Biden clarifies comments comparing African American and Latino communities

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in a Thursday night tweet clarified his comments comparing African American and Latino communities.

The former vice president acknowledged statements he made on Wednesday in an interview during the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference after President Trump and his campaign condemned him for them  

“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 said on Wednesday.

In his tweet, Biden said he “in no way” meant “to suggest the African American community is a monolith—not by identity, not on issues, not at all.”

“Throughout my career I’ve witnessed the diversity of thought, background, and sentiment within the African American community,” Biden posted. “It’s this diversity that makes our workplaces, communities, and country a better place.”

“My commitment to you is this: I will always listen, I will never stop fighting for the African American community and I will never stop fighting for a more equitable future,” he added. 

Throughout my career I’ve witnessed the diversity of thought, background, and sentiment within the African American community. It’s this diversity that makes our workplaces, communities, and country a better place.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 7, 2020

Trump and his campaign pounced on the former vice president’s statements, with the president tweeting that Biden “lost the entire African American community” with his remarks.

The president addressed the interview before leaving the White House for Ohio, saying Biden “totally disparaged and insulted the Black community.”

“What he said was incredible and I don’t know what is going on with him, but it was a very insulting statement he made,” Trump said earlier Thursday.

The Trump campaign also released a statement from campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson saying, “The condescending white liberal racism that oozes out of Joe Biden is disgusting.”

“Now he arrogantly tells a group of Black reporters that ‘you all know’ that Black people think alike,” she said. ”There’s a reason Joe Biden can’t count on the support of Black voters and it’s because of his plantation owner mentality.”

Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders told The Hill in response that “If you look at the full video and transcript, it’s clear that Vice President Biden was referring to diversity of attitudes among Latinos from different Latin American countries.”

“The video that is circulating is conveniently cut to make this about racial diversity but that’s not the case,” she said.

Several polls have shown that Black voters plan to side with Biden in the upcoming election, with a recent Economist-YouGov poll finding 76 percent of Black participants said they’d vote for Biden, compared to 12 percent who said they’d vote for Trump.