On Tuesday, Jan. 11 in Atlanta, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris gave speeches on protecting the right to vote and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
Biden spoke passionately about voter’s rights, which is something he and many Democratic leaders have been pushing to the forefront of politics since the 2020 election.
“That’s why we’re here today to stand against the forces in America that value power over principle, forces that attempted a coup–a coup against the legally expressed will of the American people,” said Biden. “By sowing doubt, inventing charges of fraud, and seeking to steal the 2020 election from the people.”
“They [insurrectionists] want chaos to reign. We want the people to rule,” said Biden in his heated speech defending the right to vote.
Biden added: “But let me be clear: This is not about me or Vice President Harris or our party; it’s about all of us. It’s about the people. It’s about America.”
“Hear me plainly: The battle for the soul of America is not over,” said Biden. “We must stand strong and stand together to make sure January sixth marks not the end of democracy but the beginning of a renaissance of our democracy.”
“For the right to vote and to have that vote counted is democracy’s threshold liberty,” said Biden. “Without it, nothing is possible, but with it, anything is possible.”
During the 2020 election, Georgia was a state where there was alleged voter fraud.
On that, Biden said: “Here in Georgia, for years, you’ve done the hard work of democracy: registering voters, educating voters, getting voters to the polls…And it’s worked: You’ve changed the state by bringing in more people, legally, to the polls…You did it the right way, the democratic way.”
Biden went on to add: “And what’s been the reaction of Republicans of Georgia? Choose the wrong way, the undemocratic way.”
The speech concluded by Biden saying: “As my faith–my grandfather Finnegan used to say every time I walked out the door in Scranton, he’d say, ‘Joey, keep the faith.’ then he’d say, ‘No. Joey, spread it.’ Let’s spread the faith and get this done.”
Before Biden and Harris spoke, George French, President of Clark Atlanta University and Dr. David Thomas, President of Morehouse College gave short speeches. Spelman University Student government President, Jillian Jackson introduced the Vice President.
Also while in Atlanta, Biden and Harris went to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and met with immediate family members of Martin Luther King Jr.
They also went to the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock is the co-pastor.
The crowd of the speech was made up exclusively of invitees and members of the press pool. Among those invitees were civil rights and voting rights leaders Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and President and CEO of NAACP, Derrick Johnson. Georgia Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff also attended. Georgia Congressional members from many districts attended as well as some out of state Senators and Congressional members.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and former Atlanta Mayor Kiesha Lance Bottoms were also in attendance.
They spoke from the Atlanta University Center Consortium on the campus of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman University. Biden referred to Atlanta as “the cradle of civil rights.”
