Associated Press
Joe Biden said Friday that the “open wound” of systemic racism was behind the police killing of a handcuffed black man in Minnesota.
Biden also accused President Donald Trump, without mentioning him by name, of inciting violence with a tweet that warned that protesters could be shot.
“We are a country with an open wound. None of us can turn away,” Biden said in a brief address.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has built his campaign around a promise to heal “the soul of the nation” and is suddenly getting his chance to try in real time.
Biden said he spoke to the family of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who was killed in Minneapolis this week after a white police officer knelt on his neck. Floyd’s death touched off violent protests there and elsewhere.
The former vice president said now was “no time for incendiary tweets. No time to incite violence.”
“This is time for real leadership,” he said.
That was a reference to Trump, who at first condemned police action in Minneapolis. But the president later warned online that protesters could be shot, prompting Twitter to flag his tweet as glorifying violence. Twitter’s move further escalated tensions between the White House and the social media platform, which fact-checked a tweet of his earlier this week.
Earlier Friday, Trump added fuel to racial fires Friday as he threatened to take action to bring the city of Minneapolis “under control,” calling violent protesters outraged by the death of a black man in police custody “thugs” and reviving a civil-rights era phrase fraught with racist overtones.
“When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Trump wrote in a tweet that was quickly flagged by Twitter as violating rules against “glorifying violence.”
The White House later tried to clarify, saying the president “did not glorify violence. He clearly condemned it.” Trump claimed his reference to shooting was a prediction of escalation of violence, which he said happened.
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Republished with permission from The Associated Press.
3 comments
Andy
May 29, 2020 at 4:56 pm
And you, Joe, the open wound of statism.
Really, Joe–you’ve been drinking from the public trough for far too long. Consider a real job. At your age, Social Security will allow you to earn as much as you can without penalty.
NoGoJoe
May 29, 2020 at 5:05 pm
Biden will say anything that he thinks will get him elected. This kind of thing comes up just before every Presidential election, and the outside party always tries to use it for their own benefit.
Biden was VP with Obama, the first black President, and for eight years, they did nothing about race. Suddenly, Biden and Obama have lots to say.
Biden is a farce, and those who support him know it.
ItsTimeforTruth
May 31, 2020 at 8:10 am
“You ain’t black,” Joe
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