Joe Biden condemns ‘needless violence’ in Kenosha BLM protests

Joe Biden condemned the ‘needless violence’ in Kenosha, Wisconsin in the wake of police shooting Jacob Blake and said Wednesday he had spoken with members of Blake’s family. 

‘Protesting brutality is a right and absolutely necessary, but burning down communities is not protest, it’s needless violence,’ Biden said. ‘Violence that endangers lives, violence that guts businesses and shutters businesses that serve the community, that’s wrong.’ 

The Democratic presidential nominee said he had spoken with Blake’s mother, father and sister, and quoted his mother Julia Jackson in the short video Biden posted to Twitter. 

Joe Biden condemned the violence following the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin on Sunday

Joe Biden quoted Jacob Blake’s mother Julia Jackson (second from right), who said Tuesday that the destruction in Kenosha ‘doesn’t reflect my son or my family’ 

Protesters can be seen cowering behind a dumpster Tuesday night outside the Kenosha County Courthouse 

An American flag flies over a department of corrections building that was set on fire during protest Monday in Kenosha, Wisconsin that followed the shooting of Jacob Blake 

‘In the midst of this pain, the wisest words that I’ve heard spoken so far have come from Julia Jackson, Jacob’s mother,’ Biden said. ‘She looked at the damage done in her community and she said this, “This doesn’t reflect my son or my family.”‘

Jackson had said Tuesday, ‘As I was riding through here, through the city, I noticed a lot of damage that doesn’t reflect my son or my family. If Jacob knew what was going on as far as thta goes, the violence and destruction, he would be very unpleased.’   

Since the shooting of Blake on Sunday, businesses in Kenosha have been set on fire and two people were killed Tuesday night with another one wounded allegedly at the hands of a 17-year-old gunman during a confrontation between protesters and armed men.  

Blake, according to the family lawyer, is likely paralyzed, as he was shot in the back at close range. 

At the Republican National Convention, supporters of President Donald Trump have pointed to the destruction caused by protesting the Memorial Day death of George Floyd and other black people killed by the police, the most recently being Blake, and tried to push that Democrats have been supportive of the violence.    

Biden tried to make clear that he was supportive of the black community – but not of any rioting sparked by Black Lives Matter protests.  

‘What I saw in that video makes me sick,’ he said. ‘Once again a black man, Jacob Blake, has been shot by the police in broad daylight with the whole world watching.’

Biden then pointed to the fact that Blake’s kids were eyewitnesses.   

‘It’s horrible what they saw. Watching their father get shot? Like Gianna Floyd they’re asking “Why? Why daddy?”‘ Biden said. ‘Put yourself in the shoes of every black father and black mother in this country and ask, is this what we want America to be, is this the country we should be?’ 

Biden said he told Blake’s family on Wednesday, ‘justice must and will be done.’  

The former vice president then condemned what’s been happening in the streets. 

He concluded the video by asking Americans to join him to ‘unite and heal.’ 

‘And end systemic racism in this country now,’ Biden said.