Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2022

February 28, 2022

The President. Well, Cateo, I tell you what, you didn't know thereâwe have a little ongoing thing in the administration.

As you've mentioned, there are a fair number of African Americans in high places in my administration, butâand I'm always hearing about Howardâgreat school; I'm hearing about Morgan men; I'm hearing aboutâyou know, all these other things. But I keep talking about it: Delaware State. [*Laughter*]

And although I went to the University of Delaware, I tell youâthere's an old expression: "I tell you who brung me to the dance." Delaware State University is in the southernâthe middle of my Stateâin Dover, Delaware. And the lowerâwe have the eighth largest Black population in America, as a percent of the population. And the lower two counties are fairly conservative compared to the northern county.

And I operated out of Delaware State for a significant portion of my career and campaign, as the gentlewoman from the State of Delaware can tell you. [*Laughter*]

And there was a guy named Tony Allen who used to work for meâworked for me for years.

He went out, and he got his Ph.D. Then he left and became a president. You know, he's nowâ Tony, stand upâpresident of Delaware State University.

Audience member. Yeah, Tony!

The President. I learned a long time, from good friends of mine in Delaware in the civil rights community, that if you want to know where the real power in America lies, it's in the Divine Nine. We're the only administration in history that actually has an office. Right, Jim? [Laughter] We have a Divine Nine office. So I understandâI understand, as they say, who "brung me to the dance."

And all kidding aside, you're going to be incredible, old buddy. You're going to do well.

You're going to do very well.

And you know, there is aâI don't know if they've been introduced, but my Secretary of DefenseâSecretary Austinâstand up. My Secretary of Housing, Secretary Fudge. My Administratorâthe guy who's running and taking care of the EPA and all the restâfrom Carolinasâ[*laughter*]âthe Administrator, Regan. And Acting Director of OMBâthe woman who has allâcontrols all the moneyâ[*laughter*]âShalandaâShalanda Young.

And a woman whoâI really mean itâhas let the whole world know who we are. No, really. A woman who has been so incredibly effective in her job. But it wasn't until recentlyâuntil the outrage of Putin and Soviet Unionâand the Soviet Unionâtrying to reestablish the Soviet Union, basically, butâand Russia. To hear her, to listen to her run the debates onâat the Security Council, as well as the General Assembly at the United NationsâLinda Greenhouseâ Thomas-Greenfield.

And a woman who knows a little bit about the economyâChair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Ceciliaâ[*laughter*]âI kid her all the time, being from Princeton, butâ[*laughter*]â [*inaudible*]. Cecilia, congratulations. Thank you.

And, Mr. SecretaryâI'm talking about Cateo right nowâ[*laughter*]âI think they're ready to elect you anything you want to be, pal. [*Laughter*]

Look, I want to welcome everyone to the White House. This has beenâit's been a long drought, the last year and a half, not being able to have not just Black History Month, we weren'tânot able to have any gathering here at the White House of any crowd at all. And it's good to have you back. It's wonderful to be able to host this event in person.

And it's great to see so many friends. If I begin calling outâcalling the roll, we'll be all night here, and I don't want to do that. But so many significant leaders who have changed the face of America sitting in the audience, not on this stage. So thank you all so very, very, very much.

My name is Joe Biden. I'm Jill Biden's husband. [*Laughter*] As you've probably figured out, I can't dance. [*Laughter*] I do it, but I ain't good at it. [*Laughter*] Andâ[*laughter*]âoh man, you have great opportunities now, don't you, Jilly. [*Laughter*]

Tomorrow I'm going to be delivering the State of the Union Address. And today I simply want to thank you for all you've done for me, for all of the country. So much has been accomplished in the people in this room.

Black History Month is more than a celebration, it's a powerful, powerful reminder that Black history is American history. Black culture is American culture. Black stories are essentially an ongoing story of America. I see it every day with the Vice President and the incredible job she's doing. We see it in the Black members of the Cabinetâmy Cabinet and the White House staffâand who are here today, who serve to defend the Nation; protect the planet; build the economy; deliver housing, jobs, and justice. And we see it the tireless, heroic efforts of the Congressional Black Caucus. And I want toâI'm going to embarrass him now, but I wantâthe former chairman of the Black Caucus has come over to help me run things. Cedric, stand up. Let everybody see you.

I used toâI never played golf until I was 46 years old. I got to be pretty good. Then Iâand I asked Cedric to help me in my campaign. Then I played golf, and he beat the hell out of me. I wish I had never done it. [*Laughter*] I don't know.

And so many State and local leaders and faith leaders hereâlawyers, educatorsâthat are here today.

And of course, we see another first in the nomination of Ketanjiâwell, you saw her. I guess you saw Justice BrownâJustice Brown Jackson, who is on theâfrom theâon the Circuit Court of Appeals right now. She is an incredible woman. This is a woman who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. She graduatedâshe was editor of the Law Review. She has done so many other things.

But I want to make it clear: Not only is she is eminently qualified, there were so many others I had to choose from. I can tell you, JimâJim isâsupported all the nominees, but the one he most supportedâas soon as the outcome isâI've already nominated her to be on the Circuit Court of Appeals, the second highest court in the Nation.

But Judge Jackson is going to be an outstanding Justice. She's part of an incredible group of Black women who I've nominated to the Federal bench. We've nominated more Black women to the Federal bench than any administration in the history of the United States of America. Well, I made that commitment when I was running for President, and I've tried to keep that commitment my whole career.

You know, and the first Executive order I signed when I came into officeâand it was with Cedric's help. I sat down, put pencil to paperâor pen to paper, and signed aâI instructed every single element of my administration, every department, from the Defense Department to theâto the Justice Department and on, that equity should be the center of ourâall of what we do. And

we did that in the COVIDâ19 response. Remember at the beginning, everyone was concerned whether or not, as usual, African Americans would be left behind.

Well, we helped Blackâtheyâwe helped raise the vaccination rate among Black Americans and bring it on par with White adults. Allâthe same across the board. And I want to thank the members of the Black Coalition Against COVID represented here today as well. And I also want to thank Derrick Jones, also known as D-Niceâ[*laughter*]âfor beingâstand up, man. Let them see who you are. He provided the soundtrack of hope to keep our spirits up during the worst days of that pandemic. And thank you, thank you, thank you, man.

You know, when I took office, I said, "the American story depends not on" how many of usâ"any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us." "On all of us." So we're investing in all of us. So many of you here helped enact the American Rescue Plan to deliver immediate economic relief with Rescue checks, to tax cuts, to eliminateâand the estimate is that we've cut Black poverty by over 30 percent. We've reduced child poverty by more than 50 percent in the Black community. The American Rescue Plan also included historic funding that allowed cities and States to invest in community violence intervention programs and keep neighborhoods safe.

Look, you were critical in getting the infrastructure law passedâa bipartisan bill that's going to getâthat's going to do so much. It's going to replace decades of disinvestment in the United States of America. A commitment to reconnecting communities and people and job opportunities. Lotsâso much of what theyâthe early investments in highways and in interstatesâthey cut neighborhoods in half. They divided things. We can put it back together again.

Clean water. High-speed internet. It's going toâwe're going to eliminate every lead pipe in America so our children don't have to worry about whether they're drinking poison water, in effect. And as part of that law, we made Minority Business Development Agency permanent and seeded it with $110 million so Black businesses can get the capital they need to grow. And I'm also proud to be joined by Opal Lee, whenâwe made the Juneteenth the first Federal holiday in the last 40 years. It's good to see Ms. Lee here.

You know, we've made landmark investments of $5.8 billion in Historic Black Colleges and Universities not just because ofâwe've got some serious advocates for Howard and Morehouseâ[*laughter*]âand other HBCUs you've heard of, like Delaware and others. [*Laughter*] But all kiddingâbut all kidding aside, because they offer so much promise to the Nationâso much promise.

It's good to see the many HBCU leaders here tonight, including Dr. Devona Williams of Delaware State; Tony AllenâI mean, Tony of Delaware State, Chair of the Board of Advisers of HBCUs. And lookâand I want all of you to know, we're ready to closely investigate the cowardly, un-American bomb threats against HBCUs. That's underway.

We have so much more to do as a nation on making everyday things more accessible and affordable. As my friend Jim Clyburn says, "That's the test of whether government delivers." Are they accessible and affordable? Prescription drugs. Childcare. Housing. Make health care more affordable and make progress on Black maternal health, something that Kamala has been leading the effort on. To end cancer as we know it by putting science and technology to work to address the inequities in testing and diagnosis and access to care.

And you know, we've got work to do to deliver police and criminal justice reform as well. Even though Congress isn't acting, we are making changes in Federal law enforcement policies: banning chokeholds, restrictions on no-knock warrants, requirements on Federalâfor Federal agents to wear and activate their body cameras, ending the Department of Justice's use of private prisons.

All of this is beingâis happening. And the Justice Department has opened pattern-and- practice investigations for systemic police misconduct in several key police departments in the country. We've just got to stay on it. With your help, we're going to keep pushing on this.

And weâwe're protecting our country's threshold liberty, the sacred right to vote, which I've never seen as under such attack. You know, it's always made it harder for Blacks to vote, but this is trying to be able to figure out how to keep the Black vote, when it occurs, from even counting.

Over the past year, we've directed Federal agencies to promote access to voting. We'veâ we've appointed top civil rights advocates to help the U.S. Department of Justice, which isâhas doubled the number of voting rights enforcement onâenforcement folks on their staff. And, again, we call on Congress: Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Pass the Freedom To Vote Act. We can do this. The American people agree with usâBlack and White, Hispanic and all.

Let me conclude with this. Look, I don't want to take much more of your time, but let me conclude with this: I know progress can be slow and frustrating. But I also know it's possible if we work together, if we keep the faith, if we remember the changes and the charges that have passed down to us from all those who came before us, many sitting in this room right now.

You've heardâyou know, as you've heard, we had a wonderful exhibit downstairs celebrating Black History Month. And I want to thank Lonnie Bunch and the Smithsonian, as well as the Library of Congress for theirâgiving us access to their collection.

When I introduced Judge Jackson on Friday out in the hallway here, I thought about the display that holds the signature of the judicial oath of office sworn and signed by Thurgood Marshall himself. It was Justice Marshall who reminded us, in a speech shortly before he died, and I quote, "America can do better because America has no choice but to do better." "America has no choice but to do better." It's a powerful reminder of the history of the journey of America and the power each of us hold to write a more just and hopeful chapter. And I really mean it.

I am more optimistic about our chances to bring equity to this country than we ever have before now. And if you wonder about it, just take a lookâtake a look at the differenceâthe reason I have so much hope is the younger generation. Those folks beingâthey're in, from grade school through 30 years of age. Look at what's going on. Look at how they act with one another. There's not this isolation. There is everything you seeâeverything you see from television commercials, down to how we act with one another. We have so much going for us. We got to just let them have their shot.

Folks, I want to thank you all for being here. I really mean it. I want to thank you for all you've done, all that we can do, and being committed that we're going to do so much more.

So thank you, thank you, thank you. May God bless you all. Thank you.

[*At this point, as the President and First Lady moved toward the exit, a reporter asked a question as follows.*]

Russia's Attack on Ukraine

Q. Mr. President, should Americans be worried about nuclear war?

The President. No.

NOTE: The President spoke at 2:43 p.m. in the East Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Cateo Hilton, a high student in Washington, DC, and junior mentor in the Life Pieces to Masterpieces program, who introduced the President; Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester James E. Clyburn; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; White House Director of Public Engagement Cedric L. Richmond; J. Michelle Childs, judge, U.S. District Court for the District of

South Carolina; producer, musician, and disc jockey Derrick "D-Nice" Jones; Fort Worth, TX, resident and Juneteenth activist Opal Lee; Devona E.G. Williams, chairwoman, Delaware State University Board of Trustees and Foundation; and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Lonnie G. Bunch III.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Black History Month celebration; Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with Reporters :: White House.

Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Allen, Tony; Austin, Lloyd J., III; Biden, Jill T; Blunt Rochester, Lisa; Brown Jackson, Ketanji; Bunch, Lonnie G.; Childs, J. Michelle; Clyburn, James E.; Fudge, Marcia L.; Harris, Kamala D.; Hilton, Cateo; Jones, Derrick âD-Niceâ; Lee, Opal; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Regan, Michael S.; Richmond, Cedric L.; Rouse, Cecilia E.; Thomas-Greenfield, Linda; Williams, Devona E.G.; Young, Shalanda D.

Subjects: Business and industry : Minority-owned businesses, promotion efforts; Children and youth : Childcare, affordability and costs; Civil rights : Voting rights; Communications : Broadband and wireless technologies; Congress : Congressional Black Caucus; Defense, Department of : Secretary; Diseases : Cancer research, prevention, and treatment; Diseases : Coronavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Economy, national : Strengthening efforts; Education : Postsecondary education :: Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Education, Department of : Historically Black Colleges and Universities, President's Board of Advisers on; Elections : Voter participation; Employment and unemployment : Job creation and growth; Environment : Lead service lines, replacement efforts; Environmental Protection Agency; Health and medical care : Prescription drugs, affordability and costs; Health and medical care : Women's health issues; Holidays and special observances : Black History Month; Holidays and special observances : Juneteenth; Housing and Urban Development, Department of : Secretary; Infrastructure, national improvement efforts; Judiciary : Federal court nominations and confirmations; Law enforcement and crime : Community-oriented policing, strengthening efforts; Law enforcement and crime : Criminal justice system, reform efforts; Law enforcement and crime : Policing best practices, improvement efforts; Management and Budget, Office of; Presidency, U.S : State of the Union Address; Russia : President; Russia : Ukraine, airstrikes and invasion; Smithsonian Institution : Secretary; Ukraine : Russian airstrikes and invasion; United Nations : U.S. Permanent Representative; White House Office : Economic Advisers, Council of; White House Office : Public Engagement, Office of; White House Office : Vice President.

DCPD Number: DCPD202200116.