The legend of Vice President Joe Biden grew once again Wednesday night.
Biden staked his claim in the civil rights movement by asserting that he desegregated movie theaters as a boy, as Paul Bedard of The Washington Examiner reported.
The Vice President was hosting his fourth annual Black History Month reception at his Naval Observatory residence, joined by important civil rights leaders such as Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), one of the original 13 Freedom Riders. A White House taping of the event captured the VP saying that as a boy he was “trying just a little tiny bit at home to desegregate movie theaters and those things we were doing.”
Then Biden hedged his statement, saying, “I want to make it clear to the press, I was no great shakes in the civil rights movement.”
Right you are, Joe. According to The New York Times, one of Biden’s aides said the VP had only tried to desegregate “one restaurant and one movie theater.”
At his event, Biden also criticized his Caucasian colleagues for thinking they understand what members of the black community experience. “It always amazes me how my white liberal friends think they understand the black community,” he said.
Biden’s Black History Month reception comes at a time when the Voting Rights Act has come up for review in the Supreme Court, making it rather unsurprising that Biden tried to attach himself to the civil rights movement.
So there you have it: Obama is an avid skeet shooter and Biden was a civil rights wunderkind.
