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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden addressed “underlying racism” in the United States as he sought to calm the protesting Midwestern city of Kenosha.
The city of Wisconsin erupted into chaotic protests last week after a black man, Jacob Blake, was shot in the back by a white police officer.
Biden sat down for a private conversation with Blake’s father and other relatives, then revealed that he had spoken on the phone for about 15 minutes with Jacob, 29, who remains in the hospital.
“He spoke that nothing was going to defeat him, that whether he walked again or not, he was not going to give up,” he said of the wounded man, who was reportedly paralyzed from the waist down.
Biden and his wife Jill previously met with several members of Blake’s family at the Milwaukee airport, including his father and three brothers.
The meeting was private, and reporters and photographers accompanying Biden were not invited to enter.
Repeatedly describing himself as optimistic, the presidential hopeful, speaking through a mask, told a small gathering at Grace Lutheran Church that the majority of Americans support the Black Lives Matter movement for racial equality.
But he also warned that President Donald Trump has fueled the racial animosity that has rocked the nation in recent months.
“It’s not all his fault,” but Trump’s heated and racially charged language “legitimizes the dark side of human nature,” Biden told worshipers as a crowd of mostly masked supporters gathered outside.
The president’s rhetoric has exposed “the underlying racism that is institutionalized in America, and still exists, and has existed for 400 years,” he added.
“I promise you, win or lose … I’m going to go down fighting the good fight for racial equality,” Biden said, adding, “We’re not going to fall.
The optician in Wisconsin offered a contrast to two days earlier, when his Republican rival brought his law and order message to Kenosha, where he examined the damage and met with law enforcement and business owners.
Trump did not speak to Jacob Blake or his family, visiting him in defiance of pleas from the mayor and the state governor, both Democrats, who feared his presence would fuel tensions.
During his meeting with the police, the president of the United States equated the demonstrations demanding racial justice with the “internal terror” of violent mobs.
Biden’s trip to Wisconsin, which Trump overlooked Democrats in his unlikely 2016 election victory, is a campaign appeal that also aims to help a city in conflict “move forward” after days of violent unrest. and deadly.
“We have to heal,” the 77-year-old Delaware man said yesterday. “So my purpose in going will be just that, to have a positive influence on what is happening.”
It was the Democratic candidate’s first major trip since June due to months of coronavirus restrictions, marking an intensification of his presidential campaign two months before the US election against President Donald Trump.
The pandemic-induced lockdown has left Biden spending most of his time crouching down at his Wilmington, Delaware home or giving close speeches to reporters, but that period of inactivity appears to be coming to an end.
Trump launched the precaution long ago. In recent weeks he has visited Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, New Hampshire, and North Carolina.
With the two candidates running into Election Day on November 3, Biden has announced his intention to return to the campaign in earnest.
Trump flew to Kenosha on Tuesday to examine the damage caused by the protests and to meet with law enforcement and business owners.
He visited in defiance of the pleas of the mayor and the state governor, both Democrats, who feared his presence would fuel tensions. You did not meet Mr. Blake’s family.
The demonstrations in Kenosha began peacefully the night Mr. Blake was shot on August 23, but escalated into violence for several nights in a row.
It culminated on August 25 when two people were shot and killed. A 17-year-old white Trump supporter was arrested and charged with murder.
President Trump has refused to condemn the killings or the growing presence of armed vigilantes at the protests, and during his visit he compared the demonstrations demanding racial justice to the “internal terror” of violent mobs.
Biden leads Trump in national polls, but the gap is narrower in swing states like Wisconsin.
Until now, Biden has been hesitant to take the road, rigorously adhering to local health guidelines and campaigning through webcasts, advertising, and television.
“I would like to get out more, but I think a president has a responsibility to set an example,” he said, “not being a potential cauldron for major Covid outbreaks.”
Trump, by contrast, has maintained a relentless in-person campaign program that included a trip to North Carolina yesterday.
He reportedly urged North Carolinians to test the integrity of the voting system by mailing ballots and then voting again at a polling station to make sure their vote is counted.
“Send it in early and then go vote,” Trump said. “And if it is not tabulated, vote and the vote will count.”
Deliberately voting twice is illegal and a felony in many states, including North Carolina.
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