Joe Biden taught us a lot about the myth of the 'good white man' this week

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Since announcing that he would be running for President, the fond nostalgia associated with the man has quickly begun to wear off in favor of an acknowledgement of his controversy-laden background. Whether it’s his refusal to apologize to Anita Hill, his support for the 1994 Crime Bill, or his more recent discussions about working with segregationists, Biden continues to be a shining example of the “white moderate” Dr Martin Luther King warned us about so many years ago.

In his letter from the Birmingham jail, King wrote: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice.”

Joe Biden was a Democratic US Senator from 1973 to 2009. In 2009, he became vice-president after winning the election alongside America’s first black president, Barack Obama. It was during that time he got the warm and fuzzy nickname of “Uncle Joe”. Uncle Joe was a take-no-prisoners patriotic white man who many came to adore. However, the good times of Uncle Joe have a flipside — one that minorities have always known.

Biden is someone who has referred to himself as the “most progressive candidate” in the field of Democrats, despite a record that is much more tarnished than shine. The 1994 Crime Bill continues to harm black and brown families 25 years after it passed into law. Introducing harsher prison sentences to a criminal justice system which has always been anti-black was bound to have consequences.

Biden was also a staunch defender of the Defense of Marriage Act prior to his 2012 flip, when he suddenly became in favor of marriage equality. He’s also closely tied with Wall Street.

For most of his career, Biden has been able to deflect harsh criticism. Indeed, had he left politics altogether after the Obama presidency, then revisionist history would have him listed as one of the greatest politicians of our times — likely to end up with monuments and schools named in his honor. Instead, Biden’s campaign run has been one littered in “misstatements” which in reality are showing us those who weren’t aware the real face of Uncle Joe — one who has always wielded his privilege against others.

Senator Strom Thurmond, who Biden mentioned in his most recent and most controversial speech, was a Democrat back in the 60’s who switched to being a Republican, at the time making the statement that Dems had “forsaken the people to become the party of minority groups”. Thurmond also worked hard to block the Civil Rights Act. Despite this, Biden — who spoke at Thurmond’s funeral in 2003 — felt the need in 2019 to discuss how he misses the days of “civility” that allowed him and Thurmond to work across the aisle with each other. He also joked about segregationist Senator James Eastland who, he said, never referred to him as “boy” (unsurprising, considering Biden was a white man.)

Biden then doubled down defending his comments and, outrageously, said that his fellow Democrat candidate Cory Booker, who is black, should apologise for criticizing his flippant talk about racial issues.

During a time when white nationalists are becoming more visible and empowered, the notion that minorities should be “civil” to people who believe in racist oppression is a dangerous one. Additionally, it asks minorities to shoulder the burden that “good white people” like Joe Biden cannot take. It is easy for people like him to work with white supremacists because good, bad or indifferent, he will never be their direct target — and he will always benefit from white privilege, whether he actively participates in white supremacist policies or passively allows them to go unchecked.

Minorities in America are used to having to vote for the lesser of two evils. You will even hear folks say they are voting out of “harm reduction”. Is this the reality we want to continue to live in?

Joe Biden was powerful and likeable enough to get this far in his career without too much scrutiny. These next 16 months will be telling for all of us — but one thing for certain is the myth about good “Uncle Joe” is gone. What’s left is anyone’s guess.