President Biden will spend his final full day as president in Charleston, South Carolina. There, five years ago, he revived a flagging campaign and secured the crucial South Carolina primary that is widely believed to have put President Biden on the path to the White House.
Before securing the support of South Carolina's powerful Democratic congressman James E. Clyburn, Biden worshiped and held a ceremony at Royal Missionary Baptist Church, a historic black congregation he visited during his 2020 campaign. I'm planning to start the day.
White House officials said Biden's trip will mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national day he will celebrate on Monday when he hands over control of the country to President-elect Donald J. Trump. will be celebrated. He has often disparaged the modern civil rights movement. After the service, Biden will speak at the International African American Museum.
White House officials said Biden's remarks will focus on Dr. King's accomplishments and his continued efforts to make his dream of a just society a reality.
It was Biden's last official trip as U.S. president, and the state and its black voters, which he has repeatedly praised for ending a half-century political career in four white years. It is a hymn to. house.
“The truth is, I wouldn't be here without the people of South Carolina,” Biden told Black voters during a visit to the state in January 2024. “I am president because of you.”
In an interview with the Post and Courier, a South Carolina publication, the Rev. Isaac Holt, pastor of Royal Missionary Baptist Church, said Mr. Biden had asked him to begin his final days in office in a church pew. The pastor said the sermon's message will focus on Dr. King's legacy and center on the word “struggle.”
“He's getting back to where he started,” Holt told the paper.
It was in Charleston that Mr. Biden announced during a Democratic primary debate that he would nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, seeking Mr. Clyburn's coveted endorsement. A groundswell of support from black Americans helped him win the primary. White House officials said the South Carolina primary is a pivotal moment in the campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination.
In 2015, while vice president, Biden attended the funeral of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was killed along with eight others in a massacre carried out by white supremacists at Mother Emanuel AME Church. Less than a month after one of his sons died, Biden chose to attend and speak at a church ceremony that he said helped him draw strength to work through his own grief. he said, surprising the congregation.
Biden and his family held hands with attendees and sang “We Shall Overcome.”
