During visit to Angola, Biden talks about ‘shared history’ of slavery

President Joe Biden on Tuesday, during his diplomatic trip to Angola, acknowledged America’s “original sin” of slavery and the slave trade that once linked the United States and the African nation.

“I have learned that while history can be hidden, it cannot and should not be erased,” Biden said. “It should be faced. It’s our duty to face our history. The good, the bad and the ugly. The whole truth. That’s what great nations do.”

The remarks were delivered at the National Museum of Slavery, where millions of African slaves were baptized before being chained to ships to travel across the Atlantic.

“We gather in a solemn place because to fully consider how far our two countries have come in our friendship, we must remember how we began,” Biden said outside the museum on a rainy afternoon.

“We hear them in the wind and the waves: young women, young men born free in the highlands of Angola, only to be captured, bound and forced on a death march along this very coast to this place by slave traders in the year 1619,” Biden said.

The White House announced earlier this week, when Biden arrived in Angola, that it was providing a $229,000 grant to help with a restoration of the museum and its preservation.

The diplomatic trip aims to deepen relations between the two countries and marks the first ever visit to Angola by a sitting US president and the first sub-Saharan trip by a US leader since President Barack Obama in 2015.

Biden kicked off the visit with a bilateral meeting earlier Tuesday with President João Lourenco in Luanda.

According to the White House, the two men discussed trade and economic opportunities, the protection of democracy and the growth of relations between the United States and Angola.

Biden further celebrated the partnership in his remarks, saying it is as “strong as it has ever been” and that “the United States is fully on board with Africa’s future.”

“The story of Angola and the United States holds a lesson for the world: two nations with a shared history of the evil of human servitude, two nations on opposite sides of the Cold War that defined the struggle of the late 20th century,” Biden said. “And now two nations stand shoulder to shoulder and work together every day for the mutual benefit of our people.”

“It’s a reminder that no nation needs to be permanently opposed to another testament to the human capacity for reconciliation and proof that there is a way forward for all — from the horrors of slavery and war,” Biden added.

On Wednesday, Biden will tour part of the Lobito rail corridor, funded in part by the United States, which will help transport goods and materials across Africa – a development seen as a way to counter China’s influence in the region.

White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby touted the project in an interview with ABC News’ Alex Presha.

Kirby said the administration was “very confident that the Lobito Corridor will be a success,” noting that it is a multilateral effort with support from U.S. allies and benefits U.S. companies that will build part of the railroad at home before it is transported to Africa.

Above Biden’s historic visit, however, was the decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden. Biden has not answered reporters’ shouted questions about the pardon while in Angola.

Asked if the pardon has diverted attention away from Biden’s trip, Kirby said Biden is focused on “how important this is, again, not just to the people of Angola and the continent, but to the American people.”