Race Relations Plummeted While Joe Biden Was Vice President Under Barack Obama

Former Vice President Joe Biden is billing himself as the person who can ease race relations and unify the nation as part of his 2020 presidential bid. But race relations plummeted while the presumptive Democratic nominee served under President Barack Obama, the first black U.S. president in history.

Biden supported demonstrations in May and June against the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly 9 minutes, video of the incident shows. He met with Floyd’s family after the tragedy and wrote in a June 10 tweet that he’s ready to get to work on “day one” to tackle racism.

The former vice president stayed on message that month and promised to “heal the racial wounds that have long plagued our country.”