Ahead of the Rittenhouse verdict, the president was in touch with the governor of Wisconsin. A person with direct knowledge of the conversations said that he called law enforcement groups in recent months to gauge their frustration. He signed three bills last week that boosted benefits for local and federal law enforcement, while his Justice Department released $139 million to fund more police officers across the country. A division within the DOJ has been working with local community groups to train leaders on de-escalation techniques.
The embrace of Rittenhouse on the right is a stark contrast to the lengthy interview with Tucker Carlson and visit with Trump. Biden's effort to lower the temperature carries its own set of risks, including leaving voters on both ends of the political spectrum wanting more from him.
He had to make his positions reflect his deep held beliefs and hopes for all people on the left, right and middle. The executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police said that sometimes other people on the left or the right will feel like the president isn't giving them everything they need. He's trying to give everyone the best that they can get in a united country.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden vowed to invest more money in police departments, despite the calls from the left wing of his party to defund the police. He has signaled to law enforcement that he has their backs, after a spike in violent crime in major cities over the past year. Civil rights advocates have been promised that he will pursue police reform. He spoke out against Rittenhouse when he shot three people, killing two, amid violent confrontations after last year's racial justice protests.
Rittenhouse was found to have acted in self-defense by the jury. Biden's administration has fallen short of pushing police reform through Congress.
The left is impatient. The breakdown of the negotiations in Congress has made them even more frustrated with the lack of action. The White House has said that the president will sign executive orders to target law enforcement overreach, but they will only apply to federal law enforcement, which makes up 5 percent of the overall policing workforce in the country.
Biden is definitely not moving fast enough according to the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. He could be taking executive actions, not only in terms of legislation.
Albright said that the GOP was at fault because they were never serious about passing such legislation.
Civil rights advocates are still pushing the administration to reform law enforcement practices because of excessive force allegations against police.
The DOJ Civil Rights Divisions are the focus of our support because they are the ones that have failed the most and we see a newly assertive DOJ that takes its role seriously.
The left felt that the Rittenhouse and Arbery verdicts were urgent.
The system that was designed to protect those was functioning as designed after Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges.
The justice system is broken. Following the Rittenhouse verdict, Rep. Tlaib said it protects white supremacy. The two people who were killed deserved justice and so did our communities who continue to be targeted with violence like this.
The jury found Rittenhouse not guilty in the shooting deaths of two people, but Biden did not make a big deal out of it. He said in a statement that the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans angry and concerned. He said that the jury had spoken.
The killing of Arbery was a tragic reminder of how far we have to go in the fight for racial justice in this country, according to a statement released by Biden after the guilty verdicts were rendered. He made a vague reference to how his administration would tackle reforms in the criminal justice system, saying it would "continue to do the hard work to ensure that equal justice under law is not just a phrase but a reality for all Americans."
The Justice Department has taken a reserved approach. The 2020 shooting of JacobBlake, a black man who was left paralyzed after a white officer shot him as he attempted to flee, sparked a protest in the city that drew Rittenhouse and others. George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by a white policeman in Minneapolis, Minn. Biden said on the campaign trail that officers should face charges. Rittenhouse was linked to white supremacists during the presidential campaign.
During the summer of 2020 the presidential race became focused on the mixture of violence and racial tension, with both Trump and Biden visiting Wisconsin after the shooting of two people at the Rittenhouse protest.
Things have changed a lot since then. Last week, after the Rittenhouse verdict, Kenosha remained quiet. While some demonstrators stood on the courthouse steps holding signs and keeping a watch as the trial went on, their protests did not turn violent.
The White House said that President Biden ran on a promise to lower the temperature in politics. The President has helped us begin to turn the page on the divisive rhetoric that came from the previous White House.
