Opinion | Southern Democrats Saved Joe Biden – By Mara Gay – The New York Times

By Mara Gay

Ms. Gay is a member of the editorial board.

• March 5, 2020, 10:38 a.m. ET

Biden supporters at a campaign event in South Carolina.Credit…Damon Winter/The New York Times

“At the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, things look much as they did a half-century ago.

The site is now home to the National Civil Rights Museum, a remarkable collection that includes a replica of a firebombed bus ridden by the Freedom Riders as they traveled through the South protesting segregation in 1961.

Inside the museum the other day, a woman sat down beside me and wiped away tears. “I’m sorry,” she said. “What gets me is, after all this time, look what’s happening right now.”

Visitors to the Lorraine Motel after a ceremony in 2018 marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Credit…Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Southern Democrats — particularly black Democrats — are hoping to keep the history that surrounds them in the past.

Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina explained this in visceral terms when he announced his support for Joe Biden late last month, an endorsement that began with Mr. Clyburn, 79, talking about the first time he was arrested protesting for civil rights decades ago. “When I sat in jail that day, I wondered whether we were doing the right thing, but I was never fearful for the future,” he said. “As I stand before you today I am fearful of the future of this country. I’m fearful for my daughters and their futures, and their children, and their children’s futures.”

Mr. Clyburn said he was sure Mr. Biden was the right choice. “I know Joe. We know Joe. But most importantly, Joe knows us,” he said. Three days later, Mr. Biden won a convincing victory in the South Carolina primary, launching him into his Super Tuesday triumph and the front-runner status he enjoys today.”