On the eve of the inauguration of President Donald Trump and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, outgoing President Joe Biden heralded Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy as his political heroes on his last full day in office at a historic black church in South Carolina where he prayed before he was elected in 2020.
“I prayed with you here in February of 2020 when I was running for president. On my final full day as president, of all the places I wanted to be was back here with you,” Biden told congregants at the Royal Missionary Baptist Church North Charleston on Sunday.
Biden said he thinks about hope when he spends time in a black church, noting that he got involved in politics because of the Civil Rights Movement.
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“I first got involved — first got involved in public life because of the Civil Rights Movement. I — I’d attend 7:30 mass at my church, then I’d go to another morning service at the AME Church in Delaware — the black church, the spiritual home of the black experience that helped redeem the soul of the nation, literally,” he said.
“That’s the truth we honor on the weekend we celebrate one of the political heroes — my political heroes, many of yours — Dr. Martin Luther King. I have two busts in my office that I can see from my desk. I had two political heroes growing up: Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy,” Biden added to applause.
The president highlighted the weekend of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection to craft a message about persevering through difficult times.
“On Sundays, we often reflect on resurrection and redemption. We remember Jesus was buried on Friday and He rose on Sunday. We don’t talk enough about Saturday when his disciples felt all hope was lost,” Biden said.
He cited Matthew 22:37-39 to point out how he overcame his difficult days and inspired his belief in loving “thy neighbor as thyself,” which he said is “very easy to say, but very hard to do.”
“In those words are the essence of the Gospel, is the essence of the American promise: the idea, as was mentioned earlier, that we’re all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives,” Biden said.
“We’ve never fully lived up to that commitment, but we’ve never walked away from it either because of you and your ancestors before us, who followed [the] light of the North Star even in the darkness,” he added.
Biden, who would go on to visit the International African American Museum after his visit to the church on Sunday, shared how his belief in mercy and justice led to him issuing more “individual pardons and commutations than any president in American history.”
Last December alone, Biden commuted the sentences of approximately 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed in home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Associated Press.
On Monday, Biden issued preemptive pardons for Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci and members of Congress who served on the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
“As we celebrate Dr. King’s legacy and generations before and since — women and men, enslaved and free — we have to remember one of his favorite hymns: ‘Precious Lord, take my hand through the storm, through the night, and lead me into the light,’” Biden said.
“God bless you all. And may God protect our troops. I owe you big — As they say where I come from, you all — you the guys that brought me to the dance. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
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