In a video message published on Independence Day , the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden said that Americans “have a chance to rip the roots of systemic racism,” The Hill reported.
“Our country was founded on an idea: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ We’ve never lived up to it,” Biden said in the video.
The former vice president reflected upon the nation’s history of civil rights struggles, discussing the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the death of George Floyd.
Floyd died in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department after a white officer pinned him to the ground and knelt on his neck. His death prompted widespread backlash, leading to nationwide protests against police brutality and white supremacy.
Biden concluded that the United States is ready for change.
“We have a chance to rip the roots of systemic racism out of this country. We have a chance to live up to the words that founded this nation.”
As The Hill noted, there was no mention of President Donald Trump in Biden’s brief address, but the former vice president’s message offered a “sharp contrast” to Trump’s.
Trump held his Fourth of July speech on Friday night at Mount Rushmore, using the opportunity to attack Black Lives Matter protesters for tearing down statues they claim represent white supremacy.
“Make no mistake, this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution,” Trump said, adding that the protesters’ ultimate goal is to erase any memory of America’s “national heritage.”
As ABC News reported, protesters have called on state and city leaders to remove Confederate statues and memorials from public places. In some states, the demonstrators took down and vandalized statues of figures linked to the Confederacy.
Although Biden’s video message did not contain any mention of Trump, his NBC News op-ed did. As The Inquisitr reported, in the column, the Democrat accused Trump of “eroding” the foundations of American democracy, vowing to rebuild them if elected president.
Biden criticized Trump for cracking down on protests outside the White House and slammed the president over his “baseless attacks” on voting rights. He vowed to restore and strengthen the Voting Rights act enacted during the Civil Rights movement, arguing that the Republican Party has deliberately put up “barriers” to voting.
The former vice president also promised to undo Trump’s immigration policies, in order to “[reaffirm] our innate identity… as a nation of immigrants.”