Obama decries racial impact of COVID- 19 in national commencement address
WASHINGTON — Taking a thinly veiled swipe at President Trump, former President Barack Obama on Saturday decried racial inequities revealed by the coronavirus pandemic and told graduating college students that the crisis has “torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they are doing.”
“A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge,” Obama said in a livestreamed commencement address to students graduating from the nation’s historically black colleges and universities.
Obama delivered the speech, to be followed later in the day by a nationally televised address to high school graduates, as educational institutions across the country have been forced to cancel in- person graduation ceremonies to comply with stayat- home and social distancing orders during the publichealth emergency.
The speeches turned the national spotlight on Obama at a time when the former president is becoming a central figure in the 2020 presidential campaign. His vice president, Joe Biden, has emerged as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee and is embracing the Obama legacy.
And after largely keeping away from politics during the primaries, as for much of his post- presidency, Obama has lately aimed a series of withering critiques at Trump for his handling of the coronavirus crisis and other matters.
Trump has targeted his predecessor for a fresh round of attacks for an ill- defined scandal Trump has called “Obamagate.”
As the nation’s first African American president, Obama had a special message for black college graduates Saturday about the challenge of confronting racial inequities exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis and spotlighted by the case of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was shot after being chased down by two white men in Georgia.
“Let’s be honest - a disease like this just spotlights the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country,” Obama said.
“We see it in the disproportionate impact of COVID- 19 on our communities, just as we see it when a black man goes for a jog, and some folks feel like they can stop and question and shoot him if he doesn’t submit to their questioning.”
Saturday night, Obama was also slated to address 2020 high school graduates in an hourlong broadcast carried by major networks and across social media platforms. The event was sponsored by XQ Institute, an education reform nonprofit; the LeBron James Family Foundation; and the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
The idea of Obama giving a national commencement speech provoked a social media clamor in April when a Los Angeles high school student, Eagle Rock High senior Lincoln Debenham, took to Twitter to petition the former president.
“Like most high school/ college seniors, I’m saddened by the loss of milestone events, prom & graduation. In an unprecedented time, it would give us great comfort to hear your voice,” he tweeted at Obama, and drew 226,000 likes and more than 46,000 retweets.