George Floyd: Joe Biden visits site of Wilmington protests during weekend of turmoil
WASHINGTON– Former vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Sunday paid a visit to the site of the prior night’s protests in Wilmington, Delawaresparked by the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, a black man, died in Minneapolis police custody this week after a white officer pinned him to the ground under his knee. Before his death, video captured Floyd desperately telling the police officer with his knee in Floyd’s neck that he couldn’t breathe.
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His death has sparked demonstrations against police brutality and racial discrimination in cities across the United States.
“We are a nation in pain, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us. We are a nation enraged, but we cannot allow our rage to consume us. We are a nation exhausted, but we will not allow our exhaustion to defeat us,” Biden wrote on Instagram.
He continued, “The only way to bear this pain is to turn all that anguish to purpose. And as President, I will help lead this conversation — and more importantly, I will listen, just as I did today visiting the site of last night’s protests in Wilmington.”
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Protests and demonstrations in Wilmington appeared to be initially peaceful Saturday night, but some protesters began looting businesses, leaving shattered glass along sidewalks as dumpsters, trash cans and vehicles burned. Police in riot gear responded by cordoning off downtown streets.
“It’s disheartening, disappointing,” Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki said Sunday morning. “I’m trying to reconcile what happened with Minneapolis with what happened here. I’m feeling the revulsion in both cases. I think it’s important that all sides come together and try to understand the grievances, but talk about solutions.”
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According to Biden’s Instagram story, he also visited businesses affected by the protests in Wilmington. He also stopped to take pictures with with people. One man can be heard saying, “You gotta get that crazy guy out of office, Biden,” referring to Trump. “Save us, save us. Please, save us,” he added.
U.S. Representative for Delaware, Lisa Blunt Rochester, toured damaged business with Biden. She told reporters emotionally on Sunday, “We have to find a way to be heard, and to do it in a way to get real results that is not just about speeches. People are just tired.”
Late Saturday night, Biden released a statement comparing Floyd’s death to
“Watching his life be taken in the same manner, echoing nearly the same words as Eric Garner more than five years ago — ‘I can’t breath’” — is a tragic reminder that this was not an isolated incident, but part of an ingrained systemic cycle that exists in this country,” Biden said.
However, he discouraged violence, saying, “Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response. But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not.”
“Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community is not. The act of protesting should never be allowed to overshadow the reason we protest. It should not drive people away from the just cause that protest is meant to advance,” he continued. “As President, I will help lead this conversation — and more importantly, I will listen. I will keep the commitment I made to George’s brother, Philonise, that George will not just be a hashtag. We must and will get to a place where everyone, regardless of race, believes that ‘to protect and serve’ means to protect and serve them.”
‘A country with an open wound’: Biden says he spoke with George Floyd’s family, promises ‘justice’
Biden said Friday he talked to the family of Floyd and promised them that he would do everything in his power to make sure there would be “justice” for his death.
Contributing: Brandon Holveck, Jeanne Kuang, Meredith Newman and Isabel Hughes, Delaware News Journal
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