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President-elect Biden tasked with "healing" divided nation

Posted at 2:10 PM, Nov 09, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-09 17:22:05-05

NORFOLK, Va. - President-elect Joe Biden will face an important, yet daunting task: trying to heal the nation.

"The Bible tells us to everything there is a season - a time to build, a time to reap, and a time to sow, and a time to heal," he said Saturday. "This is a time to heal."

It's no secret Americans are divided. "To say that the nation is divided is an understatement," said Dr. Eric Claville, the director of the Center for African American Public Policy at Norfolk State University.

Projections of Biden winning the presidency have led to outrage for some of President Trump's supporters, who say it's too early to call the election as they question the voting process.

More than 71 million Americans wound up voting for President Trump. "It's very imperative that we as a nation recognize that and go into the next four years understanding this division and how to mend it and bring the country together," said Claville.

But how will Biden do that? Claville believes it'll be easier to bring people together around policy, like COVID-19 relief and infrastructure. "I believe bringing the country together under an ideology is not possible, but I believe bringing the country together over policies is possible," he said.

Experts say there's blame to go around on both sides for how the nation wound up here. "I believe there is blame that can go across the board either way," said Claville. "What really matters is the party that's in power."

Going forward, many hope it's time for the temperature to be lowered. "I believe it's time for our country to take a collective deep breath and ask ourselves what do we want our country to be in the next 50 or 100 years," said Claville.