Earlier this morning, Presidential candidate Joe Biden arrived in Philadelphia and proceeded to address the people. Speaking from the Philadelphia City Hall, Biden addressed George Floyd's death, the ongoing protests, and the dangers posed by another term of Donald Trump.
"I can't breathe, I can't breathe," begins a somber Biden. "George Floyd's last words, but they didn't die with him. They're still being heard, echoing all across this nation. They speak to a nation where too often, the color of your skin puts your life at risk." He proceeds to mention the lives lost to the Coronavirus, which has come to feel forgotten -- though it still waits in the wings. "They speak to a nation where every day, millions of people are saying to themselves "I can't breathe." It's a wake-up call to our nation. All of us."
"They're the same words we heard from Eric Garner when his life was taken away six years ago," he continues. "It's time to listen to those words. To try to understand them. To respond to them. The country is calling out for leadership. Leadership that can unite us, that can recognize pain and deep grief for communities that had a knee on their neck for a long time." He proceeds to decry the police, those "sworn to protect," who have "escalated tension" through their violent actions. "We have to be vigilant about the violence being done by this incumbent President to our economy and to the pursuit of justice."
"The president held up the Bible at St. John's church yesterday," Biden said, as his lengthy speech continues. "I just wish he opened it once in a while instead of brandishing it. If he opened it, he could have learned something. To love one another as we love ourselves. It's really hard work, but it's the work of America. Donald Trump isn't interested in doing that work. Instead he's preening and sweeping away all the guardrails that have long protected our democracy. Guardrails that have helped make possible this nation's path to a more perfect union."
