Joe Biden suggests putting on 'record players' at night to solve institutionalized racism

(Image credit: Screenshot/ABC News on Twitter)

published 13 September 2019

Joe Biden is probably wondering how he got here.

Toward the end of Thursday night's Democratic primary debates, the former vice president was challenged with his decades-old rejection of reparations for slavery. Yet even though he'd had 40 years to think of a new response, when asked how to "repair the legacy of slavery" in the U.S., he somehow still thought he was in the 1970s.

Biden started the question by acknowledging there is "institutional segregation in this country," and then started to stumble. First he proposed tripling education spending and raising teacher salaries, then suggested bringing social workers into homes, and then implied parents are struggling to raise their kids and resorting to "play[ing] the radio" and "mak[ing] sure the television — excuse me, mak[ing] sure you have the record player on at night."

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As universally questioned as Biden's response was, its vintage charm did seem to rub off on Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Kathryn Krawczyk

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.