Declining support from the Black community could derail President Joe Biden from following in the footsteps of former President Barack Obama who served two terms in the Oval office.
President Joe Biden rode a wave of Black support into the White House four years ago.
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) gave a tremendous boost to his 2020 presidential run when he endorsed him in the South Carolina Democratic primary.
But that support has seemed to erode as a rematch with former President Donald Trump appears on the horizon.
Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war has resulted in criticism from many in the Black community as well as from many young voters.
Now, some Black religious leaders are urging the 46th President of the United States to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, which has killed many innocent Palestinians.
Rayna Reid Rayford of Essence reported, “As we approach the almost fifth-month mark of the Israel-Gaza war, a coalition of more than 1,000 Black church leaders have called on the White House with a cease-fire demand.
“The Black Christian Faith Leaders group paid for a full-page advertisement in the New York Times, which called ‘for an immediate bilateral ceasefire in the Middle East for the sake of our shared humanity and our collective security.’”
Many Black clergy have held sit-down meetings with White House officials and written open letters to present “a moral case for President Biden and his administration to press Israel to stop its offensive operations in Gaza, which have killed thousands of civilians.”
Additionally, the faith leaders have asked Hamas to release hostages and for “an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank,” according to the New York Times.
The Black clergy represent a diverse group ranging from conservative Southern Baptists to more progressive nondenominational groups from the Northeast and Midwest.
“Black faith leaders are extremely disappointed in the Biden administration on this issue,” said Rev. Timothy McDonald of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta. “We are afraid. And we’ve talked about it—it’s going to be very hard to persuade our people to go back to the polls and vote for Biden.”
Despite many calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the World Court recently rejected a demand for a Gaza ceasefire.
The World Court, however, did call Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide.
Jess Bravin of Wall Street Journal reported, “The International Court of Justice declined a plea to order Israel to cease military operations in Gaza following Hamas’s Oct.7 terrorist attacks but required the Jewish state to enable humanitarian aid to the enclave’s civilian population and take every measure to prevent destruction of its Palestinian community.”
Mediators from the United States and the Middle East believed that they were closing in on a two-month ceasefire deal and a release of over 100 hostages held by Hamas.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the group’s top two demands, which included Israel withdrawing troops from Gaza and releasing thousands of Palestinian prisoners.
The gap between the two sides remains wide.
Joseph Krauss of the Associated Press reported, “The war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault into Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. Nearly half of the hostages were released during a weeklong November cease-fire in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
“Israel’s offensive has killed over 26,700 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, whose count does not separate civilians from combatants. Some 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes and the U.N. says a quarter of the population is starving.
“It has also sent ripples across the region, with Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen attacking Israeli and U.S. targets in support of the Palestinians, drawing reprisals in a spiraling tit-for-tat that could set off a regional conflagration.”
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas’ military and governing power is completely destroyed, promising total victory.
While the group of 1,000 Black faith leaders garnered headlines this week for their ceasefire demand, the call for a ceasefire in Gaza is not new to groups like Black Church Pac.
That group began calling for a cease fire from the beginning of the conflict.
“I think Biden threatens his own success,” said Rev. Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Ga and one of the founding members of Black Church Pac.
Bryant said that he thinks Democrats believe they are “almost on cruise control and feel like: Oh, the Black people will come around. They’ll be forgiving, and they’ll go along with us.”
Many leaders in the Black community have said that the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza has resonated with many Black Americans.
“We see them as a part of us,” said Rev. Cynthia Hale of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Ga. “They are oppressed people. We are oppressed people.”
Barbara Williams-Skinner of the National African American Clergy Network, which boasts of a membership that leads approximately 15 million Black churchgoers, said, “Black clergy have seen war, militarism, poverty and racism all connected. The Israel-Gaza war, unlike Iran and Afghanistan, has evoked the kind of deep-seated angst among Black people that I have not seen since the civil rights movement.”
Leonardo Blair of the Christian Post reported, “A survey conducted Oct. 20-25 by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, found that 43% of Black Americans supported some form of a cease-fire in Gaza, while 24% believe the U.S. should not get involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
