Los Angeles - The absence of leadership was deafening
Friday in the White House Rose Garden, where cameras and reporters
sat focused on an empty podium for nearly an hour as Minneapolis
burned, and a nation raged, over the senseless killing of George
Floyd.
Floyd, who was black, died in police custody Monday after officer
Derek Chauvin was captured on video holding his knee on Floyd's neck
and throat for nearly nine minutes. Floyd's pleas for his life _ "I
can't breathe" - were all too familiar after the death of Eric
Garner, who spoke the same dying words from a police chokehold in
Staten Island, N.Y., in 2014.
A static shot of the president-less Rose Garden was shown at the
bottom of the screen on MSNBC and other outlets ("The president will
speak soon") as news of the unrest erupted around it: clips of
demonstrators, horrifying footage of Floyd's last moments, a press
conference announcing that former officer Chauvin had finally been
arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Then finally, a voice of competent governance broke into the news to
address the unfurling crisis. But the words about justice and healing
weren't coming from the capital.
"One of the things every human being must be able to do: Breathe. So
simple. So basic. So brutal," said former Vice President Joe Biden,
who was livestreaming from his home studio in Delaware. "(The) same
thing happened with (Ahmaud) Arbery. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd.
... It's a list that dates back 400 years," he said.
"The original sin of this country still stains our nation today,"
Biden said of slavery's lasting, brutal legacy on the lives of black
Americans. "If we stand by and remain silent, we are complicit."
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who appeared to be
holding back anger as he read prepared remarks, was brief and clear:
The country needs to fix and heal an "open wound" of systemic racism,
and seek justice for Floyd and his family. And Biden will do
everything in his power to make sure that happens.
Biden's direct appeal was in sharp contrast to President Donald
Trump's comments Friday, which arrived via Twitter in the wee hours.
Referring to the Minnesota protesters as "thugs," he wrote, "When the
looting starts, the shooting starts."
The contrast between the two men's approaches couldn't have been
starker, even though they're both known for saying what's on their
minds and dropping verbal gaffes like cracked Easter eggs. In Trump's
case, it's a reckless approach that has won him fans. For Biden, it's
been viewed as a deficit that could sink his chances of occupying the
Oval Office.
But in 2020, Biden's unedited, off-the-cuff tendency to speak what he
feels - or fumble to find the right words - is arguably more
effective against Trump's rudimentary barbs than, say, the slick
verbiage of Mayor Pete Buttigieg or the carefully parsed words of
Minnesota's Senator Amy Klobuchar.
"This is no time for incendiary tweets," said Biden, presumably
referring to Trump's posts, in Friday's livestream, which was picked
up by multiple news platforms. "It's no time to encourage violence.
We need to stand up as a nation, with the black community, with all
minority communities, and come together as one America."
Biden wasn't utterly commanding or hyper-articulate. But he showed
up, and he appeared to care about what happens to us as a people and
a nation.
For the thirsty, it felt like stumbling upon an oasis, even though a
week ago Biden was lambasted for racially insensitive comments he
made during an interview with "Breakfast Club" co-host Charlamagne
tha God. Discussing the November election, he said, "Well, I tell you
what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or
Trump, then you ain't black."
Biden apologized for the flippant response, something his competitor
has never done. Even online.
After Twitter flagged Trump's "looting" post for "violating its
policies regarding the glorification of violence," the president
tried to walk back his series of insomniac posts.
This image from the Twitter account of President Donald Trump shows a tweet he posted on Friday, May 29, 2020, after protesters in Minneapolis torched a police station, capping three days of violent protests over the death of George Floyd, who pleaded for air as a white police officer knelt on his neck. The tweet drew a warning from Twitter for Trump's rhetoric, with the social media giant saying he had “violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence.” Picture: Twitter via AP
He could have blamed someone else. The phrase wasn't even his, after
all. It was said by Miami Police Chief Walter Headley Jr. during the
height of civil rights protests in the 1960s. Headley also said, "We
don't mind being accused of police brutality. They haven't seen
anything yet."
Instead, Trump tried to suggest he was misunderstood, then explained
what he meant to say in several more confusing tweets: "It was spoken
as a fact, not as a statement. It's very simple, nobody should have
any problem with this other than the haters, and those looking to
cause trouble on social media," he wrote.
When Trump did eventually make it to the Rose Garden microphone to
speak to the press, in person, it was as if he'd dropped in from an
alternate universe of priorities.
He was there to talk about "our relationship with China and how
they've ripped off the United States like no one has before," he
stated. Then he announced he was cutting ties with the World Health
Organization because China has "total control" over WHO.
He ignored two huge infernos - a deadly pandemic and the dire,
ongoing costs of systemic racism - in favor of starting a new blaze.
Not once did he mention George Floyd.
But Biden did. In fact, that's all he talked about, and left viewers
with this: "Folks, we gotta stand up," he said. "We gotta move. We
gotta change."