On his final trip as president of the United States, Joe Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill, spent the day in the black community of Charleston, South Carolina, where he urged Americans to keep “faith” in the future.
The art of contrast: as his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, prepares to arrest and deport masses of illegal immigrants, the 46e President of the United States, who will leave the White House on Monday, chose this Sunday to honor the African-American civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated on April 4, 1968.
The holiday dedicated to him in the United States falls this year on the day Donald Trump is sworn in.
The Democratic president, a devout Catholic, visited the Protestant church Royal Missionary Baptist Church to attend a religious service. My father used to say that the greatest sin is the abuse of power
continued Joe Biden without ever naming Donald Trump.
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President Biden on the occasion of his last official trip to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which takes place Monday.
Photo : Getty Images / AFP / ROBERTO SCHMIDT
However, faith teaches us that the America of our dreams is always closer than we think
he added. Let’s keep the faith for better days!
he concluded to the applause of faithful standing in the church.
On Monday, Mr. Biden and first lady Jill Biden will welcome President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump to the White House for a reception over tea and coffee before traveling together to the Capitol for the ceremony. inauguration.
Presidential record of individual pardons
On Sunday, Joe Biden granted his last presidential pardons and commutations: he notably posthumously pardoned the Jamaican Marcus Garvey, black activist and central figure of the Rastafari movement.
-Died in 1940, the latter was a precursor of Pan-Africanism by defending the return of descendants of black slaves to Africa. He notably influenced Malcolm X and other civil rights leaders and was convicted of mail fraud in 1923.
Others pardoned: politician Don Scott, as well as activists Ravi Ragbir, Kemba Smith Pradia and Darryl Chambers.
Mr. Biden set the presidential record for the most individual pardons and sentence commutations granted. He announced Friday that he was commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.
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Joe Biden and his son Hunter last July.
Photo : AP / Evan Vucci
He also granted a general pardon to his son Hunter, who was facing charges related to weapons and taxes.
On the other hand, in an interview granted to the daily USA TodayJoe Biden said he had not made a decision on preemptive pardons, including for former Representative Liz Cheney and Dr. Anthony Fauci, whom Donald Trump is threatening to prosecute and imprison.
With information from Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and CNN
