Biden meets with leaders at Delaware church

Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden met with community leaders at a predominantly African American church in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware on Monday.

"The Band-Aid has been ripped off by this pandemic and this president," said Biden.

"Nobody can pretend any longer what this is all about. Nobody can pretend who has been carrying this on their back. It's been the minorities."

This comes in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd's neck for several minutes.

The upheaval has unfolded amid the gloom and economic ruin caused by the coronavirus, which has killed over 100,000 Americans and sent unemployment soaring to levels not seen since the Depression. The outbreak has hit minorities especially hard, not just in infections and deaths but in job losses and economic stress.

The scale of the coast-to-coast protests has rivaled the historic demonstrations of the civil rights and Vietnam War eras. At least 4,400 people have been arrested for such offenses as stealing, blocking highways and breaking curfew, according to a count compiled by The Associated Press.

Biden went on to say "Hate just hides, it doesn't go away. And when you have somebody in power who breathes oxygen to the hate under the rocks, it comes out from under the rocks, it matters what the president says."

"A president's words can take a nation to war, bring peace, move markets up and down, bring justice, whatever, but words matter no matter who they are. If you start breathing hate, coming out from under the rocks. It came out big time and legitimized things... that you haven't heard things said out loud 10 years ago."