HOUSTON — For many Americans watching the Democratic debate on Thursday night, Joe Biden's "record player" comment was yet another sign of his age. But to others, his suggestion that black parents "don't know quite what to do" with their children was a worrying instance of the former vice president being tone-deaf on race.

In a question on racism in the United States, moderator Linsey David asked Biden, 76: "In a conversation about how to deal with segregation in schools back in 1975, you told a reporter, ‘I don’t feel responsible for the sins of my father and grandfather. I feel responsible for what the situation is today, for the sins of my own generation, and I’ll be damned if I feel responsible to pay for what happened 300 years ago.'"

"You said that some 40 years ago," he continued. "But as you stand here tonight, what responsibility do you think that Americans need to take to repair the legacy of slavery in our country?”

Biden responded: “Well, they have to deal with the — look, there’s institutional segregation in this country. From the time I got involved, I started dealing with that. Redlining banks, making sure we are in a position where — look, you talk about education. I propose that what we take is those very poor schools, the Title I schools, triple the amount of money we spend from $15 to $45 billion a year. Give every single teacher a raise, the equal raise to getting out -— the $60,000 level."

"Number two, make sure that we bring in to help the teachers deal with the problems that come from home," he said. "The problems that come from home, we have one school psychologist for every 1,500 kids in America today. It’s crazy. The teachers are — I’m married to a teacher, my deceased wife is a teacher. They have every problem coming to them. Make sure that every single child does, in fact, have 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds go to school. School. Not daycare. School. We bring social workers in to homes and parents to help them deal with how to raise their children."

"It's not that they don't want to help. They don't — they don't know quite what to do," he said. "Play the radio, make sure the television — excuse me, make sure you have the record player on at night, the — the — make sure that kids hear words. A kid coming from a very poor school — a very poor background will hear 4 million words fewer spoken by the time they get there."

Biden hadn't answered the question, and his response was characteristically rambling. More significantly, on his final tangent, he had suggested that black parents did not know how to raise their children and needed social workers to explain parenting to them.

Anand Giridharadas, an author and editor-at-large at Time magazine, described Biden's musing as "a textbook example of the racism that is still respectable.” Veteran political commentator Jeff Greenfield wondered: "Did he mean that black parents depended on an army of white people with degrees to help them raise their kids?"

As soon as Biden had finished his answer, his rival Julián Castro seemed to notice the problem with Biden's answer. “Well, that was quite a lot,” the former Obama housing secretary said.

Cory Booker, one of two black Democrats in the 2020 field, castigated Biden after the debate, though he focused on the retro mention of record players. "He’s talking about people in communities like mine listening to record players. There are definitely moments when you listen to Joe Biden, and you just wonder," the New Jersey senator told reporters.

Democratic strategist and former executive director and general counsel to the Congressional Black Caucus Angela Rye tore into Biden on CNN Friday evening.

"I don't know what he was answering, but it wasn't the question," she said. "I think it also is highly problematic that Joe Biden has not yet dealt with whether or not he has a black agenda. When we talk about racism in this country, it's not about whether parents know how to raise their children. And then for him to say that on stage at Texas Southern University, which is a historically black college ... I don't know if he's not listening to his black advisers."

Rolling Stone writer Jamil Smith said Biden's comments were disqualifying. "Democrats need an antiracist nominee to run against a racist like Donald Trump. The third debate confirmed Biden isn’t up to the task," the black author wrote.

Biden's racially divisive comments Thursday were far from the first to have landed him in hot water. In June, he boasted about working in the Senate with segregationists like James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia.

"Well, guess what? At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done," Biden said of his relationship with Eastland and Talmadge. "We got it finished. But today, you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don't talk to each other anymore.”

Weeks later, in July, Biden apologized for those remarks, saying he was "sorry for any of the pain" they might have caused.

During the first Democratic presidential debate in June, Sen. Kamala Harris of California defined the night by hammering Biden's history on racial issues. "It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country," Harris said.

"It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing," she added, referencing his embrace of segregation in 1975, which he said at the time was a matter of "black pride."

Maintaining support from black voters is one of Biden's key campaign strategies, especially as young and highly educated white voters flock to candidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Despite his controversies, a Quinnipiac University poll released last month showed he currently receives support from 46% of black Democrats.