On Sunday, May 19, President Joe Biden delivered the keynote address at Morehouse College’s spring commencement ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia. During his remarks, the President called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as the death toll continues to rise.
“What’s happening in Gaza and Israel is heartbreaking. Hamas’s vicious attack on Israel, killing innocent lives and holding people hostage … innocent Palestinians caught in the middle of all this,” the President told graduates of the historically Black college.
“It’s a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. That’s why I’ve called for an immediate cease-fire, an immediate cease-fire to stop the fighting. Bring the hostages home.”
The President’s comments were echoed by class valedictorian DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher, who addressed the crowd while wearing a Palestinian pin.
“It is my stance as a Morehouse man — nay, as a human being — to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,” Fletcher said.
Reverend Reginald Sharpe Jr. also expressed similar sentiments during the college’s baccalaureate service earlier this week.
“When you preach your sermon, preach it the way you want to preach it, but today, I’m going to preach mine the way God told me to preach it,” he said.
“When the United States continues to send billions of dollars to fund weapons to Israel, it’ll make you hold your head down. When almost 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza while 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, it’ll make you hold your head down. When institutions who taught us to be socially conscious turn and ask for us to become conveniently silent, it’ll make you hold your head down.”
As recently as April, the President reportedly pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire deal.
“[President Biden] made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers,” a statement from the White House read following a call between Biden and Netanyahu.
“He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”