Biden speaks of nation’s racial ‘open wound’
WASHINGTON – Joe Biden lamented the “open wound” of the nation’s systemic racism on Friday as he responded to the police killing of a black man in Minnesota. He drew an implicit contrast with President Donald Trump, who has suggested authorities could respond with violence to the protests that followed George Floyd’s death.
“The original sin of this country still stains our nation today,” Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said in remarks broadcast from his home in Wilmington, Delaware. “It’s time for us to take a hard look at uncomfortable truths.”
Biden announced his bid for the presidency last year while arguing that he can unite a divided country. He pointed to Trump’s response to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, as unworthy of America’s people and values.
As the country endures more racial unrest, the central premise of Biden’s campaign is being tested. Biden is responding by positioning himself as an empathetic counter to Trump.
Biden said he spoke with Floyd’s family and demanded justice for his death while calling for “real police reform that holds all cops up to the high standards that so many of them actually meet.” Trump later said that he, too, had spoken with Floyd’s family and called them “terrific people.”
Trump initially condemned police actions in Floyd’s death but later wrote on Twitter that protesters could be met with violent police resistance. He threatened to take action to bring Minneapolis “under control” and called violent protesters outraged by the killing “thugs.”
“When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Trump wrote in a tweet that was flagged by Twitter as violating rules against “glorifying violence.” The White House said the president “did not glorify violence. He clearly condemned it.”
By Friday afternoon, Trump sought to acknowledge the circumstances of Floyd’s death while commending law enforcement.
“He was in tremendous pain, obviously, and couldn’t breathe,” Trump said of Floyd. “It was a very, very sad thing for me to see it. We also know that most policemen, you see the great job they do.”
Biden, without mentioning Trump by name, made clear he would approach the presidency differently.
“This is no time for incendiary tweets. This is no time to encourage violence,” Biden said. “This is a national crisis, and we need real leadership right now. Leadership that will bring everyone to the table so we can take measures to root out systemic racism.”
Amid the outrage, Biden tried to make the rest of the country feel what it was like to be African American in modern U.S. society.
“Every day, African Americans go about their lives with constant anxiety and trauma, wondering who will be next,” he said. “The anger and the frustration and the exhaustion – it’s undeniable.”
Biden suggested recently that African American voters who were still undecided between him and Trump “ain’t black,” a comment that some black leaders interpreted as taking their votes for granted. Biden said he regretted the comment.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said he believes the nation is in chaos because of a lack of leadership in the White House. But he said change will only come by putting people in positions of power who will be willing to address the needs of affected communities.
“I think the real question is, what are people going to do about it and how are those who are in positions of authority, and those who are seeking positions of authority, how are they going to lay out a plan moving forward?” Johnson said. “It’s about what is the collective will of this society to address the systemic deficits that we all know so well but lack the political will to address.”
Moments of racial tension have afforded platforms for leadership from presidential candidates in the past. Robert F. Kennedy was seeking the White House in April 1968 and arriving in Indianapolis when he learned that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot and killed. Kennedy stood on a flatbed truck and spoke about the country having to move past the terrible moments of racial strife – comments later credited with preventing unrest.
Kennedy was assassinated months later.
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