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The presidential candidate visits Jacob Blake’s family and listens to troubled citizens in a church. So he differs from Trump, but the Democrat also has an agenda.
Black Lives Matter activist Porsche Bennett in front of Joe Biden and his wife Jill at a church in Kenosha – Biden’s earlier date, a visit to Jacob Blake’s family, was closed to the public.
Photo: Carolyn Kaster (Keystone)
There are several reasons why Joe Biden was sitting in a church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with a mask over his mouth Thursday afternoon. The Democratic presidential candidate had attended a community meeting at Grace Lutheran Church, a town hall meeting. For one thing, that was a somewhat great name for the event, because at most one or two dozen people had gathered at the church. No more was allowed for epidemic protection reasons. But it was also an appropriate name, because they were citizens of Kenosha whom Biden met there.
A firefighter who has put out burning businesses in recent days; a woman whose shop was nearly looted and burned; a lawyer who experiences every day the unequal treatment of blacks and whites by the police and the judiciary in the United States; and a black mother who fears that one day her children will not come home because they met a police officer who was easily unleashed. One by one they approached the microphone, and although they had to speak through a mask, everyone could still hear the horror of the violence that has rocked their city in recent days. Sometimes they fumbled and called Biden “Mr. President” – as if he had already won the election.
Biden is committed to promoting equality
Of course, Biden doesn’t have it yet. And if you want to look at it cynically, this very fact was the first reason the candidate visited Kenosha. Wisconsin is one of the most important and competitive states in this election. 2016 won there as surprisingly as Donald Trump. To be president, Biden must win in Wisconsin this year. To do this, you need the votes of the blacks who abandoned Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton four years ago. Nearly a quarter of Wisconsin African Americans who voted in 2012 and voted for Barack Obama stayed home in 2016. That was enough to let the state fall to Trump.
Biden wants to avoid that. At the church in Kenosha, therefore, he spoke in great detail about how, as a young man at home in Delaware, he campaigned for the civil rights of black Americans, how much he admired Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, “both The only political heroes I’ve ever known he had – and that it was finally time to end America’s racist legacy. “I firmly believe that we are at a point in our history where we can overcome our country’s original sin, slavery,” he said. And he promised that as president he would do everything possible to promote equality for black and white Americans.
The second reason that brought Biden to Kenosha was probably the desire to create the greatest possible contrast to the man he was campaigning against: Donald Trump. The president visited the city on Tuesday. He walked through the rubble of burned shops, met with police officers, and then cursed the “local terrorists” who, in his opinion, were solely responsible for all the calamities that hit the city.
Not a word of Trump’s regret for Jacob Blake, the black man who was shot in the back by a white cop in Kenosha a week and a half ago and is likely to remain paralyzed. Not a word of criticism of the young right-wing militiaman, who a few days later shot at two men who were protesting against police violence and that the president himself has already attested to having acted in self-defense. Instead, Trump told Kenosha once again that the entire United States would plunge into violence and chaos if Biden wins the election.
Biden knows that there are many people who do not like Trump, but are still slowly scared and distraught by the looting and arson that the Black Lives Matter protests degenerate into. And Biden knows how dangerous it would be for him if Trump’s claim were caught up in these voters that he understands or even secretly sympathizes with outbreaks of violence. Therefore, Biden expressly distanced himself from the perpetrators of violence among the protesters. “The protests are protests,” he said in the church. “But there is no justification for looting and arson. We cannot tolerate that. “
And then there was probably a third reason for Biden to visit this seriously wounded city: pity.
But Biden is also aware of the polls, according to which most Americans still blame Trump for the fact that the country has been plagued by more chaos and violence this summer than it has been for decades. Biden’s visit to Kenosha should help voters take this into account. Biden accused Trump’s president of fueling hatred in society and deepening divisions. That is wrong and deeply “immoral.” Trump “keeps asking for law and order, but the American people don’t believe it,” Biden said. “No, it’s not like that,” replied a woman who sat down on the first bench, very firmly.
And then there was probably a third reason for Biden to visit this seriously wounded city: pity. Biden has been hit hard in her life. His first wife and daughter died in a car accident and one of his sons died of a brain tumor. Joe Biden knows what pain and pain are. He is a person capable of feeling and showing compassion, also a characteristic that distinguishes him from Donald Trump.
As a result, Biden met with Jacob Blake’s family on Thursday before visiting the church. The meeting was private, Biden did not make a show of it, the press was excluded. Biden later said that he had spoken with Blake’s relatives and that he also telephoned the injured man. He was impressed by the optimism and strength he felt there. Jacob told him that he wanted to fight and that nothing would get him down. “So Jacob’s mother prayed,” Biden said, “for his son and for the policeman.”
