The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) responded Friday evening to comments earlier in the day by former Vice President Joe Biden, who claimed — falsely — that the NAACP had endorsed him.
In an interview with host Charlemagne tha God on The Breakfast Club with New York’s Power 105.1 FM, Biden said: “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” He went on to defend his record on issues relevant to the black community, claiming: “The NAACP has endorsed me every time I’ve run.”
In response, Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, issued a statement:
Yesterday [sic], former Vice President Joe Biden made a comment about the NAACP’s endorsement. We want to clarify that the NAACP is a non-partisan organization and does not endorse candidates for political office at any level. Persons affiliated with the NAACP at the national, state, and local levels are free to make candidate endorsements in a personal capacity, but they do not reflect support by the NAACP as an organization. The NAACP has one mission and that is fighting for and advancing our Black communities towards an equitable reality. Our primary focus at this moment is to ensure that our communities that have been victims of domestic terrorism and disproportionately impacted by this pandemic have the opportunity to cast their powerful vote come November.
Biden owes his candidacy to the African American vote, which he won by a wide margin in the South Carolina primary on Feb. 29.
The NAACP, more than a century old, is the country’s most prominent civil rights organization.
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