KENOSHA, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) – Just two days after President Trump toured damaged parts of Kenosha, his opponent former Vice President Joe Biden made the trip to Wisconsin.
With exactly two months to go until Election Day, Biden offered a very different message during his visit to Kenosha—asking how he can help rebuild a community.
Even the setting was different from Tuesday when President Trump visited. Biden held the community gathering in a local church, everyone wore masks, and residents did most of the talking.
“When the crack epidemic hit America and it was in the Black community, America’s solution was jail, jail, jail,” Tim Thompkins, a Kenosha resident, said. “Now that we have opioids in the white community, the solution is to provide police and firefighters with Narcan and send them back home with their families and make sure that they have rehabilitation services.”
People in Kenosha wanted to talk to the former vice president about what was on their mind, including policing, investment in communities of color, and addressing inequality.
“I’ve seen it for 30 years,” Jeff Weidner, Former President of Kenosha Local IAFF 414, said. “I’d like to tell you it’s getting better every day, but it’s not. One of the things that we see, particularly in the areas with people of color, is their ability to access healthcare.”
During what the campaign called an attempt to help the community heal Thursday, Biden made one thing clear.
“The words of a president matter,” Biden said. “No matter the good, bad, or indifferent. They matter.”
The former vice president criticized President Trump for his rhetoric amid the unrest.
“The generic point I’m making is, it’s not all his fault, but it legitimizes,” Biden said. “It legitimizes a dark side of human nature.”
As President Trump tries to position himself as the law and order candidate, calling Biden weak, Biden fired back Thursday with condemnation of the unrest that's unfolded in Kenosha so far.
“Protesting is protesting,’ my buddy John Lewis used to say,” Biden said. “None of it justifies looting, burning, or anything else. Regardless of how angry you are, if you loot or you burn, you should be held accountable as someone who’d done anything else. Period. It just cannot be tolerated, period.”
President Trump did not meet with the Blake family during his visit to Wisconsin this week. Trump said he objected to the family's lawyer being present.
Biden spoke to Jacob Blake over the phone from his hospital bed and met with Blake's relatives behind closed doors at the airport in Milwaukee. Blake's lawyers listened by phone.
Jacob Blake's lawyer Ben Crump said the family was grateful for the meeting and felt like the Bidens were willing to listen. Crump said Biden and the family talked about how police treat minorities, Kamala Harris as Biden's VP pick, and the former vice president's plan for change.