Joe Biden’s long, complicated civil rights history
by Emily Larsen
| June 04, 2020 01:20 PM
In the midst of nationwide unrest and international demonstrations about race relations and police use-of-force sparked by the death of black Minneapolis man George Floyd, Joe Biden recalled the start of his career being shaped by similar racial tensions.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968 during Biden’s last year of law school at Syracuse University, sparking riots in Wilmington, Delaware.
“Our city was in flames,†Biden said while recalling the period in remarks to a predominantly black church in Wilmington on Monday.
The governor at the time, Charles Terry, kept the National Guard activated in the state for nine months, even after riots had stopped. That environment, Biden said, prompted him to quit his job at a private law firm and become a public defender. “I had a job with a good law firm,†Biden said. “And after about five months, watching people on the National Guard — I quit [and] became a public defender.â€
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