RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: A master at playing the race card

We interrupt this year’s national conversation on race to bring you this important public service announcement: Americans should be aware of the fact that one of the major candidates for president this year has a terrible race problem.

I don’t know if he is racist, but he sure is fluent in the language of racism. He knows how to make white people fearful of non-white people, and thus more likely to accept his offer of protection.

This man has talked about a particular racial minority with disrespect for many years. He gets away with it because he’s glib, blunt and folksy. The problem is, he sounds less like Mr. Smith and more like Archie Bunker.

For whatever reason, his brand of politics is mean, divisive and insensitive. And, in this election, such ugliness seems out of place with the “woke” moment that America is experiencing since the killing of George Floyd. Bottom line: This candidate is a hot mess on race.

Yet, this fall, he’ll be on the ballot. Right next to President Donald Trump.

That’s right. The candidate who is a disaster on race is Joe Biden.

All human beings should tread softly when talking about groups to which they don’t belong or issues that don’t impact them. When it comes to race, neither Trump nor Biden do that. Old white men sometimes say the darnedest things.

Democrats and the media — I know, I’m being redundant — are very skilled at portraying Trump as racist. Meanwhile, on race, Biden gets a pass.

Hasn’t anyone noticed that the former vice president spent more than half of five decades in politics assuring white people that he would protect them from Black folks, and only recently flipped the switch and began assuring Black people that he will protect them from white folks?

In 1991, during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Biden — who was then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — failed Anita Hill. Caving to pressure from the right wing, he chose not to call other witnesses who might have corroborated Hill’s testimony and did nothing when white Senate Republicans attacked the African American woman who had accused Thomas of sexual harassment.

In 1992, during a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Biden, D-Del., bragged that a crime bill he had written was so tough that it did “everything but hang people for jaywalking.” In 1994, Biden, authored the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and would, for the next 20 years, defend what he called the “Biden bill.” It led to longer prison sentences, more prison cells, more aggressive policing and greater incarceration rates for African Americans.

In 2007, while running for the Democratic presidential nomination, Biden told the New York Observer that one of his opponents — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. — had much to offer as “the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

In 2019, Biden was scolded in different debates by both Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. Harris made the case that Biden was behind the times because he opposed mandatory busing in the 1970s and kept company with segregationist senators from the South. Booker accused Biden of making urban crime worse by pushing heavy-handed anti-crime measures.

This year, as the Democratic nominee, Biden told Charlamagne Tha God, co-host of the popular morning radio show “The Breakfast Club,” that any African American who is considering voting for Trump “ain’t Black.” Recently, when Biden called Trump “the first” racist to get elected president, Charlamagne angrily said: “I really wish Joe Biden would shut the eff up forever.”

Now, with Biden poised to choose an African American woman as his running mate, Democrats hope this one gesture will put Biden in a better position on race.

Not likely. Biden’s wounds were self-inflicted. A running mate can only do so much. It’s the top of the ticket that needs fixing.

— Ruben Navarrette’s email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, “Navarrette Nation,” is available through every podcast app.