At noon on Monday, January 8th, President Joe Biden spoke at the pulpit of Mother Emanuel AME Church in one of his first reelection campaign speeches of 2024.
The church is notable in recent history for being the site of the Charleston church shooting on June 17th, 2015. Before Biden’s speech commenced, the congregation displayed great support for him, chanting “Four more years.”
In his speech, Biden focused on the topic of white supremacy, describing it as a “poison throughout our history [that] has ripped this nation apart.” He praised the church for its bravery and its activism both before and following 2015’s shooting.
To the congregation he recounted his experience praying with the church following the shooting and the funeral service of victim Clementa Pinckney, a pastor, state senator, and friend of Biden. He described the church’s congregation as having brought comfort to him and his family just weeks after the death of his son Beau.
Eight minutes into the speech, Biden was interrupted by three pro-Palestinian protestors, one yelling, “If you really care about the lives lost here, you should honor the lives lost and call for a cease fire in Palestine.” As the protestors were escorted out, they chanted the demand, “Cease fire now.” Shortly after their exit, the congregation erupted into chanting “Four more years” as they had before Biden’s speech.
Likely in response to Nikki Haley’s controversial refusal to cite slavery as the cause of the American Civil War on December 27th of last year, Biden asserted, “Slavery was the cause of the Civil War. There is no negotiation about that,” criticizing the Lost Cause narrative.
Biden evoked imagery of the January 6th Capitol attack, which occurred three years and two days before his speech, comparing it to the treason of the Civil War. He described Donald Trump’s incitement of the insurrection and unwillingness to control it as “among the worst derelictions of duty by any President in American history.”
To rally support for his reelection, Biden mentioned many of the successes his administration has seen, including the incorporation of Juneteenth as a federal holiday, the giving of stimulus checks to Americans during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and lowering unemployment rates.
Regarding the Perry High School shooting in Iowa four days before his speech, Biden once again called for firearm background checks and a federal assault weapons ban, stating on the latter, “I did it once before and I’m going to come back again and do it.”
Before ending his speech, Biden reminded the congregation that South Carolina is now the first state in the Democratic primaries, emphasizing the importance of individual political action and voting.
Biden’s speech at Mother Emanuel can be inferred to be a push to appeal to black voters, hisappearing in front of a majority black congregation and frequently contextualizing his successes in the context of race.
Biden is projected to win the Democratic Party nomination, which would hold consistent with every prior incumbent president having won their party nomination when running for reelection.
