In an exclusive interview with theGrio’s “The Hill with April Ryan” in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, President Joe Biden reflected on his Black agenda over the past nearly four years and more.
“I wish we could have gotten more work done quicker in terms of the Black agenda,” Biden admitted. However, the 46th president of the United States listed off a number of achievements during his administration, including reducing Black poverty and unemployment.
“We increase the participation of the number of small businesses. We got $16 billion for HBCUs,” he added.
When given the opportunity and resources, the president told theGrio, “There’s not a single thing that anyone else committed that a Black person can’t do – not a single thing.”
Biden also discussed his now-delayed trip to Angola, part of a promise he made to visit the continent of Africa. The president is expected to highlight a railway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean that will allow the African nation and others to trade.
“There are countries along that route that have all the food in the world and they have no way to get it out,” he explained. “It matters a lot just in terms of simple equity, but also matters a lot in terms of security.”
During theGrio’s exclusive interview, Biden said he also has “great confidence” in his governing partner, Vice President Kamala Harris, as she embarks on her quest to the White House with four weeks to go before voters cast their ballots on Nov. 5.
Reflecting on the past nearly four years, the president stressed, “We spend a lot of time together,” inferring that he knows Harris well and that the American public should trust his word about the Democratic presidential nominee who replaced him at the top of the ticket after he shockingly decided not to seek reelection.
By making that fateful decision on July 21, Biden chose what he and others saw as saving America’s democracy from former President Donald Trump over political ambition.
“He’s a different breed of cat,” Biden told theGrio. The president went as far as to speak of Trump’s “prejudice” against women and Black Americans. He emphasized, “The way he diminishes and demeans their background is sad. It’s sick.”
Biden said he sees Harris as representing a new generation of thought, gender, and race to possibly lead the country for the next four years.
Watch the entire second half of theGrio’s conversation with President Joe Biden above.