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KENOSHA, Wisconsin: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden stepped squarely amid the ongoing national uproar over racial injustice and police brutality on Thursday (September 3), meeting with residents of conflict-ravaged Kenosha, Wisconsin, and talking on the phone with black people. man shot there by the police.
Biden’s trip to Kenosha, the site of sometimes violent protests since Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in the back by a white police officer on August 23, came two days after President Donald Trump traveled to the city. .
The two visits had markedly different tones. Biden met privately with Blake’s family on the Milwaukee airport grounds, and the former vice president also spoke with Blake, who is hospitalized, by phone for about 15 minutes.
Trump’s visit Tuesday, by contrast, was intended to convey support for the police, and the president did not meet with Blake or his family members.
After arriving at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, a grim Biden heard how local elected officials, business owners, and current and former law enforcement officials told stories of a resilient community battered by racial divisions and civil unrest.
Democratic presidential candidate Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks while meeting with community members at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on September 3, 2020 (Photo: AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster).
Porsche Bennett, an organizer for Black Lives Matter, said local black residents were tired of the false promises of police reform.
“We have yet to see the action. And I was always raised to go to action, not to words, ”Bennett told Biden, who did not respond.
Small business owner Barb DeBerge told her that her business was at risk amid the violent protests, but that it suffered no major damage.
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Biden, who was wearing a mask due to the coronavirus pandemic, condemned the destruction. “Regardless of how angry you are, if you loot or burn, you must be held accountable,” he said. “Period. It just can’t be tolerated, across the board.”
But he also praised the Black Lives Matter movement and said Trump had failed to sway public opinion against the protests.
Trump toured a Kenosha furniture store that was destroyed by the unrest on Tuesday and has maintained that Democrats like Biden approved of the violence and were influenced by left-wing activists.
Trump has refused to condemn the violent acts of his supporters and defended a 17-year-old Blue Lives Matter supporter who has been accused of killing two people and wounding another with a semiautomatic rifle during a clash with Kenosha protesters.
A TURN FOR BIDEN
The visit marks a distinct shift in campaign tactics for Biden, who has mostly avoided traveling far from his home in Delaware, arguing that the coronavirus pandemic requires caution. The community meeting at the church was the largest group Biden had addressed in person in months.
People gather outside as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden arrives for a meeting with community members at Grace Lutheran Church on September 3, 2020 in Kenosha, Washington. (Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images / AFP)
The protests that have erupted across the country since George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in May have placed the Democrat in a difficult political position at times. Along with his running mate Kamala Harris, Biden has praised the energy of the Black Lives Matter movement, but has not embraced its goals of defunding or even eliminating local police departments.
Wisconsin is a critical battlefield in the fight for the White House. Trump surpassed Democrat Hillary Clinton there four years ago, and while opinion polls show Biden with an advantage in the state, Trump’s campaign has made retaining him a priority.
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Trump will visit another crucial transition state for his re-election when he makes a campaign stop in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, later on Thursday.
Trump won Pennsylvania by just 45,000 votes in 2016. Recent polls also show him behind Biden in that state, though there are signs that the race there is hardening.
Beyond responding to the protests, both Biden and Trump have paid renewed attention to the Midwest in recent days.
The Trump campaign launched new ads in five early voting states emphasizing its “law and order” message, including in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Biden has started running coronavirus-themed ads in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that show empty football stadiums as he launches a new series of ads on racial justice and police reform.
A new Reuters / Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed that a majority of Americans do not see crime as a major problem facing the nation and the majority continue to sympathize with protests against racism. By contrast, a large majority of Americans said they remain “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the pandemic.
