Joe Biden Delivers Speech on George Floyd Killing and Racism: ‘An Act of Brutality’

Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered an emotional speech about racism and police brutality after speaking with the family of George Floyd, the man whose in-custody killing has sparked unrest in Minneapolis.

The ex-veep and current presumptive Democratic presidential nominee spoke minutes before President Donald Trump was scheduled to hold a White House press conference. He began by revealing that he had just spoken to many of Mr. Floyd’s surviving family members, then spoke emotionally and powerfully about the recent cases of violence against black people, as well as the history of such violence.

You know, I just had an opportunity to speak with the Floyd family, a group of them. Most of them. They are a close, decent, honorable family. Loving one another.

And once again we heard the words, and they heard them, “I can’t breathe.”

An act of brutality so elemental, it did more than deny one more black man in America his civil rights and his human rights, it denied him of his very humanity, it denied him of his life. Depriving George Floyd, as it deprived Eric Garner, one of the things that every human being must be able to do, breathe. So simple, so basic, so brutal.

The same thing happened with Arbery, same thing happened with Breonna Taylor, the same thing with George Floyd, you know we’ve spoken their names aloud, we’ve cried them out in pain and in horror, the latest additions to the endless list of stolen potential wiped out unnecessarily.

It’s a list that dates back more than 400 years, black men, black women, black children, the original sin of this country still stains our nation today. And sometimes we manage to overlook it. We just push forward with a thousand other tasks in our daily life. But it’s always there. In weeks like this we see it plainly, that we are a country with an open wound. And none of us can turn away, none of us can be silent, none of us can any longer can we hear the words “I can’t breathe” and do nothing.

You know we can’t fail victims like what Martin Luther King called “the appalling of silence of good people.”

Every day African Americans go about their lives with a constant anxiety and trauma wondering who will be next? imagine if every time your husband or son, wife or daughter, left the house, you feared for their safety from bad actors and bad police. Imagine if you had to have that talk with your child about not asserting your rights, taking the abuse handed out to them so, just so they can make it home. Imagine having police called on you just for sitting in Starbucks or running an Airbnb or watching birds.

You know, this is the norm black people in this country deal with. They don’t have to imagine it. The anger and frustration and the exhaustion it’s undeniable. but that’s not the promise of America. It’s long past time that we made the promise of this nation real for all people.

You know, this is no time for incendiary tweets. It’s no time to encourage violence. This is a national crisis, we need real leadership right now. Leadership that will bring everyone to the table so we can take measures to root out systemic racism. It’s time for us to take a hard look at the uncomfortable truths. It’s time for us to face that deep open wound we have in this nation.

We need justice for George Floyd. We need real police reform that hold cops to a higher standard that so many of them actually meet. That holds bad cops accountable. And that repairs relationship between law enforcement and the community they’re sworn to protect. We need to stand up as a nation with the black community, with all minority communities, and come together as one America. That’s the challenge we face.

You know, it’s going to require those of us who sit in some position of influence to finally deal with the abuse of power. The pain is too immense for one community to bear alone. I believe it’s the duty of every American to grapple with it. And to grapple it with it now. with our complacency our silence we are complicit in perpetuating these cycles of violence. Nothing about this will be easier comfortable.

But if we simply allow this wound to scab over once more, without treating the underlying injury, we will never truly heal. The very soul of America is at stake. We must commit as a nation to pursue justice with every ounce of our being. We have to pursue it. With real urgency. We’ve got to make real the promise of America which we’ve never fully grasped. That all men and women are equal. Not only at creation but throughout their lives.

Again, to George’s family, thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I promise you I promise you will do everything in our power to see to it that justice is had in your brother, your cousin’s case. God love you all and I, folks we’ve got to stand up. We’ve got to move. We’ve got to change.

Watch above via Joe Biden for President.

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com