Harris, Biden take veiled shots at DeSantis during Emmett Till national monument ceremony

President Biden and Vice President Harris took veiled swipes at GOP presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the White House Tuesday, while announcing a new national monument in memory of Emmett Till, a Black teenager whose 1955 lynching catalyzed the Civil Rights Movement. 

“Our history as a nation is born of tragedy and triumph, of struggle and success. That is who we are. And as people who love our country, as patriots, we know that we must remember and teach our full history even when it is painful, especially when it is painful,” Harris said. “Today, there are those in our nation who would prefer to erase or even rewrite the ugly parts of our past.” 

“Those who attempt to teach that enslaved people benefited from slavery,” Harris continued. “Those who insult us in an attempt to gaslight us. Who try to divide us with unnecessary debates. Let us not be seduced into believing that somehow we will be better if we forget. We will be better if we remember. We will be stronger if we remember because we all here know, it is only by understanding and learning from our past that we can continue to work together to build a better future.” 

Biden, who signed a proclamation establishing the new Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Mississippi and Illinois, commended the courage of Till’s mother for choosing to have an open casket to reveal to the world her 14-year-old son’s brutalized and maimed body. The president also praised “the Black media,” noting how Jet magazine, Chicago Defender and other newspapers published the graphic photos, effectively driving the course of the Civil Rights Movement in America. 

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“At a time when there are those who seek to ban books, bury history, we’re making it clear – crystal, crystal clear – how darkness and denialism can hide much, but they erase nothing,” Biden added. “You can hide, but they erased nothing. We can’t just choose to learn what we want to know. We have to learn what we should know. We should know about our country. We should know everything. The good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation. That’s what great nations do. And we are a great nation. That’s what they do. For only with truth comes healing, justice, repair and another step forward toward forming a more perfect union. We got a hell of a long way to go.” 

Their speeches also referenced how Biden last year signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which codified lynching as a federal hate crime.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DeSantis campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

The remarks come as Harris and DeSantis have already traded public barbs regarding the Florida Department of Education’s new curriculum regarding slavery in America. Democrats have also accused the Republican presidential candidate of banning books during his fight against woke ideology. DeSantis and his team have denied that he has banned books or that his state teaches that Black people benefited from slavery – a claim Harris recently made, drawing pushback in the media.

During a speech in Jacksonville Friday, Harris charged that the Florida state curriculum meant “middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery.” 

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“Democrats like Kamala Harris have to lie about Florida’s educational standards to cover for their agenda of indoctrinating students and pushing sexual topics onto children,” DeSantis tweeted in response. “Florida stands in their way, and we will continue to expose their agenda and their lies.” 

In March, DeSantis spoke out against those who accused him of banning books, calling the narrative a “hoax.” He condemned “pornographic and inappropriate materials” in schools and libraries that violate state standards, and said he wants to keep education “free from sexualization and harmful materials that are not age appropriate.”

Earlier Tuesday, DeSantis was involved in a car accident while on the campaign trail but was not injured. 

The Emmett Till memorial comes nearly 68 years after Till’s death. While on a trip from his home in Chicago visiting family in Mississippi, Till was accused of making inappropriate advances toward a White female grocery clerk. Four days later, he was pulled from his bed, kidnapped and brutally murdered by at least two White men.

Till’s mutilated body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River another three days later, Aug. 31, 1955. As many as 125,000 people attended the visitation and funeral. 

Two of his accused killers were acquitted by an all-White jury on capital murder charges. 

The White House fact sheet said the new national monument “will tell the story of the events surrounding Emmett Till’s murder, their significance in the Civil Rights Movement and American history, and the broader story of Black oppression, survival and bravery in America.” 

“Look, telling the truth and the full history of our nation is important. For our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren,” Biden said. 

“Silence is complicity. I will not be silent, nor will you be silent about what happened,” he added. “There’s really critical work ahead to continue the fight for racial justice and equality for all Americans. And my administration is committed to leading the path forward.” 

The president said the monument would tell the story “of a family’s promise and loss and the nation’s reckoning with hate, violence, racism, overwhelming abuse of power and brutality.” 

“It’s hard to fathom, hard to fathom. It’s even a war,” Biden said. “For me, it’s hard to fathom.”