Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has met the family of a black man shot in the back by police in Wisconsin.
Joe Biden arrives at New Castle County Airport for his trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Photo: AFP
The private meeting, which took place in a building at the Milwaukee airport, came at the start of a trip by Biden to the state. Biden and his wife Jill met with four members of Blake's family, including his father, Jacob Blake, Sr, the Biden campaign said.
The city is recovering after sometimes violent protests over Jacob Blake's shooting and the state is a key area in November's presidential election.
Joe Biden was accompanied by his wife, Jill. Photo: AFP
President Donald Trump visited earlier in the week to signal his support for police, but did not meet Blake's family.
Neither Biden nor Blake's family have commented on their meeting yet, but before leaving Biden said he would call for unity when he visited Kenosha.
"We have to heal," Biden said.
His visit comes two days after Trump defied requests to stay away from the city from local leaders, including the Democratic governor.
The visit marks a distinct change in campaign tactics for Biden, who has mostly avoided travelling far from his Delaware home, arguing the coronavirus pandemic required caution.
The protests that have flared nationwide since Minneapolis police killed George Floyd in May have placed the Democrat in a difficult political position at times. Along with his running mate, Kamala Harris, Biden has praised the energy of the Black Lives Matter movement, but has not embraced its goals of de-funding or even eliminating local police departments.
That has not stopped the Trump campaign from suggesting Biden is in lockstep with the movement.
Biden said that there had been "overwhelming requests" he visit, adding that his presence would be a "positive influence" that would help "put things together and bring people together". President Trump's campaign has accused him of playing politics.
Two people protesting against the shooting of Blake were killed in Kenosha amid widespread looting and vandalism.
Biden's visit comes two weeks after he accepted his party's nomination from Delaware, rather than Milwaukee, Wisconsin's largest city, after the coronavirus caused the Democratic convention to go entirely online. It also comes one day after the Kenosha mayor lifted the curfew after several nights of relative calm.
"The last several nights have been relatively peaceful in the community, and in the judgment of law enforcement, it is appropriate to remove the curfew," Mayor John Antaramian said yesterday.
Trump labels protests domestic terror
During Trump's visit on Wednesday, he toured rubble from burned buildings and met with police representatives.
Donald Trump speaks to media just nbefore he flew to Kenosha. Photo: AFP
"These are not acts of peaceful protest but, really, domestic terror," Trump said, later adding: "We have to condemn the dangerous anti-police rhetoric."
He said he passed on the opportunity to speak to Blake's family after they requested to have lawyers present.
In 2016, Trump won Kenosha county by only 255 votes. He narrowly won Wisconsin in 2020, with the state for decades backing the winner of the presidential poll whether Republican or Democrat.
Response to Biden's visit
Anthony Davis, the president of the local chapter of the NAACP civil rights group, told NBC that he opposed Biden's visit, just as he did Trump's.
"I said that Kenosha would welcome them any other time," he said. "But things here are fragile. And we, in this community, really need to put our energy into healing ourselves, sitting down and speaking in detail only the way that locals can."
Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien told Fox News that Biden's visit was inappropriate.
"The president was there earlier in the week as the president of the United States. Vice-President Biden is there today as a candidate, as a political candidate," he said.
"This is not the time to be injecting politics into a really serious situation that the president helped solve. I think it very very clearly points out the contrast between the president's leadership and the people in Vice President Biden's party who are encouraging violence in the streets."
Biden has condemned violent protests since June after the death of Floyd in Minneapolis.
What is the background?
A police officer shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back during an arrest as the 29-year-old tried to get into a car where his three children were seated.
Biden has called for the officer who shot him in the back to be arrested. "He believes that, based on everything he has seen, charges appear warranted, but that there should be a full investigation to ensure all the facts are known first," his campaign said ahead of the trip.
Protesters march near the Minneapolis 1st Police precinct during a demonstration against police brutality and racism last month. Photo: Kerem Yucel / AFP
In an interview on Wednesday, Attorney General Bill Barr said the situation is different to that of Floyd, whose death in March triggered global protests.
"Floyd was already subdued, incapacitated in handcuffs and was not armed," Barr said. "In the Jacob case, he was in the midst of committing a felony and he was armed."
Jacob was not armed when he was shot, but a knife was later found in his car by investigators.
- BBC / Reuters