Joe Biden recalls ‘colored kids’ to be hero of their struggle

In his first public remarks since leaving office, Joe Biden recalled – without a hint of self-awareness – the moment from his childhood he first saw “colored kids” on a bus going by.” It was, in his telling, a pivotal experience, one that sparked his youthful sense of outrage growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Let’s stop right there.

At best, the speech – billed as his first major intervention since Donald Trump took office – reveals how deeply stuck in the past Biden’s racial worldview really is. At worst, it’s an embarrassing reminder that the Democratic Party continues to view black voters, especially black men, not as equals or thinkers, but as props in white liberal moral storytelling.

As a black conservative, I’ve heard this record before. And frankly, it’s scratched beyond repair.

Biden’s entire political brand on race is based on a tired script: tell a nostalgic story about discovering racism, describe a personal evolution, then promise vague notions of justice and equity. It’s the same formula we’ve been fed for decades. But here’s the problem – it’s not resonating anymore.

Black men aren’t buying it.

Recent polling shows black male support for the Democratic Party is slipping. It’s not because black men have suddenly become conservative ideologues. It’s because the Democratic message hasn’t evolved past 1965 – and worse, it still centers white liberal guilt over black agency.

I’m one of many who are tired of watching Democratic leaders dust off the same worn-out tropes about race, pretending it’s progress while ignoring the real challenges black men face today. I’m not offended – I’m exhausted. Exhausted by politicians who still speak as if our value lies in how shocked white America feels when it finally notices we exist.

When Biden invokes “colored kids,” he’s not just showing his age, he’s showing his framework. In his mind, racial progress is something that begins with white recognition, white outrage and white-led reform. Everyone else is there to serve as narrative color – pun intended – for his moral journey.

This is exactly the kind of condescension that turns voters off. It’s not just the language. It’s the mindset that says: I’m the hero of your struggle.

What Biden and the Democrats haven’t realized is that a growing number of black Americans – particularly men – are tired of being reduced to background characters in someone else’s morality play. They don’t want symbolism. They want results.

Tell a black father in Detroit that his son is going to be safer because Joe Biden had a moral awakening in 1955. Tell a small business owner in Atlanta that rising crime and falling opportunity will be fixed because Biden once “felt outrage” watching a segregated bus roll by. Better yet, try that with a straight face.

This isn’t civil rights. It’s performance art.

And what’s worse? The media gives him a pass. If Donald Trump had referred to “colored kids,” there would be wall-to-wall coverage and think pieces accusing him of white supremacy. But when Biden does it? Silence. The same pundits who scream about “racial sensitivity” suddenly rediscover their capacity for grace. Or maybe just hypocrisy.

That’s the real insult – not just to black voters, but to anyone who values consistency and accountability. It’s a double standard that insults our intelligence. It says the same words can be racist or noble depending on the speaker’s party affiliation.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about language policing. It’s about recognizing how hollow and performative this brand of racial politics has become. Biden’s rhetoric may have resonated in a post-Civil Rights America, but it lands differently today. Black men are increasingly skeptical of being talked at instead of talked to.

And Democrats are noticing – if only in the polls. You can’t talk about “equity” on one hand while ignoring the real-world failures of urban education, crumbling infrastructure, rising crime, and economic stagnation in black communities on the other. You can’t appeal to working-class black men with throwback stories while pushing policies that prioritize activists over actual outcomes.

At some point, voters ask: What have you done for me lately? And no amount of Scranton anecdotes can answer that.

The truth is, Joe Biden still sees race through a black-and-white television lens. But the rest of America – especially younger black men – live in high-definition. They don’t need a savior. They need a government that works, leaders who deliver, and respect that isn’t laced with nostalgia and pity.

So no, Joe, we’re not moved by your stories about “colored kids.” We’re not inspired by your selective outrage. We’re not props for your redemption arc.

We’re Americans. And we’re paying attention.