Published 11:51 IST, June 10th 2020
Joe Biden says there is 'absolutely' systemic racism in law enforcement
The Democratic nominee for White House in 2020 Joe Biden acknowledged the existence of systematic racism in the law enforcement forces in the United States.
The Democratic nominee for White House in 2020 Joe Biden acknowledged the existence of systematic racism in the law enforcement forces in the United States. After George Floyd’s funeral in Houston, Biden made the remarks on an exclusive televised interview with an international media outlet and said that “absolutely” there is racism in the country and “not just in law enforcement. According to the former US Vice President, there are racial biases in people across the board including housing, education among other sectors. Biden said racism is “in everything we do” and added that “it is real”.
While noting the existence of racial discrimination in the country, the Democratic nominee for 2020 presidential elections also put forth the ways that it can be controlled. Biden also stated that not all police officers are racist and there are some “really good cops” but there are too many examples for the public to understand how it all ‘works right now’. Therefore, in the televised interview with CBS, Biden called for a national standard for appropriate conduct for the law enforcement officers. The Black Lives Matter demonstrations have rocked the US for last two weeks after the death of 46-year-old African American George Floyd in police custody.
Biden’s ‘whole plan’
The people have flooded the streets from sea to sea calling for justice as well as actions against police brutality against the protesters. Biden revealed that he has “laid out a whole plan”. He proposes urging the police departments to maintain a certain national standard of what makes up the policing appropriate. The former US Vice President said that all law enforcement officers will have to abide by the rules and there will also be a commission put together for the same task.
However, opposing the demonstrators’ demand of defunding the police officers, Biden has said that he does not support it. Instead, he backs the conditional federal aid for police departments which will be based on meeting the standards of “decency and honourableness”.
The interview with the media outlet came after Jill and Joe Biden met with Floyd’s family on June 8, a day before his funeral on June 9. Biden admitted that the death of a family member is “hard enough to grieve” but it is way harder to grieve in front of the entire world. The former US Vice President said that he met with Floyd’s daughter, whose video had gone viral previously in which she says “Daddy changed the world”. According to Biden, “her daddy is gonna change the world”.
Updated 11:51 IST, June 10th 2020