President Biden on Monday commemorated the upcoming Juneteenth anniversary with a concert on the White House lawn, creating a celebratory mood even as he warned about a Republican-led effort to disenfranchise Black Americans.
Biden, Vice President Harris, Sen. Doug Emhoff and dozens of federal and state lawmakers gathered on the South Lawn for a concert featuring performances by Kirk Franklin, Gladys Knight, Trombone Shorty, Doug E. Fresh and Patti LaBelle.
“I’ve never seen anything like this on the White House lawn before,” Biden said, calling it a “fitting tribute to Juneteenth.”
Biden signed a bill in 2021 making Juneteenth a federal holiday. The holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. It is celebrated annually on June 19, the day the last enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas, learned of their emancipation.
Amid the jubilation and dancing at the White House, Biden warned that “old ghosts in new clothes are coming to take us back.”
“They’re taking away freedoms, they’re making it harder for Black people to vote and for their vote to be counted. They’re closing the doors of opportunity and attacking values of diversity, equity and inclusion. Believe it or not, they’re banning books about the Black experience,” Biden said.
“There’s an attempt to erase and rewrite history,” he continued. “Our history is not just about the past, it’s about the present and the future, and it’s about whether that future is not just the future of some of us, but the future of all of us.”
The White House announced a new initiative to preserve Black history early Monday morning, just days before Juneteenth.
The president and his reelection campaign have repeatedly credited Black voters with helping secure Biden’s victory in 2020. Last month, the president visited Philadelphia and specifically sought to compare his record of investing in Black communities to that of former President Trump.
A New York Times/Siena College/Philadelphia Inquirer poll conducted last month found Biden leading Trump among Black voters 63 percent to 23 percent, a significant drop from his 2020 vote margin.
