TOPLINE
Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden spent Sunday visiting the site of last night’s protests in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware, which—like many American cities—saw those protests lead into riots with looting and destruction Saturday night.
Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden wears a face mask to protect … [+] against the spread of the new coronavirus as he and Jill Biden depart after placing a wreath at the Delaware Memorial Bridge Veterans Memorial Park, Monday, May 25, 2020, in New Castle, Del. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KEY FACTS
In a tweet acknowledging the visit, Biden took a much different tone than President Donald Trump, who has promoted aggressive pushback against the protesters.
“We are a nation in pain right now, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us,”Biden said. “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.”
The sight of Biden being out of his house has been a rare one lately, with the former vice president largely choosing to stay home as a precaution against the coronavirus.
Biden has condemned the violence seen amid protests, saying in a statement released Saturday that protesting is a right but “burning down communities and needless destruction is not.”
KEY BACKGROUND
Sunday was the seventh day of widespread protests following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee to Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, which was captured on video.
Chauvin has since been arrested and charged with third-degree murder, as well as manslaughter, but many demonstrators are vowing to continue their protests until the three other officers are charged. While those protests were peaceful for much of the week, scenes turned violent in cities across the country on Saturday night in what historian Douglas Brinkley said were the most widespread riots “since the assassination of Martin Luther King. Jr. in 1968.” Several states called in their National Guards as tensions became out of hand between protestors and police forces, which have become increasingly aggressive when dealing with protesters. In several cases, journalists covering the protests have been hit with tear gas or rubber bullets.
CHIEF CRITICS
President Donald Trump has done little to quell the tensions or make calls for national unity, instead warning he’d bring in more firepower—perhaps calling in the military—to deal with protesters, who at one point he called “thugs.” He’s instead devoted much of his energy to criticizing local Democratic political leaders in areas where there are riots, along with Joe Biden and the media, while blaming the unrest on the poorly-defined “Antifa” leftist group, saying Sunday he planned to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization despite apparently lagging the legal authority to do so.
FURTHER READING
As America Burned, President Trump Largely Stayed Silent (Forbes)
Former Officer Derek Chauvin Has Been Arrested In Death Of George Floyd (Forbes)
