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CONTROVERSIAL COMMENTS: Joe Biden

JOE BIDEN is facing another backlash on his campaign to become the next president of the US after he talked fondly about two racist senators.

Biden, who served as vice president under Barack Obama, reminisced about working with James Eastland and Herman Talmadge, two southern, pro-segregation senators during a fundraiser on Tuesday.

He said that Talmadge used to call him “son” but never “boy”, adding “At least there was some civility...We got things done”.

His comments have angered some because of the way he used the word "boy", a term racist white people employed to degrade black men, and how he spoke about two men who favoured segregation. Both Talmadge and Eastland are deceased.

Democratic senator Cory Booker, who is also running for president described the incident as “deeply disappointing”.

He told CNN: “As a black man in America, I know the deeply harmful and hurtful usage of the word boy and how it was used to dehumanise and degrade.”

He added: “Somebody running to be president of the United States, somebody running to be the leader of our party should know that using the word boy in the way he did could cause hurt and pain.”

Booker, the senator for New Jersey, said America needed a presidential nominee and Democratic leader to be sensitive to such issues.

“Vice president Biden shouldn’t need this lesson,” he added.

Other black politicians and prominent civil rights figures have also addressed Biden’s comments.

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee said: “I know Joe Biden, he has a strong and impeccable record and a dedicated and passionate record on civil rights.

She added: “What I would say is that words matter. Those of us who know the history of the senators that he mentioned or knew them and in my instance it’s the history I would say that that’s just not – even in the spirit of civility – probably not the most apt comparisons.

Lee said she didn’t think the comments infringed on Biden’s “very strong” record and hoped politicians could work together to address slavery and racial disparities.

Reverend Al Sharpton called for Biden to “own it and deal with it and move on”.

Speaking on MSNBC, Sharpton said: “I think that we must be very careful that we correct each other without being divisive in the end goal of really trying to really guide the country back to a policy of racial equality and racial justice.

He added that he agreed that parts of what Biden said was offensive but that he did not believe the former vice president was racist.

“He took a lot of shots for standing up for civil rights down through the years. He certainly took a lot of abuse as vice president under Barack Obama. It does not give him the right to be offensive and he should admit when he is an own it and deal with it and move on,” he said.

California senator Kamala Harris, who is also running to be the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said Biden did not seem to understand “the dark history of our country”.

Biden told reporters: "There's not a racist bone in my body."

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