvania in social work and, you know, one of the reasons why I ended up working on the east side of Wilmington, Delaware, which is 90% African-American, was to learn more about what was going on. I never had to tell my daughter, if she’s pulled over, make sure she puts both hands on top of the wheel and don’t reach for the glove box, because someone may shoot you. But a black parent, no matter how wealthy or how poor they are, has to teach their child, when you’re walking down the street, don’t have a hoodie on when you go across the street. Making sure that you, in fact, if you get pulled over, yes, sir, no, sir, hands on top of the wheel. Because you are, in fact, the victim whether you are a person making $300,000 or someone who is on food stamps. The fact of the matter is, there is institutional racism in America. And we have always said, we’ve never lived up to it, we hold these truths to be self-evident, all men and women are created equal. Guess what? We have never lived up to it. But we have been constantly moving the needle further and further to inclusion. Not exclusion. This is the first president to come along and say that’s the end of that. We’re not going to do that anymore. We have to provide for economic opportunity, better education, better health care, better access to schooling. Better access to opportunity to borrow money to start all the things we can do and I’ve laid out a clear plan as to how to do those things. Just to give people a shot. It’s about accumulating the ability to havewealth, as well as it is to be free from violence. President trump, same question to you and let me remind you of the question. I would like you to speak direct ly to these families. Do you understand why these parents fear for these children? Yes, I do. And again, he’s been in government 47 years, he never did a thing. Except in 1994 when he did such harm to the black community and they were called and he called them super predators and he said that, he said it, super predators. And they can never live that 1994, your crime bill, the super predators. Nobody has done more for the black community than Donald Trump. And if you look, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, possible exception, but the exception of Abraham Lincoln, nobody has done what I’ve done. Criminal justice reform, Obama and Joe didn’t do it. I don’t even think they tried, because they had no chance at doing it. They might have wanted to do it, but if you had to see the arms I had to twist to get that done, it was not a pretty picture. And everybody knows it, including some very liberal people that cried in my office, they cried in the oval office, two weeks later, they’re out saying, gee, we have to defeat criminal justice reform. Prison reform. Opportunity Zones with Tim Scott, a great senator from South Carolina. He came in with this incredible idea for opportunity Zones. It’s one of the most successful programs. People don’t talk about it. Tremendous investment is being made. Biggest beneficiary, the black and hispanic commucommunities. Historically black colleges and universities. After three years of coming to the office, I love some of those guys, they were great. They came into the office and they said, I said, what are you doing, after three years, why do you keep coming back? Because we have no funding. I said, you don’t have to come back every year. We have to come back. Because president Obama would never give them long-term funding and I did. Ten-year, long-term funding and I gave them more money than they asked for, because I said, I think you need more. And I sa, the only bad part about this is, I may never see you again, because I got very friendly with them and they like me and I like them, but I saved — historically black colleges and universities. We’re going to talk on your record. But your response to that, vice president Biden? My response is that I never, ever said what he accused me of the fact of the matter is, in 2000, though, after the crime bill had been in the law for awhile, this is a guy who said, the problem with the crime bill, there’s not enough people in jail. There’s not enough people in go on my website, get the quote, the date, when he said it. Not enough people. He talked about gangs, young gangs and the people in our cities. This is a guy who in the central park five, five innocent black kids, he continued to push to make sure they got the death penalty. None of them were guilty of what the crime — of the crimes that were suggested. And look. Granted, he did, in fact, let 20 people, he commuted 20 people’s sentences. We commuted over 1,000 people’s sentences. Over 1,000. The very law he’s talking about is a law that, in fact, initiated by Barack Obama. And secondly, we’re in a situation here where we — the federal prison system was reduced by 38,000 people under our administration. And one of those things we should be doing, there should be no minimum mandatories in the law. That’s why I’m offering $20 billion to states to change their state laws to eliminate minimum mandatories and set up drug courts. No one should be going to jail because they have a drug problem. They should be going to rehabilitation, not to jail. We should fundamentally change the system and that’s what I’m going to do. Why didn’t he do it four years ago? Why didn’t you do that four years ago, even less than that? I am — You keep talking about all these things you’re going to do and you’re going to do this, but you were there, just a short time ago and you guys did nothing. You know, Joe, I ran because of you. I ran because of Barack Obama. Because you did a poor job. If I thought you did a good job, I would have never run. I would have never run. I ran because of you. I’m looking at you now, you’re a politician, I ran because of you. All right, vice president Biden, your response to that and then I do have some questions for both of you. Well, I tell you what, I hope he does look at me, because what’s happening here is, you know who I am, you know who he is. You know his character, you know my character. You know our reputations for honor and telling the truth. I am anxious to have this race. I am anxious to see this take place. I am — the character of the country is on the ballot. Our character is on the ballot. Look at us closely. Excuse me. Please respond. If this is true about Russia, Ukraine, China, Iraq, if this is true, then he’s a corrupt politician. So, don’t give me the stuff about how you’re this innocent Joe, they’re calling you a corrupt politician. Nobody’s calling — I want to stay on the issue of race. We’re talking about — The laptop from hell. Nobody — We’re talking about race right now and I want to stay on the issue of race. I have to respond to that. Please. Very quickly. Look. There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what — what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plant. They have said that this has all the — five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage. Nobody believes it except him and his good friend Rudy Giuliani. You mean the laptop is now another Russia, Russia, Russia hoax? You got to be — That’s exactly what was told. This laptop is Russia, Russia, Russia? I want to stay on the issue of race. Here we go again with Russia. Mr. President, we’re going to continue on the issue of race. You described the black lives matter movement as a symbol of hate. You’ve shared a video of a man chanting “White power” to millions of your supporters. You’ve said that black professional athletes exercising their first amendment rights should be fired. What do you say to Americans who say that kind of language is contributing to it? The first time I heard about black lives matter, they were talking about pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon. They were marching down the and that was my first glimpse of black lives matter. I thought it was a terrible thing. As far as my relationships with all people, I think I have great relationships with all people. I am the least racist person in this room. What do you say to Americans who are concerned by that rhetoric? I don’t know what to say. I got criminal justice reform done and prison reform and opportunity Zones, I took care of black colleges and universities. I don’t know what to say. They can say anything. I mean, they can say anything. It’s a very — it makes me sad because I am — I am the least racist person, I can’t even see the audience because it’s so dark, but I don’t care who is in the audience, I’m the least racist person in this room. Okay, vice president Biden, let me ask you very quickly and then I have a followup question for you. Abraham Lincoln was one of the most racist presidents. Started off his campaign coming down the escalator, saying he’s going to get rid of those Mexican rapists. He banned muslims because they’re muslims. He’s moved around and made everything worse across the board. He says to the — about the poor boys, last time we were on stage here, told them stand down and stand ready. This guy has a dog whistle about as big as a fog horn. You made a reference to Abraham Lincoln. You said you were Abraham Lincoln. No. No. You said — I said not since Abraham Lincoln has anybody done what I’ve done for the black community. I didn’t say I’m Abraham Lincoln. I said not since Abraham Lincoln has anybody done what I’ve done for the black community. Now you have done nothing other than the crime bill, which put — Oh, god. Tens of thousands of black men, mostly, in jail. All right, let me — You look at what’s happening with the voting right now? They remember you treated them very badly. Vice president Biden, let me ask you to respond within this context. Bills you responded contributed toincarceration of black men with small amounts of drugs in their position. Their families, some to this day, suffering the consequences. So, speak to those families. Why should they vote for you? One of the things, in the ’80s, we passed 100%, all 100 senators voted for it, a bill on drugs and how to deal with drugs. It was a mistake. I’ve been trying to change it since then, particularly the portion on cocaine. That’s why I’ve been arguing that, in fact, we should not send anyone to jail for that pure drug offense. They should be going into treatment across the board. That’s what we should be spending money. That’s why I set up drop courts, which were never funded by our Republican friends. They should not be going to jail for a drug or an alcohol problem, they should be going into treatment. That’s what we’ve been trying to do. That’s what I’m going to get done. Because I think the American people have now seen that, in fact, it was a mistake to pass those laws related to drugs. But they were not in the crime bill. But why didn’t he get it see, it’s all talk, no action with these politicians. Why didn’t he get it done. That’s what I’m going to do when I become president. You were vice president with Obama as your president, your leader, for eight years. Why didn’t you get it done? You had eight years to get it done. Now you’re saying you’re going to get it done, because you’re all talk and no action, Joe. We got a lot of it done. We released 38,000 prisoners. You got nothing done. 38,000 prisoners were released from federal prison. There were over 1,000 people who were given clemency. We, in fact — we’re the ones that put in the legislation saying we could look at pattern and practice of police departments and what they were doing, how they were conducting themselves. I could go on. But we began the process. We began the process. We lost an election. That’s why I’m running, to win back that election and change his terrible policies. Your response? I just have one question. Why didn’t you do it in the eight years, a short time ago, why didn’t you do it? You just said, I’m going to do that, I’m going to do this, you put tens of thousands of mostly black young men in prison, now you’re saying you’re going to get, you’re going to undo that. Why didn’t you get it done? You had eight years with Obama. You know why, Joe? You’re all talk and no action. Vice president, we’re going to — We had a Republican congress. That’s the answer. You have to talk them into it, Joe. Sometimes you have to talk them into it. We’re going to move — Like I did with criminal justice reform. I had to talk Democrats into it. Gentlemen. You did what we’ve run to do. We have to get to climate
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
