President Joe Biden drew attention during a recent interview with Black Entertainment Television when he referred to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin as “the Black man.” Biden was discussing his record of appointing Black individuals to his administration and said, “Look at the heat I’m getting because I named a, uh, the, uh, secretary of defense — the Black man.”
The gaffe quickly went viral on social media, prompting debate over whether Biden said “the Black man” or “a Black man.” He also mistakenly referred to Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as “Ketanji Brown” and emphasized his belief that Black history is integral to American history.
Critics and commentators have weighed in on the incident, with some arguing that Biden’s lapse in memory reflects poorly on his cognitive state, while others suggest the remark was a minor slip in a broader context of his remarks on race and diversity.
Biden has faced scrutiny in the past for controversial comments on race, including a 2007 apology for describing Barack Obama as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean,” and a 2020 remark suggesting that Black voters who were undecided about supporting him were not truly Black.
BIDEN: "Look at the heat I'm getting because I, I named a, uh, the, uh, secretary of defense — the black man”
— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) July 18, 2024
