MILWAUKEE — Presidential candidate Joe Biden says he spoke with Jacob Blake's family Wednesday, and called Americans to "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?’"
In a video posted to Twitter, Biden called the video which shows Blake getting shot by a Kenosha police officer last weekend "wrong."
"I spoke to Jacob's mom and dad, sister and other members of the family, just a little bit earlier. And I told them ‘justice must and will be done.’ You know, our hearts are with his family, especially his children. It’s horrible what they saw, watching their father get shot," Biden said.
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But Biden also condemned the violence that erupted following peaceful protests in Kenosha and across the country, in which businesses and other property were looted and destroyed.
"Protesting brutality is a right and absolutely necessary, but burning down communities is not protest," Biden said. "It's needless violence. Violence that endangers lives, violence that guts businesses and shutters businesses that serve the community. That's wrong."
Biden continued: "In the midst of this pain, the wisest words that I've heard spoken so far have come from Julia Jackson, Jacob's mother. She looked at the damage done in her community and she said this, quote 'this doesn't reflect my son or my family.'"
Once again, a Black man — Jacob Blake — was shot by the police. In front of his children. It makes me sick.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 26, 2020
Is this the country we want to be?
Needless violence won’t heal us. We need to end the violence — and peacefully come together to demand justice. pic.twitter.com/WdNqrxA3PK
"So let’s unite, and heal, do justice, end the violence, and systemic racism in this country now," Biden concluded in the video.
Blake's mother, family and lawyers representing Blake held a press conference on Tuesday, in which they prayed for Blake's recovery and released updates on his condition.
Family members said that Blake has been paralyzed from the waist down, and is suffering from eight bullet holes in his body.
Blake was shot at least seven times in the back by Kenosha police officers as he was trying to enter a car last Sunday.
