Biden says he spoke with Jacob Blake, praises family's resilience and optimism during Kenosha visit

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On Thursday, Joe Biden had a private meeting with the family of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin where he spoke to the paralyzed Blake on the telephone. The meeting took place in Milwaukee before the Democratic presidential nominee headed to Kenosha, the city where Blake, a Black man, was shot at least seven times in the back by a white police officer. The shooting, which left Blake paralyzed has sparked days of anti-racism protests in the city. Jacob Jr. shared about the pain he is enduring and the vice president commiserated. Blake's lawyer, Ben Crump, who listened in on the meeting by phone said, the vice president told the family that he believes the best of America is in all of us and that we need to value all our differences as we come together in America’s great melting pot. Biden, speaking a short time later in Kenosha, said Blake talked about how nothing was going to defeat him and whether he walked again or not he was not going to give up. He said what I came away with was the overwhelming sense of resilience and optimism that the family has about the kind of response they're getting. His mom talked about my wife asked to say a prayer. And his mom said a prayer. She said, 'I'm praying for Jacob and I'm praying for the policeman as well. I'm praying that things change.' Crump said the family was moved by the meeting. It was very obvious that Vice President Biden cared as he extended to Jacob Jr. a sense of humanity, treating him as a person worthy of consideration and prayer. In Kenosha, Biden attended a socially-distanced community meeting at Grace Lutheran Church with local civic and clergy leaders, activists, business owners, police officials and first responders. Biden spent most of the program listening to the speakers, and told attendees that if elected president, he'd address the impact of the original sin of the country slavery. He said, I can’t tell you everything will be solved in four years. But I can tell you one thing, it’s gonna be a heck of a lot better. Biden told reporters on Wednesday that he hoped to bring a message of progress and unification to Kenosha, where the protests have gone on for days and fires destroyed some buildings. Violence has also followed a 17 year old Illinois resident, Kyle Rittenhouse, is charged with homicide in connection with the shooting deaths of two protesters. Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware., we've got to heal. We've got to put things together and bring people together