Biden said during the event that a black man invented the light bulb \u2014 and \u201cnot a white guy named Edison.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden, 77, made the claim while speaking Thursday at Grace Lutheran Church, where he met residents following a 90-minute private session with Jacob Blake\u2019s family, a meeting that Blake joined by phone,\u00a0according to attorney Ben Crump<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot guarantee everything gets solved in four years, but I guarantee you one thing: It will be a whole heck of a lot better\u201d if he\u2019s elected in November, Biden promised. \u201cWe will move a lot further down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n Biden then insisted that \u201cpeople fear\u201d anything that\u2019s different before launching into a critique of the American education system.<\/p>\n \u201cWe gotta, for example, why in God\u2019s name don\u2019t we teach history in history classes?\u201d he told the crowd through a mask. \u201cA black man invented the light bulb, not a white guy named Edison. OK? There\u2019s so much. Did anybody know?\u201d<\/p>\n American inventor Thomas Edison is credited with patenting the first commercially successful incandescent light bulb in 1879, using a paper filament that burned out quickly. Three years later, Lewis Howard Latimer, a black inventor who worked as one of Edison\u2019s researchers, patented a light bulb using a carbon filament, which was much more durable,\u00a0according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n Latimer also holds patents for the electric lamp in 1881, four years before he teamed up with Edison to begin \u201cimproving upon his boss\u2019s invention,\u201d\u00a0Grist magazine reported<\/a>\u00a0in a 2015 profile of Latimer, who first worked as an assistant to inventor Alexander Graham Bell.<\/p>\n Some accused Biden of trying to \u201crewrite history.\u201d<\/p>\n At another point, while talking about law enforcement, Biden said that while a \u201csignificant portion\u201d of police officers are \u201cdecent people,\u201d there\u2019s \u201ca lot of bad folks\u201d in every organization, before abruptly cutting himself off to introduce his wife.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so we gotta give a chance to change things, and we can,\u201d Biden said. \u201cThere is not a single solitary reason in the world why, why, as I said, we shouldn\u2019t be in a position that everybody \u2014\u00a0and that\u2019s my wife Jill, hey Jilly \u2026 I\u2019m Jill\u2019s husband, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n While talking about potential tax plans if elected, Biden promised not to raise rates on anyone making less than $400,000, but stopped short of divulging specifics, saying \u201cthey\u2019ll shoot me.\u201d<\/p>\n Biden was assailed by critics for that turn of phrase, which was slammed as inappropriate in the aftermath of Blake\u2019s Aug. 23 shooting in Kenosha.<\/p>\n Participants at the event, meanwhile, appeared to have been screened prior to the town hall, where they were \u201ctold to go off\u201d a prepared script,\u00a0according to one woman\u2019s remarks<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMy name is Portia Bennett. I\u2019m just going to be honest, Mr. Biden, I was told to go off this paper but I can\u2019t. You need the truth, and I\u2019m part of the truth. I was born here, raised here,\u201d the woman said. \u201cI have to give you the truth of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/joe-biden-11.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300)
<\/a>
\nLutheran Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
\nJIM WATSON\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Lewis](\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/joe-biden-10.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300)
<\/a>![\"Thomas](\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/joe-biden-09.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300)
<\/a>