Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated historically Black colleges and universities with the cast of sitcom “A Different World” as the White House promoted their efforts to reduce the burden of student debt.

In a video posted on Friday, Harris highlighted the Biden-Harris administration’s moves to eliminate student debt for millions of borrowers. She was joined by “A Different World” co-stars — Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison and Glenn Turman — in urging borrowers to learn more about the federal debt relief programs available.

The video begins with Guy, who starred as Whitley Gilbert, and Hardison, who played Dwayne Wayne, at the White House. In the show, Wayne had a love interest in Gilbert as they studied at Hillman College, a fictional HBCU. The series ran on NBC from 1987 to 1993.

“We’re living in a different world,” Guy said.

Hardison followed saying, “Whether you graduated from Hillman or …,” before the camera cuts to Harris who continued saying, “Or went to the real H-U, student loan debt is a burden for far too many people these days, and we’re doing something about it.”

Harris is a graduate of Howard University, which students and alumni of the institution denote as “the real H-U” to differentiate it from its rival Hampton University.

In a follow up video posted on Saturday, the cast, including Cree Summer, Dawnn Lewis, Chernele Brown and Daryl Bell, recreate the sitcom’s intro outside the West Wing. It later pans to Harris greeting and speaking with the cast in her office.

According to the vice president’s office, Harris was “elated” to welcome the cast at the White House during their visit orchestrated by the White House Office of Public Engagement. The cast was in Washington, D.C., as part of their HBCU tour to promote enrollment and raise scholarship funding for current and future students. 

The actors had a private meeting with Harris on Tuesday, where they discussed the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to address the rising cost of higher education and the burden of student debt.

The meeting also highlighted HBCUs, some of which have seen record enrollment since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden-Harris administration invested over $7 billion into historically Black colleges and universities. As a graduate of Howard, Harris has been credited for putting a national spotlight on HBCUs.

The vice president’s office said Harris would continue to uplift the importance of HBCUs and the impact of “trailblazing HBCU graduates across the nation.”

A day before the cast of “A Different World” visited the White House, which included a tour of the press briefing room with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the Biden-Harris administration announced its long-anticipated student loan debt relief program. 

The “Plan B” to President Biden’s original program, which the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated, includes five methods to “fix” the federal student loan program, including providing debt cancellation for borrowers who owe more today than they did when they entered repayment, who have owed for 20 years or more and who are experiencing financial hardship. The proposed plan is expected to be finalized by the fall. 

Combined with existing student loan programs created or expanded by the administration, the White House expects to provide relief to as many as 30 million student borrowers, including many Black and Latino borrowers. To date, Biden and Harris have canceled $146 billion in student loan debt for four million Americans.

TheGrio caught up with the cast of “A Different World” about the need to bring economic relief to Black college students and borrowers. 

“We’re weighing these babies down when they’re just starting life,” Guy told theGrio. “They’re coming into their life with a ball and chain.” 

Bell, who starred as Ron Johnson on “A Different World,” evoked America’s first Black president, Barack Obama, and former First Lady Michelle Obama, who did not pay off their college debt until just four years before they entered the White House.

“Everybody can’t do that to get out of debt,” Bell said.

Lewis, who played Jaleesa Vinson, said she couldn’t pay off her student loan debt until her starring role in “A Different World.”

“It was getting deferred, deferred until I got a job … I could’ve been doing that for more than a decade to trying to pay off my student loans,” said Lewis, who graduated from the University of Miami. “But it was important to get the education, and you do what you have to do.”

Reflecting on their visit to the White House and progress for Black Americans, Turman, who starred as Colonel Bradford Taylor on the show, said it was “a good jumping-off point.”

“I actually see us going so much further,” he told theGrio. “It’s good that we’re here. And it took all of what it has taken to get here. But where we’ve got to go, this is only the tip of the iceberg.”

Turman said he particularly wanted young Black people to be “encouraged” and “enthusiastic” about the opportunities available to them but not “take any of it for granted.”

“This is no time to become complacent. Just because you see us standing here at the White House doesn’t mean that we still don’t have to put brick and mortar on that bad boy,” he said. “Keep on going … because we need you.”

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Rick Ross has retaliated against Drake’s previous reaction with an aggressive barrage of his own, taking their lyrical war to new heights.

Following Drake’s diss track “Push Ups,” Ross swiftly retaliated with his release titled “Champagne Moments,” launching a barrage of verbal jabs aimed squarely at the Toronto rapper. Not holding back, Ross referred to Drake as a “white boy” and made claims about his alleged cosmetic procedures.

Ross was caught in a club wearing Drake’s “FATD” hoodie, while Drake’s music played in the background. Ross seems unconcerned, taking to social media to further tease Drake by uploading a photo of the rapper covered in costly jewelry with a comment that read, “@champagnepapi Who nose? BBL Drizzy.”

Drake quickly responded by exchanging text messages with his mother, adamantly refuting any allegations of plastic surgery. He also accused Ross of harboring anger and fueling racial tensions.

Ross was unfazed by Drake’s retort and responded with nasty remarks of his own. In a sharp hit, he referred to Drake’s upbringing and accused him of seeking approval from the streets while maintaining a veneer of authenticity.

In his retort, Ross addressed Drake directly, mocking his physique and insinuating that his image was manufactured at a steep cost. He further admonished Drake for involving his mother in their feud, asserting that their beef transcended familial boundaries.

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Jackson, Miss. police have arrested a man in connection to the brutal killing of a registered nurse. As the cops investigate the motive for the slaying, family members suggest one tip could be the suspect’s toxic relationship with the victim.

The morning of April 9, officers with the Jackson Police Department say they responded to a homicide near Tapestry Northridge Apartments. The victim was identified as 25-year-old Carlos Collins who was a registered nurse from Yazoo City, per WAPT. Police said he appeared to be attacked with an axe before being fatally shot to death.

Public Information Officer Tommie Brown told the Clarion Ledger the suspect was identified as 33-year-old Marcus Johnson, Collins’ ex-boyfriend who had been accused of stalking him.

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Collins also filed a restraining order against him, Collins’s sister, Alisha Hudson tells PEOPLE. But his ex-boyfriend, Marcus Johnson, was a former Jackson police officer, and the stalking-like behavior continued, she says.

The two had dated for about a year, ending in late 2023, Hudson says.

In the months that followed their breakup, she says Collins found air tags and trackers on his car and that of a friend’s, as well as a ring camera he believed his ex had installed at a vacant apartment nearby to watch him. Once, Hudson says, her brother told her he’d awoken to Johnson watching him sleep.

Collins requested his locks to be changed multiple times, she says, and he spoke to a family pastor about taking self-defense classes.

In addition to being an alleged troubled ex, police say Johnson is also former officer of the JPD with a troubling record.

Johnson left the department in 2013, after just eight months working for them, per WAPT. Police didn’t specify the circumstances surrounding his departure from the department. However, they did say he was facing disciplinary action that was leading to termination and happened to quit beforehand.

A year later, Johnson was arrested after hijacking an old ticket book and officer badge number to issue a fake citation to a female student and offering to “hook up” with her so she could avoid the imaginary penalty, per The Clarion Ledger.

Johnson was charged with false pretense, grand larceny and two counts of impersonating an officer. Now, he’s facing new charges of murder and shooting into an occupied dwelling. Johnson was taken into custody April 10 after a brief car chase as he tried to flee to Louisiana and was transferred back to Jackson.

According to Collins’ family, this killing would have been avoidable if proper measures were taken to protect Collins.

“In my brother’s last months, he was living in hell dealing with Marcus,” said Alisha Hudson, Collins’ sister. “The Jackson Police Department mishandled his case and downplayed the situation. They didn’t care to protect my brother. They protected Marcus.”

The United Methodist Church lost one-fourth of its U.S. churches in a recent schism, with conservatives departing over disputes on sexuality and theology.

Now, with the approach of its first major legislative gathering in several years, the question is whether the church can avert a similar outcome elsewhere in the world, where about half its members live.

The question is particularly acute in Africa, home to the vast majority of United Methodists outside the U.S. Most of its bishops favor staying, but other voices are calling for regional conferences to disaffiliate.

At the upcoming General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, delegates will tackle a wide range of proposals – from repealing the church’s ban on same-sex marriage and ordaining LGBTQ people, to creating more autonomy for regional conferences to set such rules, to making it easier for international churches to leave the denomination.

Delegate Jerry Kulah of Liberia said he believes it’s time for African churches to leave.

He said that when he first attended a General Conference in 2008, he was shocked by proposals to liberalize church rules. Since then, he helped mobilize African delegates to vote with American conservatives to create ever-stricter denominational rules against same-sex marriage and ordaining LGBTQ people.

But progressive American churches have increasingly been defying such rules and now appear to have the votes to overturn them.

“We know that we are not going to the General Conference to necessarily win votes,” said Kulah, general coordinator of the advocacy group UMC Africa Initiative. “So our goal is to go and articulate our position and let the world know why it has become very necessary to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church, because we cannot afford to preach different gospels.”

But Jefferson Knight, also a delegate from Liberia, opposes disaffiliation. He said a schism would amount to forsaking the rich spiritual legacy of the UMC in Africa and would severe its valuable international bonds.

“Liberia was the birthplace of the United Methodist Church on the continent of Africa in the 1800s,” said Knight, of the advocacy group United Methodist Africa Forum. The church has developed leaders in education, health care and evangelism across the continent, said Knight, who also works as a human rights monitor for the church.

Knight said schism isn’t necessary.

He shares the widespread opposition in Africa to liberalizing policies on marriage or ordination, but he favors a proposal that would allow each region of the church – from America to Africa to Europe to the Philippines – to fit rules to its local context.

“The best way out is to regionalize and see how we can do ministry peacefully and do ministry within our context, our culture,” Knight said.

The United Methodist Church traces its roots to 18th century revivalist John Wesley and has long emphasized Christian piety, evangelism and social service. It has historically been present in almost every U.S. county.

But it’s also the most international of the major U.S. Protestant denominations.

Generations of missionary efforts brought Methodism across the world. Local churches took root and grew dramatically, particularly in Africa.

Today, members from four continents vote at legislative gatherings, serve on boards together, go on mission trips to each others’ countries and are largely governed by the same rules. U.S. churches help fund international ministries, such as Africa University in Zimbabwe.

More than 7,600 U.S. congregations departed during a temporary window between 2019 and 2023 that enabled congregations to keep their properties – held in trust for the denomination – under relatively favorable legal terms, according to a UM News count.

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That provision applied only to American churches. Some say the General Conference – running April 23 through May 3 – should approve one for other countries.

“Our main goal is to ensure that African and other United Methodist outside the U.S. have the same opportunity that United Methodists in the U.S. have had,” said the Rev. Thomas Lambrecht, vice president of the conservative advocacy group Good News.

Opponents say overseas churches already can disaffiliate under church rules – and some conferences in Eastern Europe have taken such steps. But proponents say the process is too cumbersome.

Further complicating the matter is that churches operate in a range of legal settings. Some African countries criminalize same-sex activity, while in the U.S., same-sex marriage is legal.

Most departing American congregations were conservative churches upset with the denomination’s failure to enforce its bans on same-sex unions and the ordination of LGBTQ people. Some joined denominations such as the new Global Methodist Church, while others went independent.

The departures accelerated membership losses in what until recently had been the third-largest American denomination. The United Methodist Church recorded 5.4 million U.S. members in 2022, a figure sure to plummet once disaffiliations from 2023 are factored in.

A detailed study by the UMC’s General Council on Finance and Administration indicated there are 4.6 million members in other countries — fewer than earlier estimates, but still approaching U.S. numbers.

The United Methodist Church has been debating homosexuality since the early 1970s, steadily tightening its LGBTQ bans through its last legislative gathering in 2019.

That year, “the traditionalists won the vote but they lost the church” said the Rev. Mark Holland, executive director of Mainstream UMC, which advocates for lifting the church-wide bans and for a “regionalization” proposal allowing each region to decide on such rules.

He noted that numerous regional church conferences in the United States reacted to the 2019 vote by electing more progressive delegates to the upcoming General Conference.

Progressives believe they have adequate votes to repeal language in the governing Book of Discipline barring ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” and penalizing pastors who perform same-sex marriages.

Less certain is the fate of regionalization, which would increase regional autonomy. Regionalization involves constitutional amendments requiring a two-thirds General Conference majority and approval by two-thirds of local conferences worldwide.

Proponents say regionalization would also bring parity to different regions, saying the current system is a U.S.-centric relic of an earlier missionary era. The regionalization scenario could also allow churches in some regions to maintain LGBTQ bans while others remove them.

Church regions outside the United States already have some leeway in adapting rules to their settings, but regionalization would define that flexibility more precisely and extend it to U.S. churches.

The UMC-affiliated church in the Philippines – the only one in Asia, with about 280,000 members – would maintain its opposition to same-sex marriage, which is not legally recognized there, a church official said. It will also not allow openly LGBTQ people to be ordained.

Most African bishops oppose disaffiliation, even as they oppose LGBTQ ordination and marriage.

“Notwithstanding the differences in our UMC regarding the issue of human sexuality especially with our stance of traditional and biblical view of marriage, we categorically state that we do not plan to leave The United Methodist Church and will continue to be shepherds of God’s flock in this worldwide denomination,” said a statement signed by 11 African bishops at a meeting in September.

Among those withholding signatures was Nigeria Area Bishop John Wesley Yohanna.

Nigerian Methodists in December celebrated 100 years of the denomination in their country, but its future remains uncertain. Deeply conservative views on sexuality are widespread in Nigeria. A spokesman said the bishop’s position on disaffiliation would be determined by what happens at the General Conference.

Same-sex marriage “is unbiblical and also is incompatible with Christian teaching according to our Book of Discipline,” Yohanna said at a January news conference, in which he also said “no to regionalization.“

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NEW YORK (AP) — Faith Ringgold, an award-winning author and artist who broke down barriers for Black female artists and became famous for her richly colored and detailed quilts combining painting, textiles and storytelling, has died. She was 93.

The artist’s assistant, Grace Matthews, told The Associated Press that Ringgold died Friday night at her home in Englewood, New Jersey. Matthews said Ringgold had been in failing health.

Ringgold’s highly personal works of art can be found in private and public collections around the country and beyond, from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art to New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Atlanta’s High Museum of Fine Art. But her rise to prominence as a Black artist wasn’t easy in an art world dominated by white males and in a political cultural where Black men were the leading voices for civil rights. A founder in 1971 of the Where We At artists collective for Black women, Ringgold became a social activist, frequently protesting the lack of representation of Black and female artists in American museums.

“I became a feminist out of disgust for the manner in which women were marginalized in the art world,” she told The New York Times in 2019. “I began to incorporate this perspective into my work, with a particular focus on Black women as slaves and their sexual exploitation.”

In her first illustrated children’s book, “Tar Beach,” the spirited heroine takes flight over the George Washington Bridge. The story symbolized women’s self-realization and freedom to confront “this huge masculine icon — the bridge,” she explained.

The story is based on her narrative quilt of the same name now in the permanent collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

While her works often deal with issues of race and gender, their folk-like style is vibrant, optimistic and lighthearted and often reminiscent of her warm memories of her life in Harlem.

Ringgold introduced quilting into her work in the 1970s after seeing brocaded Tibetan paintings called thangkas. They inspired her to create patchwork fabric borders, or frames, with handwritten narrative around her canvas acrylic paintings. For her 1982 story quilt, “Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemina,” Ringgold confronted the struggles of women by undermining the Black “mammy” stereotype and telling the story of a successful African American businesswoman called Jemima Blakey.

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“Aunt Jemima conveys the same negative connotation as Uncle Tom, simply because of her looks,’’ she told The New York Times in a 1990 interview.

Soon after, Ringgold produced a series of 12 quilt paintings titled “The French Collection,” again weaving narrative, biographical and African American cultural references and Western art.

One of the works in the series, “Dancing at the Louvre,” depicts Ringgold’s daughters dancing in the Paris museum, seemingly oblivious to the “Mona Lisa” and other European masterpieces on the walls. In other works in the series Ringgold depicts giants of Black culture like poet Langston Hughes alongside Pablo Picasso and other European masters.

Among her socially conscious works is a three-panel “9/11 Peace Story Quilt” that Ringgold designed and constructed in collaboration with New York City students for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Each of the panels contains 12 squares with pictures and words that address the question “what will you do for peace?” It was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

In 2014, her “Groovin High,” a depiction of a crowded energetic dance hall evocative of Harlem’s famous Savoy Ballroom, was featured on a billboard along New York City’s High Line park.

Ringgold also created a number of public works. “People Portraits,” comprised of 52 individual glass mosaics representing figures in sports, performance and music, adorns the Los Angeles Civic Center subway station. “Flying Home: Harlem Heroes and Heroines” are two mosaic murals in a Harlem subway station that feature figures like Dinah Washington, Sugar Ray Robinson and Malcolm X.

In one of her recent books, “Harlem Renaissance Party,” Ringgold introduces young readers to Hughes and other Black artists of the 1920s. Other children’s books have featured Rosa Parks, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Underground Railroad.

Born in Harlem in 1930, Ringgold was the daughter of a seamstress and dress designer with whom she collaborated often. She attended City College of New York where she earned bachelor and master’s degrees in art. She was a professor of art at the University of California in San Diego from 1987 until 2002.

Ringgold’s motto, posted on her website, states: “If one can, anyone can, all you gotta do is try.”

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NEW YORK (AP) — The story of O.J. Simpson’s life was inherently cinematic — what started as fodder for a triumphant sports biopic abruptly became something much darker and complex as Simpson slid from fame to infamy following the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

It’s little wonder then that Simpson’s many-chaptered life — his football career, acting forays, murder trial, acquittal, civil liability judgment, sports memorabilia robbery conviction and finally, his death Wednesday — has spawned a whole ecosystem of media.

Much of it rests firmly in the dubious realm of the lurid and sensational, from the widely panned horror movie that posits Brown Simpson was murdered by a serial killer to Simpson’s own hypothetical confessional book, “If I Did It.” The Simpson case is ubiquitous in pop culture, too, with direct portrayals in countless TV shows like “The Simpsons” (no relation), a name-check in Jay-Z’s “The Story of O.J.” and a direct throughline to the Kardashians’ reality television and business empires. Norman Mailer, the Pulitzer Prize winner convicted of stabbing his own wife, even adapted the case into a television movie, “American Tragedy.”

You won’t find any of those on this list. Here, instead, The Associated Press has collected 10 documentaries, television shows, books and podcasts exploring Simpson’s life and influence with key insights.

“O.J.: Made in America”

This list isn’t ordered, but if you only have the appetite for one piece of media, set aside roughly eight hours for this definitive documentary. Directed by Ezra Edelman for ESPN Films, the five-part project aired on ABC and ESPN covers the so-called trial of the century in explicit details, but it takes three parts just to get there. “O.J.: Made in America” contextualizes Simpson’s life, career and notoriety with race relations in the U.S. It became the longest movie to win an Oscar when it won best documentary in 2017, where Edelman dedicated his statuette to Brown Simpson, Goldman, their families and the victims of police brutality.

“O.J.: Made in America” is streaming on ESPN+ and is available for purchase on other online platforms.

“June 17th, 1994”

Another installment of ESPN Films’ “30 for 30,” the Brett Morgen-directed 2010 documentary clocks in much shorter, at less than an hour. The documentary takes its title from the date of the slow-speed Ford Bronco chase, but it doesn’t rehash it. Instead, “June 17th, 1994” captures that day through the lens of the other sports events happening that day, including Arnold Palmer’s final U.S. Open round and the start of the World Cup. In ranking it as the best “30 for 30” in 2014, Rolling Stone magazine said it shows “how viewers process television, and how the media struggles to make sense of events that have no clear outcome.”

“June 17th, 1994” is streaming on ESPN+.

“O.J. Simpson: Juice on the Loose”

Directed by George Romero — yes, he of the “Night of the Living Dead” films and a zombie movie godfather — this 1974 documentary follows Simpson as an up-and-coming Buffalo Bills running back. As the only entry on this list produced before Simpson’s descent into notoriety, it’s an untainted glimpse into Simpson’s early life and early fame.

“O.J. Simpson: Juice on the Loose” isn’t available to stream on traditional platforms, but can be found on the Internet Archive.

“The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”

The first installment of Ryan Murphy’s “American Crime Story” anthology series, the FX miniseries aired the same year as “O.J.: Made in America,” making 2016 a banner year for reigniting conversation around the case — and reigniting the celebrity of key characters. The 10-episode show focused on the trial itself, casting Cuba Gooding Jr. as Simpson, Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran, John Travolta as Robert Shapiro and David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian.

“The People v. O.J. Simpson” is streaming on Hulu.

“The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson”

FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson” was adapted from Jeffrey Toobin’s 1996 book about the trial. Toobin, a lawyer, was a New Yorker staff writer who extensively covered the trial that catapulted him into one of the most high-profile legal analysts. The New York Times bestseller is often praised as the most comprehensive book about Simpson’s trial.

More information about where to find “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson” can be found on the Penguin Random House site.

“Without A Doubt”

It seems as if nearly every person tangentially connected to the Simpson trial put out a book about it at some point. Quality varies, but one worth checking out is from Marcia Clark, the lead prosecutor on the case who attracted criticism for her performance and wound up quitting law after the trial. She was paid $4 million for her 2016 memoir and has since pivoted to writing fiction and even co-created a TV show.

More information about where to find “Without A Doubt,” written with Teresa Carpenter, can be found on Clark’s site.

“His Name Is Ron: Our Search for Justice”

Written by the Goldman family with William and Marilyn Hoffer, the book was originally published in 1997. The Goldmans have remained vocal about what they deem a miscarriage of justice in the decades since Simpson’s acquittal, with their attorney saying Thursday that Simpson “died without penance.” The description opens with: “This book is not about OJ. Simpson or his ‘Dream Team.’ This book is not another rehash of the ‘Trial of the Century.’” Instead, it’s the Goldmans’ story.

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More information about where to find “His Name Is Ron” can be found on the Penguin Random House site.

“Another City, Not My Own”

The only novel on this list comes from the journalist and crime writer Dominick Dunne — it’s fiction, sure, but it’s also “a novel in the form of memoir,” as it’s subtitled. Dunne covered the Simpson trial for Vanity Fair and, in the book, mixes characters from his own imagination — like reporter Gus Bailey from his previous books — with real-life figures, like the Goldmans and journalists like Harvey Levin and AP’s own Linda Deutsch. It’s thinly fictionalized, but beyond recounting the trial, the 1997 novel offers a hazy reckoning with the alienating glitz and grime of the Los Angeles of its time.

More information about where to find “Another City, Not My Own” can be found on the Penguin Random House site.

“Confronting: O.J. Simpson”

Over the course of 10 episodes, Kim Goldman reflects on her brother’s killing and sits down with lawyers, investigators, witnesses and jurors to get “answers to questions that have been haunting her since the trial,” according to the podcast description. The 2019 podcast covers everything from the civil case to domestic violence to the ever-haunting specter of grief. “Confronting” is an anthology, with the second season focusing on the Columbine school shooting.

“Confronting: O.J. Simpson” is produced by Wondery.

“You’re Wrong About”

Perhaps the most frustrating entry on this list because its Simpson series still remains unfinished, but “You’re Wrong About” — a podcast dedicated to upending conventional narratives — has produced hours and hours of episodes about the Simpson case. If you’re looking for a deep dive that dispels popular myths about the case, this is a good listen. The Simpson episodes are hosted by Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes, the latter of whom has since left the show.

“You’re Wrong About” is available on most podcast platforms.

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NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden virtually addressed the Rev. Al Sharpton’s racial justice conference on Friday, telling a sympathetic crowd “we’ve kept our promises” as he ramps up efforts to energize Black voters who will be vital to his reelection bid this fall.

Addressing several hundred attendees at the annual National Action Network Convention in New York, Biden ticked through a long list of what he said were some of his administration’s key accomplishments for Black Americans. He detailed providing federal public works funding to reconnect city neighborhoods that were divided decades ago when highways were built, and also investing billions in historically Black colleges and universities.

“Together, we’ve kept our promises to make some of the most significant investments in the Black American community ever,” Biden said. He also noted his pardoning thousands of inmates convicted on federal marijuana charges, combating racial discrimination in the real estate market and canceling student debts for millions of Americans.

He called that “transformational change” but said, “We know there’s much more work to do.” He said he still hoped to sign major legislation expanding voting rights and the George Floyd Act, a police reform package named for a Black man whose murder by Minneapolis police in 2020 sparked widespread racial justice protests and calls for federal legislation.

Biden is facing a November rematch with Republican former President Donald Trump, who has tried to step up his own appeal to Black voters.

Trump has suggested that his four criminal indictments have boosted his standing with members of the key voting bloc because they see him as a victim of discrimination — comparing his legal jeopardy to the historic legacy of anti-Black prejudice in the U.S. legal system. The former president has also repeatedly compared himself to anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, arguing that federal and state prosecutors have targeted him and his businesses for political reasons.

Although Biden historically enjoys high support and approval from Black Democrats, 45% of Black Americans said they disapprove of the way Biden is handling his job as president in March, according to polling by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just over half said they approve.

Biden didn’t mention Trump by name in his speech Friday, but referred to opposition by top Republicans to abortion rights and expanded access to the ballot box in stressing, “There are real threats we face.”

“There are more extreme voices out there who simply don’t want to see people of color in the future of our country,” the president said.

Terrence Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, said it meant a lot to hear Biden pledge to keep pursuing reforms in his sibling’s name.

“For him to still be adamant on passing that bill, I appreciate it,” he said. “He’s got the Floyd family behind him.”

The act passed the then-Democrat-controlled House in 2021, but stalled in a Senate where Republicans held a majority.

Others in the crowd were equally enthusiastic. About half the audience stood and applauded as the president approached the podium at a White House auditorium that was seen on a livestream.

Biden’s virtual speech capped a week of appearances from administration officials and other prominent local and national leaders. Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the convention in person last year.

Elaine Duval, of New York City, said she found the president to be genuine in his appeals to Black voters and that she doesn’t “think that he has gotten the praise and merit that he deserves.” But she also suggested that Biden missed an opportunity to address the suffering of Palestinians amid Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza strip.

“Oppression of any people anywhere is oppression of humanity,” Duval said. “And Black people, the Black race, we have been used to oppression and subjugation. I wish he had mentioned that because they are our kinfolk. He should bring the power of the presidency to bear upon that.”

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As he travels the country campaigning for reelection, Biden has frequently faced protesters decrying his administration’s handling of the war in Gaza.

Sharpton, who has regularly convened a small group of civil rights leaders at the White House on issues affecting Black Americans, introduced Biden by recounting his years of engagement with the National Action Network.

“I give that background so people won’t think he’s just doing his viral speech to get votes,” Sharpton said.

He also took a swipe at Trump, saying, “There are those that want our voters, that want to take us for granted and show us some gold sneakers and other foolishness.”

“We want to know about concrete things,” Sharpton said.

Franklin Malone, a member of NAN’s Washington chapter, said he would have liked to hear Biden speak more about addressing incarceration rates in the Black community, beyond marijuana offenders.

“We can press for what we need. But at least he’s on the right track,” Malone said. “Sometimes a half a chicken is better than no chicken at all.”

Malone said Biden didn’t sound like a politician taking the Black vote for granted, as Trump has suggested top Democrats do.

“The president is in a position to empower us to empower him,” Malone said. “He needs our vote. We need him.”

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