Biden seeks to rebuild black support at South Carolina church

US President Joe Biden has warned of the “poison” of white supremacy as he seeks to shore up support from black voters in his bid for re-election.

Mr Biden, 81, was speaking at a black church in South Carolina, where a white supremacist gunned down nine black parishioners in a hate crime in 2015.

“The truth is under assault,” he told the packed hall. “This is a time of choosing. So let’s choose America.”

The speech was briefly derailed by hecklers demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.

“If you care about lives lost, you should care about Palestine,” a woman shouted before a small group of demonstrators broke into chants of “ceasefire now!” inside the building.

But the crowd drowned them out with chants of “four more years!” as they were escorted away by security, with one elderly woman standing up to proclaim the protesters “don’t understand” that the president is a “good man”.

Four years ago, black Democrats in South Carolina helped turn Mr Biden’s fortunes around in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race.

After coming in fourth and fifth respectively in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, the former vice-president won the southern state and went on to win the party’s nomination before beating Donald Trump in the general election.

Mr Biden’s return to South Carolina is a bet on the black vote, a crucial pillar of Democratic support. Ninety-two percent of black voters backed Mr Biden over Mr Trump for the White House in the last election.

But recent polling shows that support may be faltering, with as many as 22% of black voters now leaning towards the Republican ex-president.

There was no sign of that on Monday at the Mother Emanuel AME Church, where several hundred people packed into the warm, wood-panelled building to hear from Mr Biden.

A mix of black and white supporters wearing Biden-Harris 2024 pins, the crowd welcomed the president with a standing ovation and lavished him with supportive chants.

“We love you Joe,” screamed a handful of old ladies seated in the front pews, while an elderly man shouted “Go Joe!” from the upper deck.

Introducing Mr Biden to the dais was Representative Jim Clyburn, the South Carolina politician whose influential endorsement propelled Mr Biden to victory in the state’s primary in 2020.

The congressman told CNN on Sunday that he was “very concerned” about the president’s standing with black voters.

Rattling off his achievements over the past three years, Mr Clyburn blamed the media for failing to report on Mr Biden’s successes but said he had kept many of his promises.

“You know Joe, but more importantly, Joe knows us,” he declared, referring to Mr Biden as “the man best qualified, the man totally committed to making every American part of the American Dream”.

When the president took the stage, he reminded the audience of how white supremacy had fuelled the hate crime inside the church eight years ago.

“The word of God was pierced by bullets of hate and rage” but the Charleston community’s “act of grace” in forgiving the gunman had “brought down the Confederate flag” in South Carolina, he said.

Pivoting to his Republican opponents, he criticised those who seek to spread lies.

“Slavery was the cause of the Civil War,” he said, in a rebuke of recent remarks by Nikki Haley, the state’s former Republican governor who is now running for president.

But Mr Biden reserved most of his ire for Mr Trump, who he accused of spreading false claims about the 2020 election, fomenting political violence and lacking “respect for the 81 million people who voted the other way”.

“We must reject political violence in America. Always. It’s never appropriate,” Mr Biden said.

“Losers are taught to concede when they lose, and he’s a loser.”

Reminding voters in the room that he had chosen the first black vice-president and the first black female Supreme Court justice, Mr Biden added: “Instead of erasing history, we’re making history.”

The campaign has bristled at the idea that it is losing support among black Americans. After the speech, senior campaign officials vowed to “continue to communicate” its 2024 message with a focus on showing the black community how it has followed through on its promises.

“Polls don’t vote. Voters vote,” principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters after the speech.

“There’s a long time before voters start to vote. And before that time, we have one job: to make voters understand that their choice is between President Biden offering more freedoms, not less, and what the Republican Party is trying to do.”

He added: “I want to be very clear – no president has done more for the black community than what Joe Biden has done.”

Amid low approval ratings and signs of faltering support, Mr Biden has stepped up his engagement on the campaign trail.

On Friday, he marked the third anniversary of the riot at the US Capitol with a speech in Pennsylvania, where he condemned Mr Trump in harsh terms and framed the November election as an “existential choice” for the country.

Polls show Mr Trump with a narrow lead over Mr Biden ahead of their likely rematch.

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