Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 6-4-21

Political
'Democracy itself Is In Peril:' Biden
Delivers Warning While Honoring Fallen
Service Members On Memorial Day
Biden Proclaims Day Of Remembrance On 100th Anniversary Of Tulsa Massacre
President Joe Biden
commemorated those who died serving in the military in Memorial Day remarks at Ar- lington National Cemetery and urged Americans to honor the fallen by strength- ening and protecting the na- tion's democracy.
"Democracy itself is in peril, here at home and around the world. What we do now -- what we do now, how we honor the memory of the fallen will determine whether or not democracy will long endure," Biden said.
The President said: "We owe the honored dead a debt we can never fully repay. We owe them our whole souls. We owe them our full best ef- forts to perfect the union for which they died."
Biden said the nation must honor the sacrifices of generations of service mem- bers "by sustaining the best of America while honestly con- fronting all that we must do to make our nation fuller, freer and more just."
"Empathy is the fuel of democracy," the President said. "Our willingness to see each other not as enemies, neighbors, even when we dis-
PRESIDENT BIDEN
agree, to understand what the other is going through."
He spoke of the rising wave of autocratic rule across the world and argued, as he often does, that "liberation, opportunity, justice are far more likely to come to pass in an democracy than an autoc- racy."
"This nation was built on an idea, the only nation in the world built on an idea. Every other nation is built on eth- nicity, geography, religion, etcetera. We were built on an idea, the idea of liberty, an opportunity for all," Biden said.
President Joe Biden
i s sued an official proclama- tion on Monday, declaring a "Day of Remembrance" to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre and calling on Americans to "reflect on the deep roots of racial terror in our Nation and recommit to the work of rooting out systemic racism across our country."
The 1921 Tulsa Massacre occurred on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when a violent white supremacist mob attacked Black residents in the Okla- homa city's affluent Green- wood district, an area known as "Black Wall Street."
According to the White House, many of Greenwood's then 10,000 residents were "Black sharecroppers who fled racial violence after the Civil War." In the years fol- lowing the Civil War, the dis- trict became known as a place where Black Americans "were able to make a new start and secure economic progress despite the contin- ued pain of institutional and overt racism."
That all changed in 1921 when, according to the Tulsa Historical Society and Mu- seum, 24 hours of violence resulted in 35 city blocks in Greenwood being burned and about 300 deaths. As the White House noted in its offi- cial proclamation, "nearly 10,000 were left destitute and homeless" as a result of
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
the violence.
"Despite rising Jim Crow
systems and the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan, Green- wood's economic prosperity grew, as did its citizens' de- mands for equal rights. This made the community a source of pride for many Black Americans," the White House proclamation ex- plained. "It also made the neighborhood and its fami- lies a target of white su- premacists. In two days, a violent mob tore down the hard-fought success of Black Wall Street that had taken more than a decade to build."
Last week, three of the last living survivors of the mas- sacre testified to Congress in a push for justice via recogni- tion and reparations.
"I will never forget the vi- olence of the white mob
when we left our home," sur- vivor Viola Fletcher told lawmakers from a House Ju- diciary Subcommittee during the hearing.
Now 107, Fletcher was 7 years old when the massacre occurred. She was joined at the hearing by her younger brother Hughes Van Ellis, 100, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 105.
Speaking to lawmakers, Fletcher said that even today, "I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams. I have lived through the massacre every day. Our country may forget this his- tory, but I cannot."
In his proclamation, Biden said he would "commit to the survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, including Fletcher, Van Ellis, and Benningfield Randle, the descendants of victims, and to this nation that we will never forget."
The proclamation contin- ues: "We honor the legacy of the Greenwood community, and of Black Wall Street, by reaffirming our commitment to advance racial justice through the whole of our gov- ernment, and working to root out systemic racism from our laws, our policies, and our hearts."
Biden, Harris Shock DC Diners With Unannounced Visit To Popular Restaurant
President Biden on Monday had his first known sit-down visit to a DC restau- rant since becoming presi- dent — joined by Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses after a Me- morial Day event at Arlington National Cemetery.
The unscheduled stop caught diners off guard at the popular French restaurant Le Diplomate, where first lady Jill Biden met with friends for boozy mid-week lunches while her husband was vice president.
In honor of Jill Biden, the restaurant this year had lob-
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN AND VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS
ster risotto, her favorite dish, as a menu special to celebrate her return to DC.
During his four years in of- fice, former President
Donald Trump visited just one DC restaurant — BLT Prime, inside his own Trump International Hotel near the White House.
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