Democratic Presidential Candidate Biden Clarifies Remarks Comparing African American and Latino Communities

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Aug 07, 2020 01:09 AM EDT

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has clarified his comments on Thursday, comparing African American and Latino communities.

Biden has acknowledged the statements he said on Wednesday in an interview during the National Association of Black Journalists and National of Hispanic Journalist conference, according to a The Hill report.

"What you all know, but most people don't know, unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community, with incredibly different attitudes about different things," Biden was quoted in a report.

Biden added that if you go to Florida, you will find a very different attitude about immigration in certain places, compared to when you are in Arizona. He said it is a very diverse community, according to a Fox News report.

Biden explained through his tweets that he in "no way" meant to imply that the African American community "is a monolith-not by identity, not on issues, not at all."

Biden said on Twitter that through his career he has witnessed the diversity of thought, background in the African American community, adding that it is this diversity that makes the workplaces, communities, and country a better place.

The Democratic presidential candidate further said that he is committed in listening, and will never stop fighting for the African American community. Biden noted that he will continue fighting for a more just future.

Criticisms

President Donald Trump has criticized Biden for the comments he made before on the country's African American and Latino communities.

Trump said on Twitter that Biden just lost the entire African American community for the comments that he made.

Trump campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson said in a statement that Biden's comments contained "condescending white liberal racism." Pierson noted that Trump has a true record of helping African Americans through economic opportunity, funding for historically black colleges and universities, criminal justice reform, and support for school choice.

Symone Sanders, Biden's campaign senior adviser, said Biden was referring to diversity of attitudes among Latinos from different Latin American countries. Sanders added that the video that was circulating was conveniently cut to make the statement about racial diversity. He said that was not the case.