The Root’s Michael Harriot called out a recently-surfaced video of former Vice President Joe Biden, referring to claims that he faced off with a gangster named Corn Pop as “Biden’s Negro Summer Safari Adventure.”
Biden’s story revolved around a summer he spent working as a life guard at a pool in a primarily black neighborhood and a confrontation with a group of guys carrying straight razors.
This is BIZARRE!
Here’s Joe Biden telling the story of his face-off with a gang of razor-wielding ne’er-do-wells led by a guy named ‘Corn Pop.’ pic.twitter.com/DddRtWgdza— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) September 15, 2019
Biden claimed that he met Corn Pop and the others and threatened them with a length of chain, and that was how they came to respect him and ensure that others would leave him alone.
But Harriot wasn’t buying it.
“I’m always astounded by the imaginings of white people as it relates to race. Many of them have this fictionalized jigaboo version that is almost alien-like. And one of the greatest examples of this ever is Joe Biden’s story about Corn Pop the gangsta,” his thread began.
Thread: I’m always astounded by the imaginings of white people as it relates to race. Many of them have this fictionalized jigaboo version that is almost alien-like. And one of the greatest examples of this ever is Joe Biden’s story about Corn Pop the gangsta.
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 14, 2019
Now it has already been demonstrably proven that Biden will make stuff up. But any black person who hears this story will automatically give you the side-eye and says: “nigga please.”
It begins when Biden was working as a lifeguard at a pool.
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 14, 2019
Now Biden is like, 176 years old, but he’s still in pretty good shape. This supposedly happened in the summer of 1962.
Biden says that, instead of hanging out all summer, he decided to take a job working as a lifeguard at a black pool.
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 14, 2019
So, that summer, Biden was the only white lifeguard at Prices Run swimming pool in Brown-Burton Winchester Park. He says he did it—y’all, I SWEAR this is true—”in hopes of learning more about the black community.”
Yes, that’s an actual quote.
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 14, 2019
Biden says that he became popular at the pool because many of the black people in Wilmington, DE had never talked to a white person before.
This raised by bullshit-o-meter, so I decided to look it up. In 1960, Wilmington was 73% white, according to census records pic.twitter.com/pWhlPVagbO
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 14, 2019
Anyway, during Biden’s Negro Summer Safari Adventure, one day, all of the town gangsters came to the pool.
Now I know what you’re thinking, but don’t stereotype. Gangbangers are NOT a monolith.
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 14, 2019
Harriot went on to question a number of other aspects of the story, arguing that if things had truly happened the way Biden said they did and Corn Pop had really threatened to “meet him at the car,” he would have just called the police. But instead, Biden claimed that he realized he would never be accepted back in the black community if he had done that, so he opted to threaten Corn Pop instead.
Anyway, Biden says, instead he wrapped a six-foot metal chain around his arm and wrapped that in a towel. Because everyone knows there are ample black chains just laying around the “African America community” but no police officers.
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 14, 2019
When he went out to the car, Corn Pop was indeed waiting for him. But Biden went Clint Eastwood on Corn and told OG Pop from the Romans:
“You might cut me, Corn Pop, but I’m going to wrap this chain around your head before you do.”
Again, that is a direct quote.
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 14, 2019
Biden has told the story before — and even included it in his 2007 biography. (RELATED: ‘Explicitly Racist’ — Joe Biden Is Getting Heat Over His Answer To Reparations Question)
But this story is actually recounted in Joe Biden’s 2007 autobiography AND is retold in the Washington Post, here: https://t.co/oN2TCKwKsw
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 14, 2019
The former vice president, despite several gaffes that have been widely panned as racist, has consistently polled well with African Americans.