President Joe Biden’s appearance at Morehouse College, a Black men’s college, for commencement in Atlanta, Georgia, was billed as the seminal event of the campaign season.
President Joe Biden’s appearance at Morehouse College, a Black men’s college, for commencement in Atlanta, Georgia, was billed as the seminal event of the campaign season. Here Biden, pundits argued, would be forced to confront his policies on the Israeli- Hamas war. Here, “Genocide Joe,” as his critics have dubbed him for his war policies, would get his comeuppance from college students determined to set him straight regarding his errant ways. Perhaps, some thought we might be treated to scenes reminiscent of the campus protests– loud raucous crowds, police in riot gear with zip ties bludgeoning faculty and students alike in an effort to quell the unruly assemblage. Instead, what audiences witnessed was a largely quiet audience gathered to hear the president. Few signs of dissident and a president calmly talking about his life stories and leadership. How did the expectations for this event go from “fight the power” to accommodate the status quo. This is an occurence worth exploring because it gives us insights into the political realities of this moment.
It is clear that the presidential election, the debate over the Israel-Hamas war, Ist Amendment rights of protest, the viability of HBCUs and outreach to Black men by the Democratic party converged on Morehouse’s campus. They converged because Georgia is a must win state for Democrats this election cycle. The state is ground zero for the party’s desire to hold the state after Democrats flipped it from Democratic to Republican in 2020 and elected two Democratic senators John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, a Morehouse College graduate and Pastor of Ebenezzer Baptist Church. Both senatorial candidates built on the work of Stacey Abrams who ran for governor in 2016 and 2020. Although she lost both bids, her get out the vote campaigns galvanized Black voters across the state. Anxious to maintain and extend these gains, Democrats are taking nothing for granted.
Campus protests have exploded all over the country. These demonstrations have driven a wedge between students and faculty on one side who want to preserve free speech and the right to protest on campus and college presidents and administrators who seem more concerned about law and order. The latter often resorted to use of the police to end campus demonstrations and encampments. Several college presidents have been sacked and others have received no confidence votes from faculty. Congress has weighted in with hearings led by Republican operatives, which have largely but recriminatory but not educative regarding the true conditions on campus. Against this background, President Biden weighed in after student unrest at Columbia and a host of other leading colleges and universities largely to affirm the rule of law.
This brings us to the HBCUs. Some commentators have argued that these schools have largely been missing in action. Others have opined that Black students are more concerned with domestic issues, have fewer resources and are more bread and butter oriented because of socioeconomic and class concerns. While some of these explanations have merit, they seem caught in the vice of presentism. I would argue that size, endowment and resources, visibility and assumptions about the awareness of today’s youth, especially Black youth predominate in mainstream despite claims to fairness and accuracy.
HBCU size, endowment and resources are no-brainers here. Most HBCUs are much smaller in size and have fewer resources compared to larger majoritarian schools. As a result these schools are not on the radar screen of news organizations unless there is a shooting, fiscal mismanagement, of other salacious activity occurring. It is easy for news organization to overlook political activity on Black campuses such as the walkout that occurred on Howard university’s campus regarding Gaza last fall. Or to assume that the most significant protests on Black campuses relate to conditions on campus. All the while most of these organizations overlook the Orangeburg Massacre, the Jackson State shooting and the expansive anti-apartheid participation of HBCUs in the 1980s and the heightened interest in Black Lives in from 2013 to 2020.
Given the centrality of Georgia to Democratic aspirations, the unpopularity of President Biden’s Gaza policies, the raging debate over free speech and protest coupled with the prospects of HBCus and Black men— enter Morehouse College. Morehouse was the perfect stage from which to cleverly wrap up these issues in a bow. Democratic organizers touted Morehouse’s protest tradition citing Martin Luther King, one of its most distinguished graduates. White House operatives were sent to campus. Student forums were held to discuss the impending presidential speech. In one forum, David Jones, Morehouse president was asked whether he thought the war in Gaza represented genocide. He made no comment. Student government officials appeared on CNN to talk about their views on the war. Protest was expressed but effectively relegated to pre-commencement activities. For instance, the Baccurelate speaker Reginald Sharpe, a Morehouse graduate and pastor in Chicago, Sharpe criticized Biden’s remarks policies to raucous applause.
As the commencement approached, the school’s president threatened to shut down the commencement if protests became vocal. Faculty also took a vote to award Biden an honorary PhD. The vote was publicized widely to show confidence not only in the institution but acceptance of the president. Stories began to circulate about proper decorum and etiquette and how to protest peacefully. All is this advice seem to have paid off. The ceremony witnessed few signs of dissent. One or two students turned their backs on the president. One faculty member put up a fist. Another group held up a flag of the DRC to protest US inaction in an ongoing conflict in the region. DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher, Class Valedictorian, called for an immediate cease fire and a two- state solution in the region.
Yet all the protests were muted and restrained, Biden’s speech focused on the complexity of the Gaza conflict, his personal tragedies, the enduring legacy of HBCUs and political prospects for the Democrats. This reception fit with Biden’s televised speech about the right to protest but to do so in a restrained manner that does not violate the law. It fit nicely with the image Morehouse College wanted to project of civility and respect for the office of the President of the United States. So in the end, all of the parties got what they wanted.
While the parties may have gotten what they wanted, many questions remain. The Gaza conflict continues to rage in Gaza. Israeli forces are now operating in the heart of Rafah. Biden has put forth a potential pathway to peace, but its unlikely the Israelis will accept it. Protests against the war continue on college campuses and in public spaces beyond the campus. Polls show that Trump is still making inroads among Black voters despite his conviction on 34 felony counts. Some prominient Black men voiced support for candidacy. And if the election were held today, polls show Trump ahead in Georgia . So beyond the symbolism and campaign artfice, much work remains to done if Democrats want to make good on the vision articulated from the podium during Biden’s Morehouse Commencement Speech.
Previously Published on Historian Speaks
