Former Vice President Joe Biden paid a visit to Philadelphia City Hall Tuesday morning and addressed the problematic situation across the country following George Floyd´s death. Biden said the country is in “the battle for the soul of this nation.”
“We’re in the battle for the soul of this nation, what we believe most importantly, who we want to be is all at stake,” Biden said.
He used George Floyd’s last words: “I can’t breathe,”as a reference to the difficult fight the United States is undergoing. He said those words “didn’t die with him. They’re still being heard. They’re being echoing across this nation.”
Biden added that Floyd´s plea speaks “to a nation where too often just the color of your skin puts your life at risk.”
“We’re not going to let any president quiet our voice, we won’t let those who see this as an opportunity to sow chaos, throw up a smoke screen to distract us from the very real grievances at the heart of these protests,” Biden said.
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He considers the latest events as a path to a sustained challenge. “We can’t leave this moment thinking that we can once again turn away and do nothing, we can’t do that this time. We just can’t,” Biden said. “The moment has come for our nation to deal with systemic racism. To deal with the economic inequity that exists in our nation. To deal with the denial of the promise of this nation made to so many.”
The former vice president called on Congress to pass legislation to outlaw chokeholds by police and to work on reforms toward racial justice.
Biden said the proposed changes cannot wait for his first 100 days in office. He says the president has failed in his duty to care for all Americans.
Biden criticized President Donald Trump for directing authorities to drive back peaceful protesters outside the White House “in order to stage a photo op. ” He said that the President “is more interested in power than in principle.”
“When peaceful protesters are dispersed by the order of the president from the doorstep of the people’s house, the White House , using tear gas and flash grenades , in order to stage a photo op at a noble church, we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle,” Biden said. Trump is “more interested in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people in his care.”
Biden’s criticism comes a day after Trump threatened the nation’s governors that he would deploy the military to states if they did not stamp out violent protests over police brutality in the wake of the George Floyd killing that have roiled the nation.
“Look, the presidency is a big job. Nobody will get everything right. And I won’t either, but I promise you this. I won’t traffic in fear and division. I won’t fan the flames of hate,” he said.
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