Former President Joe Biden traveled to Galveston, Texas, on Thursday to celebrate Juneteenth, a federal holiday he enshrined with a stroke of a pen while in office, and took a handful of shots at President Donald Trump.
Biden has largely stayed out of the limelight since leaving office in January and announcing his advanced cancer diagnosis in May, but he had harsh words for his successor Thursday night.
The former president signed the Juneteenth Independence Day Act into law in 2021, recognizing Juneteenth as the federal commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, and he told attendees at Thursday’s service at Reedy Chapel AME Church that he was motivated to do so in the face of efforts to “erase” American history.
“This guy,” Biden said in reference to Trump before pausing and making the sign of the cross.
“I played a role in changing the names of all the military camps that have slave names,” he continued. “What are we doing now? Restating those names. Folks, the darkness can hide much but erase nothing.”
“I came here because the good Lord isn’t done with us yet. We have more work to do,” Biden concluded. “Let’s remember who we are. We’re the United States of America. You’ve heard me say it many times. There’s nothing — nothing — beyond our capacity when we act together.”
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Trump himself did issue proclamations honoring the “countless contributions made by African Americans to our Nation” on every Juneteenth during his first term in office but did not do so Thursday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when asked during Thursday’s briefing about plans to commemorate Juneteenth, told reporters that she was not “tracking his signature on a proclamation today.”
You can watch Biden’s remarks in full below.