Reputation and Outstanding Service of 30 years as a democratic senator from delaware. Beginning at the tender age of 29. On the Senate Judiciary committee for 16 years, as both chairman and a ranking member, you have been lauded for writing and leading the legislative effort resulting in the passage of the landmark vie against women act, which provides unprecedented resources for assault survivors and has led to a critical conversation on domestic and sexual crimes across our country. Your concern for your fellow citizens, their health, education, opportunity, environment and total welfare as the 47th Vice President of the Obama Administration and now the leader of the free world is marked by the same tenacity and stellar success you have demonstrated throughout your legislative career and life. Making good on another of your Campaign Promises in achieving what your predecessors coul not, you signed into law the historic 1 trillion dollar bipartisan infrastructure bill providing sort needed funds for public works projects to keep america moving forward. [applause] during the course of the whole of this nation you are truly walking the walk in all areas. The American Bar Association reported more than any other oval Office Holder you have nominated and secured confirmation of more woman and racially Diverse People to the federal courts. Totally 60 years. Totaling some 60 black latino or Asian Americans to date with Justice KetanjiBrown Jackson to the u. S. Supreme court. [applause] [applause] you continue to deliver the three pillars identified at the start of your presidency. Rebuilding our middleclass as the backbone of our country and to act as one america. I need to for pennsylvania, you grew up in delaware, graduated from the university of delaware syracuse before serving on the new counsel. Your wife, a lifelong educator, has been by your side through tragedy and strife for 46 years, hunter and daughter, and biting junior, Harvard University is most honored to name me the favor son of the capstone as we salute and hold in our highest esteem your unmatched record for justice, empowerment, and peaceful advancement of humanities throughout the world. We commend and proudly applaud your magnificent life of leadership and contributions to the benefit of america and global community. It is with heartfelt respect and immense pride we honor you on the historic occasion of our 185th commencement, conferring upon you the degree dr. Of letters. Congratulations and godspeed. [applause] pres. Biden thank you, mr. President. Senator, doctor morris, thank you for the incredible honorary degree. Thank you, president federer for the invitation. And for your leadership and alma mater. Serena, college of pharmacy, the last speaker. [applause] and just remember, when you president of the United States, and they say joe biden is out there waiting room to say hello, promise you will not say joe who. All right . [laughter] you all think im kidding. [laughter] to the distinguished faculty and staff, thank you for having me. To the parents and family, class of 2020 three, congratulations. And by the way, [cheering] by the way, we will get to giving you your degrees. I promise that is coming. You are here through the heart ache, blood, sweat, and tears of everything that ive come before or yet to come. You are here as a new moment of hope and possibilities. For graduates, before i began, as mentioned many times, tomorrow is mothers day, stand for your mothers and grandmothers. Stand and thank them. [applause] where i come from, moms rule. [cheering] to my friend, and he is my friend, congressman jim clyburn, the thing i admire most about you is your absolute integrity, everything you do, everything you do, this is a man of honor. [applause] i attended South Carolina state universitys commencement has jim received his degree here six years ago. But never got a chance to receive it in person. It is an honor to join you today and receive a degree from this great university. It is truly special to join fellow honorees, Prime Minister rowley, i did not know you are so talented. [laughter] i thought you were just a Foreign Policy latin american guy. We gotta talk. [laughter] all kidding aside, thank you for being a Strong Partner and addressing Climate Change and supporting democracy across the western hemisphere. Im also honored that dr. Tony allen, president of my home state pcu, where i got politically started. I was fortunate to have tony as a Senate Staffer for a long time and then he got his phd and had its distinguished a distinguished career at hbcu and now is my white house board of advisor, designed to support and advance hbcu excellence. With a lot more money. [applause] im also proud to say, for the First White House to convene where the real power is, the divine nine. You think im kidding. Not a joke. The divine nine not only have a seat at the table, we hear you at the table and for some ever at the white house. In 20 tony three, i am honored to be here. 156 years ago by an act of congress, after emancipation of the civil war, founded on a hilltop in washington, d. C. , the mecca. Always promoting excellence, leadership, and service. A proving ground for future leaders of science, medicine, education, business, faith, arts, education,. The first black, i might say, president of the United States of america. [applause] you can say that again. She sends her love and a clear message that today i have the privilege to point out the real h use hus. [applause] he realize that will cost me at home. [laughter] there is enormous pride in this university. Founded in the verses of howard anthem, reared against the eastern sky, probably there i held out hi, there she stands as truth and right, are rays of light. It matters. It matters. We are living through one of the most consequential moments in our history with fundamental questions at stake for our nation. Who are we . What we stand for . What do we believe . Who will we be . We will help answer those questions. Let me take you back to january 2009, i stood in wilmington delaware on amtrak, carrying my folder, waiting to be picked up by a guy named barack obama. [cheering] the first black man elected president of the United States. To join him as Vice President on this historic inauguration to washington. A moment of extorting their hope but also as i stood there this is the gods truth, i cannot help think about another day i stood there. It was a much more than your as your age, i got a law school, i had gone to work for a big firm, but because of dr. King was assassinated, parts of my city were burned to the ground and he stationed the National Guard in every corner drawing bayonets for 10 months. I quit and became a public defender. That is not so noble. I had to interview my clients from the train station when they were arrested. In the aftermath of the riots, wilmington, following the assassination, 2009, while waiting for barack, i was living history at the same time i was reliving it. A vivid demonstration coming to race in america, hope does not travel alone. It is shadowed by fear, by violence, and by hate. Imagine the reelection of the first placket first black american president. I hope to the fear, violence, and hate was significantly losing ground. After no longer being Vice President , i became a professor for four years but in 2017, in charlottesville, virginia, crazed neonazis with angry faces came out of the fields with torches, carrying nazi banners from the woods in the field, chanting the same antisemitic bio heard across europe in the 30s, something i never thought i would ever see in america. Accompanied by klansmen, white supremacists, emerging from dark rounds of fields and anonymity of the internet, confronting decent americans of all backgrounds, standing in their way, and to the bright light of day. I wont young woman objecting to the presence was killed. What did you hear . The famous quote when asked about what happened, the famous quote. There are very fine people on both sides. That is when i knew and im not joking that i had to stay engaged to get back into public life. [applause] i dont say it for that reason, high save for the journey. I dont have to tell you that fearless progress toward justice often means ferocious pushback from the oldest and most Sinister Forces. That is because hate never goes away. I thought when i graduated we could defeat hate but it never goes away, it only hides under the rocks. When it is given oxygen, it comes up from under the rock. That is why we know this truth as well, silence is complacency. You cannot remain silent, we have to fight for the soul of the nation and it is still a battle for the soul of the nation. What is the soul of a nation . I believe the souls of breath, life, the essence of who we are, the soul makes us us. The soul of america makes us unique among all nations. We are the only country founded on an idea, not your graffiti, not religion, not ethnicity, but an idea, the sacred proposition rooted in scripture enshrined in the declaration of independence that we are all created equal and then in the image of god and deserve to be treated throughout our lives while we never fully lived up to the promise, we never fully walked away from it. We know American History is not always a fairytale. From the start it has been a constant push and pull for more than 240 years between the best of us, the american idea we are all created equal, and the worst of us, a harsh reality of racism that has long torn us apart. It is a battle that is never really over. On our best days, enough of us have the guts and heart to stand up for the best in us, to choose love over hate, unity over disunity, progress over retreat. To stand up against the poison of white supremacist. I did my inaugural address as the most dangerous terrorist stretched our homeland, white supremacy. [applause] and im not saying this because i met a black hbcu, i say it wherever i go, to stand up for truth overlies, lies told for power and profit, confront the ongoing assault that deferred our elections. That assault came just as you cashed your first ballots in 2021 and 2022. Record turnouts to deliver historic progress. I made it clear america americans of all backgrounds have an obligation to call out Political Violence that has been unleashed and emboldened as was mentioned already, bomb to this very university and hbcus across the country. To but democracy on the ballot, to reject political extremism and Political Violence, protect fundamental rights and freedoms for women to choose, for transgender children to be free, for Affordable Health care and housing, for the right to raise your family and retire with dignity. Stand with leaders of your generation, give voice to the people, demanding action on gun violence. Only to be expelled from state legislative bodies, disc and against books being banned, black history being erased. [applause] im serious. Think about it. Stand up for the best in us. Today i come here to howard to continue the work to redeem the soul of this nation because it is here where i see the future and it is not hyperbole. We can finally resolve the ongoing questions about who we are as a nation. That puts strength of our diversity in the center of american life, a future that celebrate and learns from history, a future for all americans, a future icu leading and im not exaggerating. You are going to be leading it. Lets be clear, there are those that who do not see and do not want this future. There are those who demonize and pits people against one another and there are those that can do anything and everything to matter how desperate or immoral to hold onto power. That is never going to be an easy battle but i know this, the oldest, most Sinister Forces may believe they will determine americas future, but they are wrong. We will determine americas future. [applause] you will determine americas future. That is not hyperbole. No graduating class gets to choose the world under which they graduate. Every Class Centers the history of a nation up to a point is written by others. Once in every several generations at a point in our history where he a chance to change the trajectory of the country. You face the Inflection Point today. I know you will meet moments i just think about and the many ways you already have. With your voices and votes, i was able to fill my commitment to put the first black woman on the super court of the United States of america. By the way, she is brighter than the rest. She is one bright woman. Because of you, more black women have been appointed to the federal Appellate Courts then under every other president in American History combined. [applause] five the way, i mean it. Because it is you, because of you, you turned out, you spoke up, you knew, you showed up when the votes counted. And you made people say wait a minute, what price will i pay if i do not . Do you feel the promise and peril of Climate Change . Because of you where making the biggest investment in the history of the world in Climate Change. Dont ever think your voice does not matter. Im keeping my promise that no one should be in jail because of possessing marijuana. The record should be expunged, expunged. Student debt plan would help tens of millions of people, especially those on pell grants. 70 of black College Students receive pell grants. Many of you come of the savings would be significant and even wiping out student debt completely for some. But this new Republican Party is dead set against it, suing my administration to stop you from getting student debt relief. Same opposition to receive relief loans i might add to keep their businesses afloat during the pandemic. Members of Congress Worth thousands of millions of dollars, most of which do not have to be paid back, yet they say it is ok for them but not for you. I find it outrageous, to reduce your student Debt Service Payments when you graduate, we are also ensuring no one with an undergraduate loan today or in the future will have to pay more than 5 of the Discretionary Income to repay their loans and in 20 years it is gone. Republicans have been fighting that as well. I will always keep fighting for you and many others will and many in the Republican Party as well will fight for you. We also know there is more to do. Because of your power, we took the most significant law on gun violence we have passed, the most significant law in 30 years, but we will not give up. I got the assault weapons ban passed 30 years ago and we will pass it again. We must pass it again. [applause] there is more to do on Police Reform and Public Safety during the state of the union i ask the rest of the country to imagine having to talk to their children or families like your families had to talk to you, about your security, but your dignity, it is demeaning, degrading, and deadly when it has to stand there and say when you are stopped, turned the interior light on, put both hands on the wheel, dont reach for your license. What in the hell is going on . [applause] think about it. I ask all the parents of minority children what they would say and do. I know you are frustrated but there are some elected officials refusing to pass a law that will do something. Camelot and i stood next to the family of george floyd and civil rights leaders and Law Enforcement officials signed executive order i came up with requiring key elements of the george floyd bill be applied to federal Law Enforcement. Banning chokeholds and restricting noknock warrants, establishing the database of police misconduct, accountable policing the builds trust and we will keep fighting to pass reform nationwide. Equal justice is a covenant we have with each other and it must not just be an ideal, it has to be a reality. You are leading the way for this and so much more. That is why kamala and i are investing in you and hbcus. They present produce 40 of black engineers, 50 of black lawyers. [cheering] 70 of black doctors and dentists. 80 of black judges. Every day with staff at every level of the white house the administration, i decided when i was elected i promise i would have my news station look like america new station look like america. We know hbcus dont have the same funding as other major colleges and universities. For example, denying the opportunity to build upon Research Labs that will lead the new technologies of good paying jobs, that is why i ask we invested 6 billion in the county of hbcus including to create new research and Development Labs and prepare students for jobs in the future and high income fields of cybersecurity, engineering, biochemistry, health care, standing here. I think the last time he came to howard, with president frederick and others, was in my final year of Vice President. You are leading the way, through the science, doctors, advocates who will do big things like ending cancer as we know it and curing some cancer which we are o