Mr Biden’s trip to Kenosha, the first of his general election campaign against US President Donald Trump, is testing his pitch that he is a unifying figure, able to lead the country through a national reckoning with systemic racism along with the pandemic and its economic fallout.
Travelling two days after Mr Trump visited Kenosha, Mr Biden is expected to follow his private meeting with a public discussion with community representatives in a city still reeling from Mr Blake’s shooting and the sometimes violent protests that followed.
Mr Biden did not take questions as he left his plane after arriving in Milwaukee, but he has said that the trip is an effort to help Wisconsin and the nation heal.
“This is about making sure that we move forward,” Mr Biden told reporters. He added that he is “not going to tell Kenosha what they have to do” but instead encourage a community to “talk about what has to be done”.
Among those in the meeting with Mr Biden were Mr Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr, his siblings, and one of his lawyers, B’Ivory LaMarr. Mr Blake’s mother Julia Jackson and another lawyer, Ben Crump, joined by phone. Mr Blake remains in hospital after being shot seven times in the back by a white Kenosha police officer as authorities tried to arrest him.
Two months before polling day, the trip presents Mr Biden with opportunity and risks, testing his long-standing promise that he can “unify the country” and find consensus even where it is not readily apparent.
The approach is an intentional contrast with Mr Trump, who thrives on conflict. The distinction has sharpened over a summer of nationwide protests. Most have been peaceful, but some of them, as in Kenosha, turned violent and destructive.
Mr Biden is a white man propelled to the Democratic nomination by black voters. Since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer, Mr Biden has called for an overhaul of US policing and embraced a national conversation on racism. The significance of the moment was a factor in Mr Biden selecting California senator Kamala Harris as the first black woman to join a major party presidential ticket.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, has countered with sweeping condemnations of protesters, an absolute defence of law enforcement and denials that Americans with black and brown skin face barriers that whites do not – moves aimed at his overwhelmingly white political base.
