President Biden will deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College on Sunday as protests continue to disrupt graduation ceremonies across the country.
Biden's speech at the historically black university is an opportunity to shore up his flagging support among black voters ahead of the 2024 election. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday that Biden had been working on his speech with senior advisors for several days.
The speech is “an opportunity to elevate and give an important message to our future leaders,” Jean-Pierre said.
“He has been working on these statements for the last two days, I assure you, with his top advisors. He is taking it incredibly seriously,” Jean-Pierre added. “He will adapt to the moment. And I think you will hear directly from the president how he obviously sees the future of this country, and also of the community that they represent.”
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President Biden will deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College on Sunday as protests continue to disrupt graduation ceremonies across the country. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The start comes just days after Biden announced $16 billion in new funding for historically Black colleges and universities across the country. He mentioned Morehouse by name in comments about the funding initiative last week.
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“Morehouse was founded after our nation's Civil War to help prepare formerly enslaved Black Americans to enter the ministry, obtain an education, and lead them from slavery to freedom,” Biden said. “The founders of Morehouse understood something fundamental. Education is linked to freedom. Because being free means having something that no one can ever take away from you.”
President Biden will visit the Morehouse College campus on Sunday. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Biden's appearance comes as anti-Israel protests have gripped campuses across the country. Morehouse itself has also suffered some unrest. The student body is divided even over Biden's appearance at graduation. Disgruntled students are reportedly trying to organize a silent protest during Biden's speech in which students would turn their backs on the president, according to NPR.
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“I think it's a little insulting that our star student is Dr. King, but Biden has been going on a tirade in the Middle East,” one student, DeAngelo Fletcher, told the outlet. “Bringing it here, especially during an election year… to get the vote especially from young black people, is a little insulting.”
Biden's appearance at Morehouse comes as anti-Israel protests have gripped campuses across the country. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Hundreds of Morehouse alumni also signed a letter asking the university to rescind its invitation to Biden earlier this year. Students and professors at the university have accused Biden of aiding Israel's “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza during the war that sparked the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.
