Joe Biden Blames Sexual Assaults on ‘white man’s [Patriarchal] Culture’
He Should Have Also Said: Black/African Matriarchal Culture Isn’t Sexist
By Chris Perez March 26, 2019 | 10:34pm
Women have been suffering in “a white man’s culture” — which has continually turned a blind eye to sexual assault and misconduct, according to former Vice President Joe Biden, who propped up Anita Hill as an example.
“To this day I regret I couldn’t come up with a way to give her the kind of hearing she deserved,” Biden said Tuesday while speaking at an event to combat sexual violence on college campuses.
“But I also realized there was a real and perceived problem the [Senate Judiciary] committee faced: They’re a bunch of white guys.”
The 76-year-old Democrat continued, “No, I mean it sincerely — a bunch of white guys…hearing this testimony. So…when Anita Hill came to testify, she faced a committee that didn’t fully understand what the hell it was all about.”
Biden, who was Judiciary chairman for the 1991 Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, got criticized heavily for his handling of the Hill situation. Thomas was accused of harassing Hill, who is black, while he was her supervisor.
“Last fall, you saw it all over again in the Kavanaugh hearing,” Biden blasted. “Almost 30 years…the culture — the institutional culture — has not changed. We have an obligation to change the culture in this country.”
Later on during his speech, Biden brought up a widespread misconception about the “rule of thumb” being an old reference to British common law and it’s tolerance of domestic abuse.
“This is English jurisprudential culture — a white man’s culture,” Biden said, describing how people think the “rule of thumb” was a law that allowed husbands to beat their wives with sticks no thicker than their thumbs.
“It’s got to change,” he repeated.
Describing sexual assault, Biden claimed it was “about the abuse of power.”
“It’s not about sex,” he said. “It’s about power. The most insidious abuse of power of all. And right now we live in a culture where the abuse of power is allowed to penetrate the highest offices of government, where it lives in board rooms and global corporations, and it poisons entire industries — from Hollywood to hotel workers. It pushes down women all around the world.”
Biden spoke for more than a half hour during Tuesday’s event, which was held at the Russian Tea Room in Manhattan. He repeatedly condemned violence against women throughout his speech.
“No man has a right to lay a hand on a woman, no matter what she’s wearing, she does, who she is…Never,” Biden said. “If you see a brother taking an inebriated co-ed up the stairs at a fraternity house and you don’t go and stop it, you’re a damn coward. You don’t deserve to be called a man.”
