Corn pop

Corn Pop Vs. Joe Biden
During the 2020 presidential campaign, then candidate Joe Biden told of a confrontation he had with the leader of the Romans, a street gang in Wilmington, Delaware. The leader of the Romans called himself “Corn Pop.” The confrontation occurred in 1962 while Biden was working as the sole white lifeguard at a segregated public swimming pool in Wilmington. This story had been previously told by Biden, who claimed that he took the job to “learn more about the black community.”
According to Biden's recounting of the event, “Corn Pop was a bad dude and he ran a bunch of bad boys.” The confrontation began after misbehavior on the three-meter diving board led Biden to shout, “You! Off the board, or I’ll come up and drag you off.” Corn Pop complied, leaving the pool area. But he was apparently angry because Biden had referred to him as “Esther” - a reference to then-prominent swimmer Esther Williams.
A confrontation between Biden, and Corn Pop and his gang, occurred later in the swimming pool parking lot, with Corn Pop threatening to “cut” the future President with a straight razor. Biden armed himself with a six-foot length of chain, and refused to back down. Biden said he apologized for calling Corn Pop Esther, and the incident ended amicably. In fact, Biden claimed the two departed from the incident as friends.
Joe Biden was widely mocked during the campaign for telling this story, with many claiming it as evidence of the strange paternalism Joe Biden feels toward the African American community. “Joe has retold this story a million times to solidify his street credentials,” wrote Michael Harriot of The Root. “But Biden’s whitesplained reason for working at a segregated swimming pool to learn about black people might be the most disconcerting part of this story.”
Biden's supporters uncovered an obituary for Wilmington's William L. "CornPop" Morris, who died at 73 in 2016. Those who knew Morris suggest that the Corn Pop/Biden incident was genuine. In fact, former Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams describes Corn Pop as being "real as the moon in the sky.”

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