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Joe Biden 'clarifies' comments after comparing diversity in Latino and African-American communities

Joe Biden has claimed Donald Trump is America's first racist president: Getty Images file
Joe Biden has claimed Donald Trump is America's first racist president: Getty Images file

Joe Biden has tried to "clarify" his comments about diversity in African-American and Lationo communities following a backlash.

Speaking in an interview with a Latino reporter from National Public Radio, the Democrat, said: “By the way, what you all know but most people don’t know, unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.

“You go to Florida,” Mr Biden continued, “you find a very different attitude about immigration in certain places than you do when you’re in Arizona.

“So it’s a very different, very diverse community.”

Mr Biden regularly condemns Mr Trump for pushing “hate and division” (REUTERS)
Mr Biden regularly condemns Mr Trump for pushing “hate and division” (REUTERS)

The presidential candidate's comments came at a back-and-forth over US-Cuba policy during a series of interviews with Black and Hispanic journalists released on Thursday.

He later clarified his remarks on Twitter after an edited snippet of his interview was shared widely online.

“In no way did I mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith – not by identity, not on issues, not at all,” he wrote, adding that throughout his long political career he’s “witnessed the diversity of thought, background and sentiment within the African American community” that “makes our … country a better place." he wrote.

Mr Biden was alluding to the dozens of national origins that make up the US Hispanic population, especially in Florida, a presidential battleground.

But the suggestion of a lack of diversity in the African-American community was seen by many as the latest example of the candidate, who is white, drawing a negative spotlight when he is trying to convince voters he will make the nation "equal".

Symone Sanders, a top Biden adviser said, “The video that is circulating is conveniently cut to make this about racial diversity, but that’s not the case.”

Earlier in May, Mr Biden faced the same criticism after he said that any black voter who’s “got a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or for Trump … ain’t black”.

Within hours he was on a call with US Black Chamber of Commerce members declaring he had been too cavalier.

“I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy,” Biden said.

In June last year, Mr Biden reminded campaign donors that he had to work in the 1970s alongside segregationist senators, describing the “civility” of that congressional era even if “we didn’t agree”.

He explained later that he was not praising racists but instead highlighting that Congress must get things done even with bad actors involved.