Former President Joe Biden is catching heat from all sides after his first speech since leaving the White House had folks giving side eyes. Biden been keeping a low profile since the November election until now when he decided to dip his toe back in the spotlight. But things didn’t go quite as planned.
During a speech at a conference of disability advocates in Chicago, Biden repeatedly called out President Donald Trump for “taking a hatchet” at social security. “In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has done so much damage and so much destruction,” Biden said. His speech was nearly 30 minutes, but folks seem to only care about one specific part.
“I was only going in fourth grade,” Biden began as he remembered his mother driving him to school. What was meant to be an anecdote about what inspired him to pursue a career in politics soon went sideways as he went on. “And I remember seeing kids going by, at the time called ‘colored kids,’ on a bus go by — they never turned right to go to Claymont High School.”
The former president continued saying, “I wondered why, asked my mom why,” to which she replied, “‘Son, in Delaware, they’re not allowed to go to public school with white kids, honey.’” It’s this moment that Biden says “sparked my sense of outrage as a kid.”
Today, the term “colored” is knowingly insulting and outdated, so as the word rolled off the former president’s tongue, many Americans were confused and offended. On X, @bonchieredstate tweeted “Joe Biden’s handlers really decided the best way to show proof of life today was to have him go out and talk about ‘colored’ people... Incredible.”
@Mr_Jordan18, called Biden “An Embarrassment to the USA,” while another user, @GenZCrusaders, added on to the sentiment tweeting, “It’s shameful, and sinful, how actually racist Biden and the Democrats are.”
The former president has a well-documented history of blundering his words. We all remember when Biden said, “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids” before clarifying, “wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids.” Or when he told “The Breakfast Club” if African Americans had trouble deciding who to vote for— him or Trump— then “you ain’t Black.”
And perhaps the most memorable presidential debate against Trump which had many Americans questioning his competency. In fact, 86 percent of Americans thought he was “too old to serve another term as president,” according to an 2024 poll conducted by ABC News. This eventually led to the now-82-year-old dropping out of the 2024 race. Still, many folks refuse to give Biden the benefit of the doubt for past borderline offensive slip ups. And you’ll never guess who’s causing the most noise.
On Truth Social, Trump reposted Biden’s “colored kids” clip online. Even though he didn’t add any additional caption or context to the post, many say this was another jab from the president. Despite the misstep by Biden, his speech was seen as a power move by the democratic party after claims they’ve been too “passive” against Trump and other MAGA republicans.