President Joe Biden on Tuesday issued a firm call to heal America’s racial divide, taking several steps and promising more to confront racism and inequality that he said has plagued the United States for far too long.
Racial tensions simmered during the turbulent four-year presidency of Donald Trump and Biden noted that the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol by Trump supporters was carried out by “thugs, insurrectionists, political extremists and white supremacists.” But Biden said he believes the vast majority of Americans believe in equality.
“We’ve never fully lived up to the founding principles of this nation – to state the obvious – that all people are created equal and have a right to be treated equally throughout their lives,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “And it’s time to act now, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because if we do we’ll all be better off for it.”
