Project 21 Chairman Horace Cooper said Saturday that President Joe Biden is guilty of “the bigotry of low expectations” by claiming black people can’t hire lawyers or accountants and be successful entrepreneurs.
Biden made the remarks Tuesday during a speech to mark the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
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“I’m black. I’m a lawyer. I have a cousin who’s an accountant,” Cooper said on Fox News’ “Watters’ World.” (RELATED: ‘One Of The Worst Race Hoaxes’: Horace Cooper Compares Biden’s Tulsa Race Massacre Speech To Jussie Smollett)
“I actually don’t understand where the president is going other than denigrating people. His idea appears to be what they refer to often as the bigotry of low expectations,” Cooper continued.
“It’s really disappointing that he doesn’t see his role as inspirer-in-chief instead of denigrator-in-chief,” he said.
Cooper insisted that Biden had an opportunity during his speech to inspire black people but instead he chose to “talk down to them and you excuse them and take away a lot of the incentive and initiative.” The Project 21 chairman suggested Biden should have said: “This is the land, a place of possibility, black, white and brown; we’re going to learn the lessons of bad incidents that have happened in our past and come together to do better.”
Cooper also noted that Biden’s claimed during his speech that “white supremacy” poses the most “lethal threat” to American society, which the activist described as “outrageous.”
The lawyer wondered why Biden did not highlight the success of black entrepreneurs and say “these are examples of what is possible in America. Instead, he denigrates our country.” (RELATED: It’s Terrible For Our Nation’: Sen. Tim Scott Says ‘Woke Capitalism’ Is Dividing America On Racial Grounds)
President Joe Biden speaks at a rally during commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre on June 01, 2021 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Biden was the first president to speak at the memorial and met with three people who survived the 1921 event that may have killed as many as 300 black people.
“You can’t just choose to learn what we want to know and not what we should know,” Biden said at the event. “We should know the good, the bad, everything. That’s what great nations do. They come to terms with their dark sides, and we are a great nation. The only way to build common ground is to truly repair and to rebuild. I come here to help fill the silence because in silence wounds deepen.”