Biden Speaks With Jacob Blake, Hears From Kenosha Residents

Democratic presidential nominee 👤Joe Biden put himself squarely in the middle of ongoing national tumult over racial injustice and police brutality on Thursday, meeting with residents of strife-torn Kenosha, Wisconsin, and speaking by phone with the Black man shot there by police.

Biden’s trip to Kenosha, the site of sometimes violent protests since 👤Jacob Blake was shot in the back several times by a white police officer on Aug. 23, came two days after President Donald Trump traveled to the city.

The two visits had starkly different tones. Biden met privately with Blake’s family on the grounds of the Milwaukee airport, and the former vice president also spoke with Blake, who is hospitalized, on the phone for about 15 minutes.

Trump’s visit on Tuesday, by contrast, was intended to convey support for police, and the president did not meet with Blake or his relatives.

After arriving at the Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, a somber Biden listened as local elected officials, business owners and current and former law enforcement members told stories of a resilient community beaten down by racial divides and civil unrest.

Porsche Bennett, a Black Lives Matter organizer, said local Black residents were tired of false promises of police reform.

“We have yet to see action. And I was always raised to go off action, not words,” Bennett told Biden, who did not respond.

A small business owner, Barb DeBerge, told him that her business was at risk amid the violent protests but was spared heavy damage.

Biden, wearing a mask because of the coronavirus pandemic, condemned the destruction. “Regardless of how angry you are, if you loot or you burn you ought to be held accountable,” he said. “Period. It just cannot be tolerated, across the board.”