'Words Matter': Details From Joe Biden's Private Kenosha Talk

KENOSHA, WI — Former Vice President Joe Biden embarked on a private whirlwind tour of Wisconsin, in speaking with the family of Jacob Blake in Milwaukee, a community conversation in Kenosha, and a voters' roundtable in Wauwatosa Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday morning, Democratic Party officials revealed some details about the former Vice President's Wisconsin Visit — the entire trip would be private, and he was not expected to make a public appearance.

"Due to his respect for all the recent turmoil our city has gone through, and in his desire not to create further disruption or exhaust already limited resources, Joe wants to do his part to keep the peace in Kenosha.," according to the Kenosha County Democratic Party.

After landing at Signature Airport, a private airport located on the grounds of Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport, he engaged in an 45-minute discussion with the family of Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Black man who was shot several times by a Kenosha police officer. Blake, who remains paralyzed from the waist down in a hospital bed, joined the meeting by phone.

Biden spoke before a group of community members at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha Thursday afternoon, spending about an hour at the church located blocks from where multiple buildings were burned out during civil unrest following the Blake police shooting.

As a throng of supporters, media and a handful of detractors encircled the church from the outside hoping to get a glimpse of the former Vice President, Biden spoke intimately with the group gathered inside the church.

"The words of a president matter. No matter whether they're good, bad or indifferent, they matter," Biden said early on inside the private discussion inside the church. "No matter how competent or incompetent the president is, they can send a nation to war, they can make peace, they can make markets rise and fall, and they can do things that I've observed and make a difference by what they say."

Biden spoke about his time after law school. He had a job with a law firm, but quit to become a public defender. Biden said he came home from law school only to see that it was occupied by the military and came around to the desire to advocate for people. "Both of the two political heroes I had were both assassinated. Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy," he said.

Biden fast-forwarded to current events that have taken place during Trump's administration — bringing up images of torch-wielding protesters from Charlottesville.

"The President of the United States was asked what he thought, and he said something no president has ever said, he said 'there are very fine people on both sides.'"

Biden told the audience that Trump's speech legitimized a "dark side of human nature" while also exposing the "underlying racism that is institutionalized in the United States."

Biden circled his speech back to the situation in Kenosha, citing the popularity of the Black Lives Matter movement across the U.S.

"I am not pessimistic, I am optimistic about the opportunity if we seize it," he said.

Biden Outlined Reforms

• In speaking in Kenosha Thursday, Biden laid out several reforms that he wanted
• We're going to nationalize $15 an hour. "Nobody should have to work two jobs," he said.
• From prison punishment to reform. "Why don't we want them getting a Pell grant and going to school?" Biden asked among other opportunities.
• Biden spoke about expanding mandatory rehabilitation for drug users. "They've gotta go to mandatory rehab. That way it's not part of their record, if they finish it. We shouldn't be putting anybody in jail for that."
• Biden said he wanted to fund a $400 billion affordable housing program.
• "Nobody should have to pay 30 percent of their income to have a place to live," he said.
• Biden cited the Affordable Care Act and a need for community clinics to help the country's mental health. "Mental health is a badly-needed commodity now," he said.
• Biden talked about reforming the criminal justice system, and taking a close look at how people of color are charged in court.
• When talking about education, Biden said he would want to expand Title I schools in order to shrink educational gaps for young children.
• "We finally figured out, drug abuse doesn't cause mental health problems, mental health problems cause drug abuse," he said, when talking about how to address mental health needs of young people.

Biden concluded by saying that he would pay for his plans by increasing taxes on the country's highest income-earners in order to help the working classes.

Biden said his tax plan would increase taxes on those making more than $400,000 and would lower taxes on those making $125,000 or less.

Patch Editor Scott Anderson is contributing to this report.