Transcript - Speech: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at the 10th Anniversary of the MLK Memorial - October 21, 2021 | Factba.se

Kamala Harris

00:00:00 - 00:00:30 ()

Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for your leadership, for your vision, for your warmth, and for your love on this day we celebrate Dr. King and this monument to him. Love is pervasive all around us right now.

Kamala Harris

00:00:30 - 00:00:54 ()

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, thank you for what you are doing. I have known the Speaker for a very long time, having started my elected career in San Francisco. She has always been who she is today: a fighter for working people and a voice for those who must be seen and known, and to whom all deserve the kind of dignity that God intended. [Applause] Thank you.

Kamala Harris

00:00:54 - 00:01:09 ()

Chairwoman Joyce Beatty and my -- I will call you, still, my colleagues at the Congressional Black Caucus. [Laughs] Thank you all for your leadership.

Kamala Harris

00:01:09 - 00:01:21 ()

And to the King family -- Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King, and Bernice King -- for their commitment to carry on the legacy of their family multigenerational legacy. [Applause]

Kamala Harris

00:01:21 - 00:01:29 ()

And to everyone here today, thank you. There are so many leaders who are here.

Kamala Harris

00:01:29 - 00:01:57 ()

And as we all know, this monument has, in many ways, been distinguished from almost every other monument -- in fact, every other monument along this beautiful Tidal Basin -- because this monument, for most of us here, is dedicated to a man who lived among us. Many of us were alive when Dr. King lived.

Kamala Harris

00:01:57 - 00:02:15 ()

This monument, whatever your age, is dedicated to a man whose voice we can still hear, whose words still echo not only across this city, but throughout our country and our world.

Kamala Harris

00:02:15 - 00:02:39 ()

Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was a prophet. He was a prophet in that he saw the present exactly as it was, being clear-eyed, and he saw the future as it could be. And he pushed our nation toward that future.

Kamala Harris

00:02:39 - 00:03:35 ()

And it's important to remember: Dr. King pushed even as, on a daily basis, his character was being maligned. He pushed even as his family, on a daily basis, was being threatened. He pushed even as his very life was in jeopardy. And toward what would be the end of that short life, he pushed even harder, drawing a straight line between racial injustice and economic injustice; demanding more for Black people, for people of color, for working people, for all people.

Kamala Harris

00:03:35 - 00:03:42 ()

And it may not sound radical now; it was radical then.

Kamala Harris

00:03:42 - 00:04:21 ()

So, as we remember his life and celebrate the anniversary of this beautiful memorial, let us be guided by those same connections he made as they exist today. Racial injustice today is inextricably linked to economic injustice, to the impact of the climate crisis, to the impact of COVID-19, and to the threats to our democracy.

Kamala Harris

00:04:21 - 00:05:04 ()

And I believe then, knowing and seeing that, the path forward is clear: We must put people to work in good union jobs -- [Applause] -- and invest in the care -- the childcare, the home care -- that people need to be able to go to work. We must reform our criminal justice system and our immigration system. [Applause] We must defend and strengthen the right that unlocks all other rights: the right to vote. [Applause]

Kamala Harris

00:05:04 - 00:05:26 ()

And as we all know, in 2013, the Voting Rights Act that Dr. King and so many others fought for was gutted by the Supreme Court decision in Shelby v. Holder. That decision opened the floodgates for the anti-voter laws we see being passed in states throughout our country today.

Kamala Harris

00:05:26 - 00:05:34 ()

And to be sure, we should not have to keep fighting so hard to secure our fundamental rights.

Kamala Harris

00:05:34 - 00:06:01 ()

So, right now, there are two bills in front of the United States Congress that would help to restore the Voting Rights Act and strengthen the right to vote for all Americans: The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. These two bills are among the broadest efforts to protect and strengthen the right to vote since Dr. King died.

Kamala Harris

00:06:01 - 00:06:18 ()

But yesterday, as Senate Democrats voted to advance the Freedom to Vote Act, Senate Republicans voted against even debating it -- even debating it -- as though it's not a debatable point. They refused to even come to the table to talk about it.

Kamala Harris

00:06:18 - 00:06:43 ()

Well, today, I am reminded of the words -- we all are -- the many words we've heard, including from our young leaders; the words of Dr. King's partner in that struggle, Coretta Scott King. And she said -- and I will paraphrase: "Freedom is never really won. You earn it and [you] win it [with] every generation."

Kamala Harris

00:06:43 - 00:07:02 ()

With their sweat, with their tears, and with their blood, the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and the coalition they built won the Voting Rights Act. These were young men and women. After all, we remember Dr. King was only 39 years old when he died.

Kamala Harris

00:07:02 - 00:07:14 ()

And yet, they knew their power. They knew that there is real power when your cause is just. [Applause] And they used, then, that power to push Democrats and Republicans to pass that landmark bill.

Kamala Harris

00:07:14 - 00:07:43 ()

So, today, as a nation, we must summon our own power. As leaders, we must leverage our own power. And we all have a role to play, and the President and I are clear on ours: We are and we must be unwavering in this fight. And we must use our voice to call out any effort to obstruct justice -- [Applause] -- and to call for justice everywhere.

Kamala Harris

00:07:43 - 00:07:58 ()

Remember -- and Dr. King knew this -- America is not defined by her perfection. America is defined by our commitment to perfecting. [Applause] And in our nation, that will forever be the work forward.

Kamala Harris

00:07:58 - 00:08:21 ()

As Dr. King did, we must keep believing a better future is possible. And as Dr. King did, we must keep pushing toward that future. So, as I have the great honor of introducing our President, let me end today by recognizing the impact that this memorial has had.

Kamala Harris

00:08:21 - 00:08:37 ()

For 10 years -- think about it -- for a decade, visitors from all over the world have come to this very place. The words that are etched in these walls now etched in their hearts -- and on their smartphones. [Laughter]

Kamala Harris

00:08:37 - 00:08:46 ()

The history that is told here, because of this place, is now a part of their own.

Kamala Harris

00:08:46 - 00:08:52 ()

And I know that when they leave here, they do so determined to do their part to build a better future.

Kamala Harris

00:08:52 - 00:08:59 ()

So, on behalf of our nation, on behalf of our world, thank you all for making this memorial possible.

Kamala Harris

00:08:59 - 00:09:19 ()

And now, it is my great and distinct honor to introduce a phenomenal leader who was here when this memorial was first unveiled -- a leader who I know, because I see it every day, draws so much inspiration and reminds so many of the work and the words of Dr. King -- our President of the United States, Joe Biden. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:09:19 - 00:09:26 ()

Thank you, Kamala. Thank you all so very much. Mr. President -- [laughter] -- Harry, thank you for your stewardship.

Joe Biden

00:09:26 - 00:09:34 ()

You know, here in the heart of the capital of the United States of America, the tensions and the heat of the nation are vividly on display.

Joe Biden

00:09:34 - 00:09:40 ()

Dr. King stands determined and brave, looking out over the promised land.

Joe Biden

00:09:40 - 00:09:59 ()

Across the Tidal Basin stands another giant of our history: Thomas Jefferson, whose words declared the very idea of America that we are all "created equal... endowed by [our] Creator with certain unalienable Rights" and we all deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.

Joe Biden

00:09:59 - 00:10:09 ()

To state the obvious -- and no audience knows it better than this one -- we've never fully lived up to that idea. But we've never walked away from it fully. We've never walked away.

Joe Biden

00:10:09 - 00:10:17 ()

In his sermon to the March on Washington, Dr. King called on all of America to live up to the full meaning and promise of our Declaration of Independence.

Joe Biden

00:10:17 - 00:10:37 ()

And so, they stand here in perpetuity, in timely and timeless conversation that inspires us and challenges us. It reminds us of how far we've come, where we need to go, and how far and how much longer the journey is. And it is a conversation that shapes our days and that we must carry forward.

Joe Biden

00:10:37 - 00:11:19 ()

Madam Vice President, Madam Speaker, Chair of the Black Caucus Beatty, Congressional Black Caucus members, the memorial foundation, leaders of faith and community, distinguished guests: From here, we see the ongoing push and pull between progress and struggle over the self-evident truths of our democracy.

Joe Biden

00:11:19 - 00:11:32 ()

And in our nation, we now face an inflection point in the battle, literally, for the soul of America. And it's up to us, together, to choose who we want to be and what we want to be. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:11:32 - 00:11:50 ()

I know -- I know the progress does not come fast enough. It never has. And the process of governing is frustrating and sometimes dispiriting. But I also know what's possible if we keep the pressure up, if we never give up, if we keep the faith.

Joe Biden

00:11:50 - 00:12:06 ()

We're at an inflection point -- as I know I've maybe overused that phrase, but it is an inflection point in American history -- in delivering on economic justice.

Joe Biden

00:12:06 - 00:12:24 ()

For it was the dignity of work that Dr. King was in Memphis on that fateful day in April, helping sanitation workers -- not only for better pay and safer conditions, but to be granted more dignity as human beings.

Joe Biden

00:12:24 - 00:12:52 ()

In our time, it's about recognizing that for much too long we've allowed a narrowed and cramped view of the promise of America -- a view that America is a zero-sum game, particularly of the recent past. "If you succeed, I fail." "If you get ahead, I fall behind." And maybe worst of all, "If I can hold you down, I lift myself up."

Joe Biden

00:12:52 - 00:13:01 ()

Instead of what it should be -- and it's just self-evident -- "If you do well, we all do well." That's keeping the promise of America. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:13:01 - 00:13:07 ()

I've never seen a time when working folks did well that the wealthy didn't do very well.

Joe Biden

00:13:07 - 00:13:41 ()

Look, it's the core of our administration's economic vision, and it's a fundamental paradigm shift for this nation. For the first time in a couple generations, we're going to be investing in working families -- putting them first and helping them get ahead, rather than the wealthy and the biggest and most powerful people out there. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:13:41 - 00:13:51 ()

We're investing in Black families with Rescue checks and tax cuts that will reduce Black poverty by 34 percent, Black child poverty by more than 50 percent this year. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:13:51 - 00:14:10 ()

And we're aggressively -- with the leadership with of the people I'm looking at right now -- combatting housing discrimination to create a generation of wealth. How did every other person make it to the middle class from a working-class circumstance?

Joe Biden

00:14:10 - 00:14:21 ()

Just like my dad did, build equity in a house -- granted, it was small; granted, it wasn't much, but it was enough to build a little equity.

Joe Biden

00:14:21 - 00:14:31 ()

We'll use the federal government's purchasing power to unlock billions of dollars in new opportunities of minority-owned small businesses and access to government contracts.

Joe Biden

00:14:31 - 00:14:54 ()

Is there any doubt that providing more people with just a little more breathing room to take care of their families, generate a little bit of wealth that they can pass on to their children, and create jobs in their communities would uplift the entire country -- all the country? Everyone.

Joe Biden

00:14:54 - 00:15:10 ()

And as the economy recovers, we are determined and focused on rebuilding it over the long run. No one should have to hold their breath as they cross a rundown bridge to determine whether it's safe enough or a dangerous intersection in their hometown.

Joe Biden

00:15:10 - 00:15:20 ()

A nation -- every American, every child should be able to turn on a faucet and drink water that's not contaminated by lead or anything else. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:15:20 - 00:15:35 ()

As a nation, everyone should have access to affordable high-speed Internet. Gone the days when you have to pull up to a McDonald's and sit in a parking lot with your child to do their homework when there's virtual learning going on.

Joe Biden

00:15:35 - 00:15:50 ()

Dr. King said, "Of all the forms of inequity, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and [most] inhumane." This is a once-in-a-century pandemic that's hit this country hard, and especially the African American community.

Joe Biden

00:15:50 - 00:16:12 ()

It's likely you've all lost someone to the virus or know someone who has lost a loved one. One in six hundred Black Americans have died from COVID-19. It's been reported that Black children are more than twice as likely as white children to have lost a parent or a caregiver to COVID-19, to have to experience the trauma and loss.

Joe Biden

00:16:12 - 00:16:29 ()

Many of my colleagues in the Congress are working on what we have to now work on even more -- more fervently, and that is mental healthcare, helping people through the difficult periods we have. [Applause] It's been devastating, but we can find purpose in pain. We can find purpose in this pain.

Joe Biden

00:16:29 - 00:16:41 ()

Equity is the center of my administration's COVID-19 response. The vaccination rates among Black adults is now essentially on par with white adults.

Joe Biden

00:16:41 - 00:16:52 ()

In the midst of this pandemic, we're building on the Affordable Care Act to extend coverage to lower healthcare costs for millions of Black families.

Joe Biden

00:16:52 - 00:17:13 ()

We're also working on lowering prescription drug costs by giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices. And how do you know the plan will work? Because the drug companies are spending millions of bucks to try to stop it. That's how you know. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:17:13 - 00:17:21 ()

Together, we're making healthcare a right, not a privilege, in this nation.

Joe Biden

00:17:21 - 00:17:41 ()

And for the millions -- the millions of you who feel financially squeezed in raising a child while caring for an aging parent -- the so-called "sandwich generation" -- we want to make eldercare affordable and accessible so your aging loved ones can live with greater independence and dignity.

Joe Biden

00:17:41 - 00:18:01 ()

We also want to make sure childcare costs for most families are cut at least in half. No working family -- if we pr- -- if we get what you all are helping me get done, no working family in America will pay more than 7 percent of their income on childcare for any child under five. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:18:01 - 00:18:23 ()

We want to give raises to millions of care workers and home workers so they can increase their capacity, increase their knowledge, increase their opportunities. Health workers and childcare workers are disproportionately women -- women of color and immigrants -- workers, like the ones Dr. King stood for when he marched and gave his life.

Joe Biden

00:18:23 - 00:18:41 ()

Look, folks, just imagine, instead of consigning millions of our children to under-resourced schools, we gave every single child in America access to an education at age three and age four -- quality preschool. [Applause] We can afford to do this. We can't afford not to do it.

Joe Biden

00:18:41 - 00:19:03 ()

And we do know, no matter what the background or circumstance a child comes from, when given that opportunity, they have a better than 58 percent chance of making it all the way through 12 years without getting themselves in trouble and maybe going beyond that.

Joe Biden

00:19:03 - 00:19:22 ()

This will change lives forever. So will historic investments in higher education -- significantly increasing Pell Grants to help millions of Black students in lower-income families attend community colleges and four-year schools. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:19:22 - 00:19:42 ()

I tell you, let me be clear: In the shadow of the Morehouse men -- I hear a lot about that, guys -- [laughter] -- and with a Howard alumni -- I keep making the case -- "if you'd excuse the point of personal privilege," as we used to say in the Senate -- the best HBCU in the country is Delaware State. [Laughter] That's where I got started. Come on.

Joe Biden

00:19:42 - 00:20:08 ()

But here's what we've done -- in addition to putting the president of Delaware State, who used to work for me -- Doctor -- he -- in charge of all of this -- we're committed to nearly $5 billion this year in historic investments, with more, in historically Black colleges and universities to make every single student -- give them a shot with good-paying jobs.

Joe Biden

00:20:08 - 00:20:38 ()

And you all know what I mean, but for anybody watching this: One of the problems is Black students in colleges just have every single capability any other student does, but guess what? Because they don't have great endowments, they can't compete for those government contracts that are out there that the big schools are able to go out and get.

Joe Biden

00:20:38 - 00:21:03 ()

Cybersecurity, for example, starting salary is 100-, 125,000 bucks. But you don't get to get that contract unless you have laboratories, unless you have the facilities you can, in fact, train on.

Joe Biden

00:21:03 - 00:21:16 ()

We also know this about the promise of America. Economic injustice also means delivering on environmental justice to communities on -- fenceline communities, dividing homes in toxic areas.

Joe Biden

00:21:16 - 00:21:47 ()

My state has one of the highest cancer rates in the history of Am- -- in America. Because I lived in a fenceline community called Claymont, Delaware. We used to get up in the morning -- not a joke -- and I'd get driven to the little school I went, up the street; turn on the windshield wiper in the fall -- in the fall, the first frost, and literally there'd be an oil slick on the window. Not a joke. An oil slick on the window. It's why an awful lot of us, including me, have bronchial asthma.

Joe Biden

00:21:47 - 00:21:53 ()

It means reducing pollution so our children can develop and avoid these consequences.

Joe Biden

00:21:53 - 00:22:01 ()

Every one of you have an alley in your state; we call it "Cancer Alley" in our state, going down Route 13.

Joe Biden

00:22:01 - 00:22:33 ()

Look, it means building up our resilience to the climate crisis or the next extreme weather events. And these have been of biblical proportions -- biblical proportions. A hundred seventy-eight-mile top winds in a hurricane down in Louisiana. More people dying in Queens, in their basements, because 20 inches of rain -- they flooded and couldn't get out of their basements; they drowned. Superstorms, droughts, wildfire, hurricanes.

Joe Biden

00:22:33 - 00:22:56 ()

This is the promise for America -- urban and rural and all across America, not just for any one area. And as we fight for economic justice to fulfill the promise of America for all Americans, the work continues on delivering equal justice under the law.

Joe Biden

00:22:56 - 00:23:16 ()

Look, I know the frustration we all feel that more than one year after George Floyd's murder and the conviction of his murderer about six months ago, meaningful police reform in George's name has not passed Congress.

Joe Biden

00:23:16 - 00:23:30 ()

I remember many times meeting with his little daughter. And she'd say to me, "My Daddy is changing history. He's going to change history." But we haven't fulfilled that yet.

Joe Biden

00:23:30 - 00:23:49 ()

I understand. We got to keep fighting. But let me be clear, though: We're going to continue to fight for real police reform legislation, and the fight is not anywhere near over.

Joe Biden

00:23:49 - 00:24:32 ()

Despite Republican obstruction, my administration is acting. We've already announced changes to the federal law enforcement policies: a ban on choke-holds, restriction on no-knock warrants, requirements that federal agents wear and activate body cameras -- [Applause] -- ending the Department of Justice's use of private prisons, rescinding the previous administration's guidance to U.S. attorneys to require the harshest of penalties.

Joe Biden

00:24:32 - 00:24:45 ()

The Justice Department has opened a pattern-or-practice investigation of systematic police misconduct in police departments in Phoenix, Louisville, and Minneapolis.

Joe Biden

00:24:45 - 00:24:52 ()

Just because we can't get it done in the states, we are not standing back. And we have much more to do.

Joe Biden

00:24:52 - 00:25:06 ()

In addition to these important steps, my administration also wants to advance some meaningful police reform that includes additional executive actions to live up to America's promise of equal justice under the law.

Joe Biden

00:25:06 - 00:25:41 ()

Our work continues to create safer and stronger communities in critical ways. With my American Rescue Plan -- and thank you in the Congress for supporting it -- everybody kind of forgets that was 1.9 billion dollars -- trillion dollars. We got a hell of -- heck of a lot done with that. That -- it did so well, people don't even know where it came from. [Laughter] No, I'm serious. Think about it.

Joe Biden

00:25:41 - 00:25:46 ()

Like, "What did you do for me lately?" Well, we had $1.9 billion we took care of. [Audience members call out "Trillion"]

Joe Biden

00:25:46 - 00:25:56 ()

Well, we made historic investments in community policing and violence intervention programs and were shown to reduce -- some of these programs reduce violence by 60 percent.

Joe Biden

00:25:56 - 00:26:03 ()

We're expanding summer programs and job opportunities and service and support to keep young people safe and out of trouble.

Joe Biden

00:26:03 - 00:26:14 ()

We're helping formerly incarcerated people successfully reenter their communities. In the past, you'd get 25 bucks and a bu- -- and a bus ticket. And you'd go back right under the bridge you just were there before.

Joe Biden

00:26:14 - 00:26:27 ()

You should have access to Pell grants. You should have access to the po- -- housing. You should have access to all the things. You paid your price. [Applause] And we shouldn't put back in the spot where you have no options.

Joe Biden

00:26:27 - 00:26:34 ()

We're also working to stem the flow of firearms from rogue gun dealers to curb the ecidem- -- the epidemic of gun violence.

Joe Biden

00:26:34 - 00:26:40 ()

I know I get criticized for being the guy who passed the assault weapons ban. I'm proud of having passed the assault weapons ban. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:26:40 - 00:26:55 ()

But here's the deal: We heard Dr. King paraphrase Micah. He said, "Give us the ballot and we will place judges on the benches of the South who will do justly and love mercy."

Joe Biden

00:26:55 - 00:27:11 ()

Well, in just nine months, we have appointed more Black women to the federal circuit courts and more former public defenders to the bench than any administration in all of American history because of you. We're going to change it. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:27:11 - 00:27:19 ()

And we did it in record time, and we're just getting started because of all of you in the audience here. You've been the engine behind all of this.

Joe Biden

00:27:19 - 00:27:38 ()

But we also know this: To make real the full promise of America, we have to protect that fundamental right: the right to vote -- the sacred right to vote. You know, it's democracy's threshold of liberty. With it, anything is possible. Without it, nothing is.

Joe Biden

00:27:38 - 00:27:56 ()

Today, the right to vote and the rule of law are under unrelenting assault from Republican governors, attorneys general, secretaries of state, state legislators. And they're following my predecessor -- the last President -- into a deep, deep black hole and abyss.

Joe Biden

00:27:56 - 00:28:12 ()

No, I really mean it. Think about it. That's what got me involved in civil rights as a kid, when I was 26 years old. It gave me -- I had never pla- -- I love reading about how "Biden knew he was going to run President." Hell, I didn't know I was even going to be able to run for the county council; I didn't even want to. [Laughter]

Joe Biden

00:28:12 - 00:28:27 ()

But, look, this struggle is no longer just over who gets to vote or making it easier for eligible people to vote. It's about who gets to count the votes -- whether they should count at all.

Joe Biden

00:28:27 - 00:28:36 ()

Jim Crow in the 21st century is now a sinister combination of voter suppression and elective subv- -- election subversion.

Joe Biden

00:28:36 - 00:29:01 ()

My fellow Americans, I thought, at one point, that I had been able to do something good as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. I was able to get every member of the committee, including some of the most conservative members that ever served -- clearly who had racist backgrounds -- to vote to extend the Voting Rights Act for 25 years. I thought, "Whoa." One of the proudest things I ever did as a senator.

Joe Biden

00:29:01 - 00:29:17 ()

But guess what? This means that some state legislatures want to make it harder for you to vote. And if you do vote, they want to be able to tell you whether or not your vote counts. That's not happened before.

Joe Biden

00:29:17 - 00:29:33 ()

They want the ability to reject the final vote and ignore the will of the people if their preferred candidate -- Black or white or Asian or Latino, doesn't matter -- if that -- if their candidate doesn't win.

Joe Biden

00:29:33 - 00:29:39 ()

And they're targeting not just voters of color, as I said, but every voter who doesn't vote the way they want.

Joe Biden

00:29:39 - 00:29:58 ()

I have to admit to you, having been as senator in my whole of 36-year career involved in -- I worked with a lot of folks out here on civil rights issues -- I thought, "Man, you can't turn this back." I bet you could defeat hate. What if we could actually defeat hate?

Joe Biden

00:29:58 - 00:30:20 ()

But the most un-American thing that any of us can imagine -- the most undemocratic and the most unpatriotic -- and yet, sadly, not unprecedented. Time and again, we've witnessed threats to the right to vote in free and fair elections come to fruition. Each time, we fought back. And we've got to continue to fight back today.

Joe Biden

00:30:20 - 00:30:28 ()

I want to thank Martin Luther King III for leading marches on voting rights during the anniversary of the March on Washington on August 28th.

Joe Biden

00:30:28 - 00:30:36 ()

The Vice President and I, and our colleagues here, have spent our careers doing this work. It's central to our administration.

Joe Biden

00:30:36 - 00:30:45 ()

On the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, I directed each and every federal agency to promote access to voting from each agency heeding that call.

Joe Biden

00:30:45 - 00:30:58 ()

For example, the Department of Veterans Affairs -- I asked them to make it easier for veterans and their families to register and to vote at VA facilities -- so it'd be open.

Joe Biden

00:30:58 - 00:31:02 ()

In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice has doubled the voting rights enforcement staff.

Joe Biden

00:31:02 - 00:31:13 ()

We got a long way to go though. It's using authorities to challenge the onslaught of state laws undermining voting rights, whether in old or new ways.

Joe Biden

00:31:13 - 00:31:29 ()

It's something like 20 percent of the Re- -- or half the Republicans -- the registered Republicans: I am not your President; Donald Trump is still your President. As we Catholics say, "Oh, my God." [Laughter]

Joe Biden

00:31:29 - 00:31:41 ()

But look, the focus is going to remain on discrimination and racial discriminatory laws -- Georgia's [DEL: various :DEL] [vicious]* new anti-voting laws.

Joe Biden

00:31:41 - 00:31:58 ()

And let's be clear about Georgia -- Dr. King's home state and the home state of someone who has literally stood in his shoes as -- [jets fly overhead].

Joe Biden

00:31:58 - 00:32:05 ()

I think some of you guys knew this was -- the next line was coming; that's why you had the jets come out -- [laughter].

Joe Biden

00:32:05 - 00:32:20 ()

-- stood in his shoes as a Morehouse man. [Laughter] That's what I keep getting from Cedric. Oh, anyway. [Laughter] And as a preacher in the pulpit of Ebenezer -- United States Senator Raphael Warnock, the first Black senator in Georgia's history. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:32:20 - 00:32:31 ()

Senator Warnock won his election in the battle of ideas. He earned the trust and confidence of a broad coalition of voters in Georgia.

Joe Biden

00:32:31 - 00:32:42 ()

And the response of Republicans in Georgia -- what was it? It's not to try winning on the merits and ideas, it's by changing the rules to make it harder for people to vote, deny the franchise.

Joe Biden

00:32:42 - 00:32:53 ()

The Vice President has been leading our administration's efforts. And we've supported Democrats pressing to enact critical voting rights bills since day one of this administration, making sure we have unanimous support.

Joe Biden

00:32:53 - 00:33:15 ()

But each and every time, the Senate Republicans block it by refusing even to talk about it. They're afraid to even just debate the bills in the U.S. Senate, as they did again yesterday, even on a bill that includes provisions that they've traditionally supported. It's unfair. It's unconscionable. And it's un-American.

Joe Biden

00:33:15 - 00:33:28 ()

And this battle is far from over. The door has not been closed. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act will soon come up for a vote -- named after our dear friend we still miss dearly, but whose voice we hear every day in our hearts and in our conscience.

Joe Biden

00:33:28 - 00:33:39 ()

It's a law that helped lead the reauthorization -- as I said, for 25 years that I served of the -- in the Senate Judiciary Committee -- expanding the Voting Rights Act.

Joe Biden

00:33:39 - 00:33:44 ()

It's traditionally received bipartisan support. We have to keep up the fight and get it done.

Joe Biden

00:33:44 - 00:33:54 ()

And I know the moment we're in; you know the moment we are in. I know the stakes; you know the stakes. This is far from over.

Joe Biden

00:33:54 - 00:34:05 ()

And finally, we're confronting the stains of what remains -- the deep stain on the soul of the nation: hate and white supremacy.

Joe Biden

00:34:05 - 00:34:42 ()

You know, there's a through line of subjugation and enslaved people from our earliest days to the reigns of radicalized terror of the KKK to Dr. King being assassinated. And through that -- [DEL: though :DEL] [through] that line continues to be the torches emerging from dark shadows in Charlottesville, carrying out Nazi banners and chanting anti-Semitic bile, and Ku Klux Klan flags; and the violent, deadly insurrection on the Capitol nine months ago -- it was about white supremacy, in my view.

Joe Biden

00:34:42 - 00:34:52 ()

The rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans during the pandemic and the rise of anti-Semitism here in America and around the world.

Joe Biden

00:34:52 - 00:35:17 ()

The through line is that hate never goes away. It never --I thought -- in all of the years I've been involved, I thought once we got through it, it would go away. But it doesn't; it only hides. It only hides until some seeming-legitimate person breathes some oxygen under the rocks where they're hiding and gives it some breath. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:35:17 - 00:35:31 ()

I've said it before -- and all my colleagues here know it: According to the United States intelligence community, domestic terrorism from white supremacists is the most lethal terrorist threat in the homeland.

Joe Biden

00:35:31 - 00:35:45 ()

To that end, our administration is carrying out the first-ever comprehensive effort to tackle the threat -- [Applause] -- passed by domestic -- posed by domestic terrorism, including white supremacy.

Joe Biden

00:35:45 - 00:35:50 ()

We are doing so by taking action to reduce online radicalism and recruitment to violence.

Joe Biden

00:35:50 - 00:35:57 ()

We're also disrupting networks that inspire violence and domestic terrorists by providing resources to communities to build resilience.

Joe Biden

00:35:57 - 00:36:03 ()

We cannot and must not give hate any safe harbor -- any safe harbor.

Joe Biden

00:36:03 - 00:36:24 ()

My fellow Americans, standing here I'm reminded of the goal of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which Dr. King led. And I quote -- he said his goal was to, quote, "redeem the soul of America." That's what's at stake here: the soul of America.

Joe Biden

00:36:24 - 00:36:42 ()

And we know that it's not the work of a single day or a single administration or even a single generation. But here we stand with Dr. King to show: Out of struggle there is progress, out of despair there is hope.

Joe Biden

00:36:42 - 00:36:57 ()

From the promise of equality and opportunity, of jobs, justice, and freedom, we see Black excellence, American excellence, Black history as American history and a defining source of the might of this nation.

Joe Biden

00:36:57 - 00:37:13 ()

That's why we're here to today: to renew our own courage in the shadow, in the light, and on the shoulders of Dr. King, Coretta Scott King, and all those known and unknown who gave their whole souls to this work.

Joe Biden

00:37:13 - 00:37:29 ()

The courage to confront wrong and to try do right. The courage to heal the broken places in the nation. The courage to see America whole, to acknowledge where we fall short, to devote ourselves to the perfection of the union that we love and we must protect.

Joe Biden

00:37:29 - 00:37:41 ()

For if we can summon the courage to do these things, we'll have done our duty, honored our commitments, and brought the dream of Dr. King just a little bit closer to reality.

Joe Biden

00:37:41 - 00:37:51 ()

It's the highest of callings. It's the most sacred of charges. And it's what, with the help of God, we can do now.

Joe Biden

00:37:51 - 00:38:04 ()

So, let's go forth from this sacred place –- of tumult and turmoil -- with the hope and promise of a nation always seeking, always thriving, always keeping the faith. Because, folks --

Joe Biden

00:38:04 - 00:38:31 ()

You know, I know my colleagues in the Senate used to always kid me for quoting Irish poets on the floor. They thought I did it because I was Irish. It's not the reason; they're the just the best poets in the world. [Laughter] There's a line from the -- and I believe this to be true. There's a line from a poem, "The Cure at Troy" -- it says that:

Joe Biden

00:38:31 - 00:38:32 ()

"... once in a lifetime

Joe Biden

00:38:32 - 00:38:33 ()

[That] tidal wave

Joe Biden

00:38:33 - 00:38:35 ()

Of justice [rises] up,

Joe Biden

00:38:35 - 00:38:39 ()

And hope and history rhyme."

Joe Biden

00:38:39 - 00:38:45 ()

That's not the whole quote. I won't bore you with it all. But "hope and history rhyme."

Joe Biden

00:38:45 - 00:38:58 ()

I believe the American people -- the vast majority -- are with us. I think they see much more clearly what you've all been fighting for your whole lives now. It's in stark relief.

Joe Biden

00:38:58 - 00:39:12 ()

The bad news: We had a President who appealed to the prejudice. The good news is that he took the -- he ripped the Band-Aid off, made it absolutely clear what's at stake. And I think the American people will follow us.

Joe Biden

00:39:12 - 00:39:26 ()

But guess what? Whether they will or not, we have no choice. We have to continue to fight. [Applause]

Joe Biden

00:39:26 - 00:39:45 ()

God bless you all. May God protect our troops. [Applause]