NYT : How Biden's Campaign Explains His 'Arrest' in South Africa

[Celerity]

Joe Biden’s claim of being arrested trying to see Nelson Mandela drew skepticism. His campaign called it a “separation.’’

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/us/politics/joe-biden-arrest-mandela.html

CHARLESTON, S.C. — At least three times this month, Joseph R. Biden Jr. has asserted that he was arrested as he sought to visit the anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela in prison, even saying that Mr. Mandela later thanked him for going to such an effort. And for a week, Mr. Biden’s campaign declined to answer questions seeking comment and clarification on those remarks, which were rebutted by a former United States ambassador to the United Nations in an article in The New York Times. Mr. Biden did not mention the episode in his memoir, had not spoken of it prominently on the campaign trail, and a review of available news accounts by The Times did not turn up any mention of an arrest.

But on Tuesday, Kate Bedingfield, a deputy campaign manager, said Mr. Biden was referring to an episode in which he was separated from black colleagues in Johannesburg while on a congressional delegation trip to South Africa in the 1970s. It was the campaign’s first explanation to date — but one that still left many questions unanswered and did not square with Mr. Biden’s most recent remarks. “He was separated from his party at the airport,” Ms. Bedingfield said when pressed by reporters following Tuesday’s presidential debate here.

When a reporter noted that being separated did not constitute an arrest, she repeated, “It was a separation. They, he was not allowed to go through the same door that the — the rest of the party he was with. Obviously, it was apartheid South Africa. There was a white door, there was a black door. He did not want to go through the white door and have the rest of the party go through the black door. He was separated. This was during a trip while they were there in Johannesburg.” Ms. Bedingfield’s account echoes comments Mr. Biden has made in the past, including in his 2013 statement marking Mr. Mandela’s death — but that is not what he has relayed most recently as he campaigned in Nevada and South Carolina, two diverse states.

“I had the great honor of meeting him,” he said of Mr. Mandela, speaking in South Carolina earlier this month. “I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see him” on Robben Island, where Mr. Mandela was imprisoned. Soweto is more than 700 miles away from Robben Island. Andrew Young, who was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1977 to 1979, told The Times that he had traveled with Mr. Biden to South Africa but had never been arrested there, and he cast doubt on the idea that members of Congress were arrested in the country.

snip

[apcalc]

1. Go ahead, ask me what I did in 1970. 50 years ago.

50 years ago.
Think I am totally accurate of all my dealings?

I do, and you do ( were you alive) , have a recollection. Is it 100% accurate??????

How do you know?

My sister told me I had asked my mom if she would mind if I attend a Republican meeting.

WHAT? SAY WHAT?

I have NO recollection of that ( NONE) and can’t imagine what I might have been thinking!!!!!

Gimme a break....

[Celerity]

3. It was not 50 years ago, and I certainly would remember being arrested or not in a foreign nation

Andrew Young and Gary Hart are also NOT Republicans, like I have seen some claim here.

[Luciferous]

4. Most people can remember being arrested or jailed. Trust me, it's a memorable experience.

[apcalc]

19. Perhaps arrest wasn't the right word. His campaign states

He was removed from his group , pulled aside , and told he was not allowed to enter through the “ black” door since he was white.

I think he used the wrong word.

Waiting for more details....

Meanwhile BFD...not

[USALiberal]

21. Lol, he is a lawyer, he would remember being arrested! Nt

[denem]

2. Biden's campaign is not "explaining" (away) anything

Biden has been consistent on this. His statement as VP on the death of Madnela says

I saw his world the way it used to be when I visited South Africa as a 34 year old Senator. When I exited the plane I was directed to one side of the tarmac, while the African American congressmen traveling with me were sent to the other side. I refused to break off, and the officials finally relented. When I tried to enter Soweto township with Congressmen Andrew Young of Atlanta and Charles Diggs of Detroit, I remember their tears of anger and sadness.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/12/05/statement-vice-president-death-nelson-mandela

Biden's recollection and or characterization may be in error, but it is not something new.

[Celerity]

5. the arrest claims are new, & Soweto is 700 miles away from where Mandela was imprisoned, as the NYT

pointed out.

[denem]

8. Characterizing constraints on his freedom of movement as a arrest

may be new, as may be mixing up an attempt to meet Winnie Mandela in Soweto, versus Nelson on Robben Island, but I am not sure what point is. Are you saying Biden is lying, or his memory is going? If not, it seems rather petty.

[Celerity]

9. there is a large difference between being arrested and simply not being allowed to go through

a racially designated door.

Kate Bedingfield's words from the article today:

When a reporter noted that being separated did not constitute an arrest, she repeated, “It was a separation. They, he was not allowed to go through the same door that the — the rest of the party he was with. Obviously, it was apartheid South Africa. There was a white door, there was a black door. He did not want to go through the white door and have the rest of the party go through the black door. He was separated. This was during a trip while they were there in Johannesburg.”

and

from the linked original article, Biden's words

“This day, 30 years ago, Nelson Mandela walked out of prison and entered into discussions about apartheid,” Mr. Biden said at a campaign event in South Carolina last week. “I had the great honor of meeting him. I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see him on Robbens Island.”

Soweto, also, is 700 miles from Robben (not Robbens, and I have been there myself, the museum is a humbling experience) Island, where Mandela was in prison.


Andrew Young, Jimmy Carter's ambassador to the UN, himself said he was not arrested

from the first article

Andrew Young, a former congressman and mayor of Atlanta who was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1977 to 1979, said that he had traveled with Mr. Biden over the years, including to South Africa. But Mr. Young said that he had never been arrested in South Africa and expressed skepticism that members of Congress would have faced arrest there.

“No, I was never arrested and I don’t think he was, either,” Mr. Young, now 87, said in a telephone interview.

Mr. Young added: “Now, people were being arrested in Washington. I don’t think there was ever a situation where congressmen were arrested in South Africa.” He emphasized his great respect for Mr. Biden, though he said he was currently supporting former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York for the presidency.

[denem]

10. Again, I am asking, are you are saying Biden is lying,

or has lost his memory. Both are relevant to the primary contest. If not, what is the point? A debating cup?

[Celerity]

11. I leave any final conclusions up to the individual posters, I only am posting a current article from

the New York Times.

[uponit7771]

15. Semantics relative to the point Biden wouldn't go through the "white door" as a black person

... that's what I look at and it far exceeds the other peripheral details.

[USALiberal]

22. He is a lawyer! He would know the difference! Nt

[counting]

7. but the reasoning on why Mandela thank him is certainly different

“After he got free and became president, he came to Washington and came to my office,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Mandela while speaking in Las Vegas. “He threw his arms around me and said, ‘I want to say thank you.’ I said, ‘What are you thanking me for, Mr. President?’ He said, ‘You tried to see me. You got arrested trying to see me.’”

Ms. Bedingfield said that “it was a reference to Mandela coming to D.C. after he was released from prison, he met with Senator Biden, thanked him for his work, his anti-apartheid work.”

And Mr. Biden has previously said that Mr. Mandela thanked him for his support of anti-apartheid sanctions — but that was not his emphasis as he campaigned this month and spoke three times of being arrested.

[uponit7771]

14. More semantics, Biden was stopped cause he wouldn't go through the "white door". I'm proud

... of him for this.

[counting]

16. what irks me about this

Biden said that Mandela told him thank you for being arrested. He puts words on Mandela's mouth for creed. i really didnt care about the arrested thing. but that part irks me.

[uponit7771]

17. It sounds like Biden gets peripheral information wrong a lot but the thrust is accurate. That's OK

[BusyBeingBest]

18. That's layers of fabrication. And Mandela can't correct him. Sneaky.

[thesquanderer]

20. Maybe Biden has caught a case of Brian Williams disease. Too much exposure to MSNBC. (nt)

[jimfields33]

6. I was born in 1969 so my recollections are minimum

But if I was arrested, I’m sure I’d remember that from age 8 on.

[BusyBeingBest]

12. "Arrested on the streets of Soweto", or you know, taken to a separate area of the airport.

Those two events are so similar, I can see how they can get mixed up in your mind...

[uponit7771]

13. GOOD FOR BIDEN !!! Biden refused to go through the "white door" during aprathied I could

... care less about the semantics of being stopped vs arrested.