Protesters interrupt town hall at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium
Presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden visited Wofford College on Friday, Feb. 28, the day before the South Carolina Democratic Primary. Less than 24 hours after Bernie Sanders, his main competitor for the Democratic nomination, Biden spoke to a packed crowd in the volleyball arena of the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium made up of students, media and area residents. The auxiliary gym made for a closer, more intimate environment than the basketball arena likely would have been.
Biden was introduced by a series of opening speakers, including Wofford alumnus Fletcher Smith, who practices law at his firm in Greenville, South Carolina. Democratic senator Glenn Reese, who represents South Carolina’s 11th district, gave Biden a ringing endorsement and touched on Spartanburg’s nature as a thriving college town.
The event maintained a religious air; a prayer was uttered before the formalities began, followed by multiple references to his Catholic faith. During the event, he sympathized with the friends and family of those lost in the 2017 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., and stressed the importance of a strong faith in trying times to help find a purpose. A video preview highlighted both the negative and positive aspects of America’s past, but warned that four more years of a Trump presidency would undo the good done by Lincoln, FDR and Obama.
Biden commanded Wofford’s student body to own this election, before lauding them as being part of the most involved, informed and educated generation. By no means relying on the support of one demographic alone, he also thanked the electrician responsible for setting up the event, making a grab for the blue collar vote.
After the video pointed out Jefferson’s hypocrisy (regarding his status as a slave owner and his famous words “All men are created equal”) Biden made a vague, if unintentional, allusion to the Jeffersonian theory of political realignments. If a Democrat is able to get in office, these past four years will be remembered as nothing more than an aberration, he insisted. However, should Trump win another term, then a serious change with domestic, and potentially international, implications will occur.
The former senator from Delaware also touched on a number of foreign policy issues and reiterated stances such as increased funding for NATO and a sympathetic sentiment towards the Kurds, condemning President Trump’s decision to pull troops out of Turkey. Likewise, he expressed a sense of unease at the almost amicable nature of the relationship between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin and reassured the audience that Putin “does not want me President.”
Biden doubled down on distancing himself from his Republican adversaries, declaring that should he be elected, gone are the days of the NRA and climate change deniers owning the oval office. He also condemned the traditionally red state of South Carolina’s government for denying healthcare to many. The need for improved education was also brought to the forefront.
Later in the evening, the question-and-answer portion was interrupted by a group of protesters, most of whom were temporarily removed from the event. I spoke with one of the protesters, Atlanta resident Tanya Washington, after the event. She insisted that, by and large the organization she and the other protesters belonged to had no problem with Biden, but used the protest to make light of his actions regarding a contentious issue.
Washington: “He spoke really movingly about gentrification at the South Carolina debate on Tuesday, and he said it was a challenge that was facing black communities, and he said that black people are being displaced out of cities where they can no longer afford housing. And what we wanted to do is make sure he knows that one of his key southern surrogates, who is the mayor of Atlanta, is responsible for accelerated gentrification in the city of Atlanta, and has taken actions that are antithetical to the gentrification platform that Biden has adopted.”
Washington pointed out that during an earlier debate, Biden criticized candidate Mike Bloomberg—who has since dropped out of the race—for allowing accelerated gentrification, all the while turning a blind eye to Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is practicing the very thing he condemns.
Washington shared more about the crisis she and her fellow protesters were taking action against: “My neighbor…and I are two of 27 homes left on our block in Atlanta. There were 27 houses, all but four of them have been demolished. We were sued by the city of Atlanta under the leadership of this mayor, and we could be evicted any day. We’ve been in litigation for over three and a half years. This thing has been held over our head for seven.”
The day after the speech, the South Carolina Democratic primary results came in, with Biden winning by a landslide, garnering 48.4% percent of the votes. Sanders received 19.9%, and candidates Tom Steyer and Pete Buttigieg collected 11.3% and 8.2%, respectively.
