Joe Biden: You Ain’t Black

The Race-Baiting Politics from a Dinosaur of The Jim Crow Era

How does one ignite a firestorm of controversy? If you’re Donald Trump, you just merely exist and stand in front of a podium. If you’re Joe Biden, you agree to an interview with a black American rapper and for some reason, cross a line where you’ve insulted the host and half of the country because you believe that what you are saying has no consequences all because you are a Democrat and served with a person who made history when he was President and you were lucky to win the lottery and run as his vice-President. I had contemplated whether or not to contribute to this discussion but as the hours ticked by, it became apparent that I must add another perspective to the discourse.

In dissecting his interview with Charlemagne The God, Joe Biden took on a persona that I found to be disingenuous. The main thing that stood out was that he had altered his speech pattern to accommodate the supposed audience Charlemagne The God attracted and that was a mainly predominately black audience. He was pandering. Joe Biden isn’t the first liberal to pander to the black community. Hillary Clinton has done it on numerous occasions, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has entered into that world as well. As Joe Biden kept going down that path of thinking that he had won the right to speak as he please without any restrictions, you could get a sense of foreboding that would leave a long-standing stain on the presumptive presidential nominee. The time was ticking down with seconds left in the interview as a rushed Joe Biden wanted to score some black points on the board when he said it, the three words that would resonate across the country and across the globe, “You Ain’t Black”. He then ended it with wild hand gestures as he proclaimed to check his records with what he has supposedly done for the black community and that the NAACP has endorsed him in past campaigns punctuated with the verbal edicts of, “Come on, man,” as if Charlemagne and he have been long-standing friends having a beer.

Joe Biden entered this interview with a set of assumptions, that his past association with the former president gave him a lock with black voters, that black voters will always vote Democratic, that black voters think monolithic and have a hive mindset, that he didn’t have to do much but speak some “jive” as that character did in the film, Airplane, to relate to the black audience. Joe Biden got it wrong on several counts that placed him in the position that he is in now.

This, however, isn’t Joe Biden’s first gaffe with language. It’s been memorialized on video for the world to see where he starts off on this train of thought but somewhere in him telling a story, the train hops off the tracks and derails. Sometimes he recovers but in this case, he may have a hard time trying to recapture his low tone energy. It seems as if Joe Biden is an ancient artifact of a vestige from long ago. I want to go back and revisit Joe Biden’s speaking pattern in that interview. Why did he alter his speech pattern? The easy and simplest of answers was that he was talking down to Charlemagne because Joe Biden saw the perception that Charlemagne didn’t have the intelligence to speak in an elevated conversation. It’s been noted in a recent study that white liberals do talk down to minorities if they feel like a conversation is directed to someone named Shea-nay-nay versus someone named Emily. If that was the reason, an intentional reason at that, then Joe Biden was calculating and condescending to his host because for me, it was the tone that got to me. I see a lot of tone with the White House press Corp whenever they are speaking to Donald Trump. Their tone is condescending, aggressive, and bent with an accusatory intent whenever a question is raised. Tone means something these days and Joe Biden’s tone was to talk down and condescend.  It reminded me of my last doctor’s visit with my eye doctor. The doctor used basketball metaphors to explain to me about the condition of my damaged eye. It pissed me off as I told him to stop using basketball metaphors and just explain to me why I won’t have sight in my eye, I’m intelligent enough to understand what you’re saying. I haven’t seen the doctor in three years because of that.



Here is the other thing, the use of the word “ain’t”. I’m classified as black and I don’t use that word in any of my language or writings. I had some very strict English teachers who hammered that into our heads that the word “ain’t” was not to be used in speaking and writing. I recall a long time ago where I was a key witness in a federal case where the opposing attorney made this proclamation where I have supposedly said something that had the word “ain’t” in it. I laughed in that attorney’s face because the use of that word is foreign to me. For Joe Biden to use it was a disrespectful gesture to a degree. Did he think that by using it that he was relating to some uneducated faction of black voters? He wouldn’t have done it if the audience he was trying to reach was white or Asian or even brown.

Joe Biden’s “You Ain’t Black” was a statement on marginalizing the black community and adding a divisive element. When it comes to politics, if you have an opposing viewpoint, you’re not black or not black enough. For me, I stopped buying into The democratic way of thinking after experiencing no significant change over several Democratic presidents. The promises were the same, the rhetoric was predictable and the results were the same. I’m no Republican either but my leanings are as an Independent moderate conservative, the kind of swing voter that can change the outcome of an election. I don’t speak about my position in crowds because it’s no-one’s business with the added caveat of someone deciding if you’re truly black. Politics is a hostile community these days especially if you wear a red baseball cap, it brings out the crazy liberals every time. Black conservatism is a real and growing thing but the divide is strong within the community with where one allegiance lie. The skin color doesn’t change, just the politics. The problems are still the same, racism, police shootings, poverty, etc. At one point in this country, black people were proud Republicans thanks to Abraham Lincoln. John F. Kennedy changes that and history was lost.

Joe Biden just stirred up the pot with his three little words and that just goes to show you how disconnected he is from a man who lives in his own community, as he says, that he only ventures out whenever campaigning is needed. Joe Biden’s mental capabilities have become an issue of late. He’s stumbled and uttered some nonsensical affirmations that call into question his ability to take on the role of commander-in-chief. I am still wondering as to why Joe Biden took on the persona of thinking he was still living in the 50’s Jim Crow south when he was in full pandering mode with Charlemagne The God. Did a light switch pop on in his head to start speaking as he did? I don’t feel as if this one will be so easily dismissed or forgotten. His campaign spokesperson, Symone Sanders, claims his statement was in jest or a joke. That’s a severely weak reach. Biden calls it being too cavalier.

I have friends who are white, two of them I consider best friends. Neither one of them feels that they can say anything that they would perceive as being too cavalier when it comes to race. We’ve had healthy discussions on race and in the end there has to be a sense of respect and comfort with one another to even delve into the discussion of who we are as a collective let alone race. Bernie Sanders hasn’t renounced his candidacy as yet, Hillary Clinton is waiting in the wings and Andrew Cuomo is in the batter’s box waiting to be called in. This presidential run has just gotten murkier,