Meet Two Morehouse Profs Who Protested Biden over Gaza and Congo During Commencement Speech
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Published 2024-05-20
At Morehouse College, students and faculty were divided over inviting President Joe Biden to receive an honorary degree and give a speech at the school's commencement ceremony. Morehouse valedictorian DeAngelo Fletcher, who had a Palestinian flag affixed to his graduation cap, called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza during his speech, and assistant professor of sociology Taura Taylor stood with her fist raised, facing away from Biden as he addressed the crowd. "I wanted to take it upon myself to, one, stand up for my principles, and then also kind of stand in solidarity for my students as well as my other fellow faculty members who felt that we were caught in this moment where it seemed like we, as a community, selected Biden, when we all did not," says Taylor. We also speak with Samuel Livingston, an associate professor of Africana studies, who held a flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo behind Biden as he spoke. "We held up the flag because the people of the Congo do not get enough media attention in terms of the active genocide that the United States is supporting through its support of Rwanda," says Livingston. "Congo deserves justice, reparations from the United States for the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, conspiring in that assassination, and the people today deserve a country that is built on peace and justice."
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All Comments (21)
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Biden. Liar. Liar, Liar
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It's shameful Morehouse would give Biden credibility in our community. It's all optics. We understand oppression, and yet an oppressor sits with us. I don't get it. To see Biden clapping for a call for a ceasefire shows how hollow he sees this ceremony to be.
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Imagine telling black people they’re not black if they don’t vote for him then speaking at their college 😭 What a joke.
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Immediate ceasefire after he sent another billion in arms. 😒
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Biden is so embarrassing! Pathetic
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Jim Crow Joe should be barred from speaking at any HBCU institutions. Hey, "you ain't black if you don't vote for me" 🙄
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He is nothing but the bullshit
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I hope Biden leaves office soon by any means. The man is disgusting.
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US policy: say one thing & do the opposite!
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Disgraceful that this warmonger and supporter of apartheid was invited to address anybody at Morehouse College.
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He’s complete bullshit, he looked like he didn’t even know why he’s clapping but it’s just time to clap
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they did very well to raise the Congo flag,maybe this will bring more attention to the genocide in Congo
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Last I checked , the civil rights act came from vocal protest.
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Don’t clap Biden , when you’re providing all the weapons.
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Genocide Joe you should be ashamed of yourself
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You could have stopped the destruction & saved thousands of lives instead of having to rebuild Gaza! Ah, but wait, there would not have been lots of money made from arm sales! What was I thinking?
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Shout out to Professor Livingston. The war in DR Congo needs to be addressed too. We're sick and tired of the US backing up Rwanda in its role in destabilizing Eastern DRC. My respect from my torn beautiful DRC🇨🇩🇨🇩🇨🇩✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾
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Joe Biden: "if you don't vote for me you ain't Black.". Thank God for Massa Joe to define Blackness.
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Biden has literally forgotten about the recent billion dollars in arms sent
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Thank you, professor, to defend congo 🇨🇩 🙏 all our support on you. So many innocent people are dying 😢 in that conflict. Mineral 😢😢😢😢
