One year after the death of George Floyd—a guilty verdict now secured—Biden maintained a rosy rendition of 2020’s deadly riots.
Biden, Harris Meet With Floyd Family.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met on Tuesday, May 25, with the family of George Floyd, who died one year earlier on May 25, 2020.
Biden released a statement commending the Floyd family for their courage and urging passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. In a separate statement, the vice president wrote, “One year ago, a cellphone video revealed to the country what Black Americans have known to be true for generations.”
The president’s statement contained what can only be called a deeply euphemistic rendition of the truth: “[Floyd’s] murder launched a summer of protest we hadn’t seen since the Civil Rights era in the ‘60s—protests that peacefully unified people of every race and generation to collectively say enough of the senseless killings.”
The 2020 summer of protest was neither peaceful nor nonviolent. Rioters murdered retired St. Louis police captain David Dorn, charred remains were found in a looted pawn shop in Minneapolis, and around 30 Americans in total lost their lives in the chaos. In April 2021, ex-police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter swiftly and with little jury deliberation.
Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, gave comments to the press after the closed-door meeting with the president, vice president, and congressional leaders.
“If you can make federal laws to protect the bird, which is the bald eagle, then you can make federal laws to protect people of color,” Floyd said.
Federal laws protecting people of color include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, to name only a few.
Biden, Putin To Hold Summit In June.
The White House announced that Biden will meet with Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin on June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Press secretary Jen Psaki offered a few additional details in the daily press briefing, noting that the leaders are expected to discuss arms control, Ukraine, and Belarus. Psaki dismissed concerns that Biden is rewarding and legitimizing Putin’s provocations with a summit, saying, “Well, we may have forgotten over the last couple of years, but this is how diplomacy works.” She later confirmed that there were no preconditions on the meeting.
Psaki was also asked to comment on the forced diversion of the Ryanair flight and arrest of Raman Pratasevich in Belarus.
Q: It’s now been 24 hours. Has the White House—has the President determined whether Russia had any role in diverting that plane?
PSAKI: I did not give any indication that we had that view yesterday, and that has not changed.
Q: But have you—so, will the White House make a [determination] before this summit?
PSAKI: We don’t have a belief that that is the case.
On Biden’s view of Ukraine, and what he intends to communicate to Putin, Psaki said, “The President will continue to convey what has been his consistent message, that is: Ukraine is a sovereign country. We respect, you know, their — that.”
