Joe Biden has brought us a new incredibly insensitive quote showing the Democrats’ “soft” racism of low expectations of black, brown, and hispanic people of color.
On February 16, 2021, President Joe Biden held a Presidential Town Hall televised meeting in Milwaukee hosted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper. He answered a number of different questions, stumbled a number of times through his responses, and even made a few racist remarks. Have we heard much from the mainstream media about this? Will Biden be declared racist by the left? Of course not.
During the town hall, Joe Biden was talking about the COVID vaccine rollout and ensuring that it is easily accessible to all people, which is important. The problem is that in typical Uncle Joe Biden fashion, he then starts to ad lib and speak off the cuff:
The Video
The Transcript
Here is a transcript of Biden’s answer to the COVID question:
“The other part… portion is… a lot of people don’t know how to register. A lot of people in the community – in the hispanic and African American community – particularly in rural areas that are distant or in inner city districts, know how to use… know how to get online to determine how to get in line for that COVID vaccination at the Walgreens or at… the particular store.”
The Problem
The key problem here is not that he is even addressing a potential differential in the access of people of color to the internet, but that he is questioning their ability to know how to even use it. That is the racism of low expectations (also known as “white savior complex”) where politicians, Democrats, and the media feel like they must protect and coddle people of color because they don’t feel black and brown Americans are capable of making it on their own merits.
Statistics
Statically, the difference in internet usage between races as well as the smart phone ownership rate in the United States is very similar. In 2019, the Pew Research Center, found that 82% of whites and 80% of blacks owned a smart phone that was capable of accessing the internet, hardly a huge gap worthy of questioning the capabilities of entire races. In fact, blacks actually have a higher ownership rate of any type of cell phone at 98% compared to 96% for whites. Does Joe Biden think that black Americans are also incapable of simply calling their local Walgreens or hospital and making an appointment?
Instead of focusing on race, the far greater differential is seen when comparing age groups: 100% of people ages 18-29 report using the internet, while 73% of adults 65+ report the same. Considering there are around 49 million Americans who are 65 or older, that means there are over 13 million elderly Americans reportedly don’t use the internet and are the most vulnerable population to die from COVID.