By BEATRICE PETERSON, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — “We’re Listening” is the name and sentiment of the new ad released by former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., hours before Biden travels to Wisconsin.
Biden starts the video asking, “Why, in this nation, do Black Americans wake up knowing they can lose their life in the course of just living their life?” Moments later, Harris says, “Part of the point of freedom is to be free from brutality, free from injustice, free from racism and all of its manifestations.”
Biden declares in the new ad that “now is the time for racial justice.”
Viewers throughout the one-minute ad see multigenerational African American families, doctors and teachers as Biden and Harris talk about policing and racial injustice.
The California Senator says “reforming policing in this country means creating a national standard on use of force and conditioning federal funds for police departments on adoption of that standard. She adds that “it’s about reigning in qualified immunity.”
The new ad’s debut comes just hours before Biden’s trip to Wisconsin. The trip to Kenosha Thursday will be the first time Biden has visited the state since announcing his bid for president. The last time he visited the Badger State was October 2018. President Donald Trump visited Kenosha on Tuesday.
The former vice president is expected to meet with Jacob Blake Sr. and other members of Jacob Blake’s family in Kenosha, according to a spokesperson for the Blake family.
Jacob Blake is a Black man who became paralyzed after being shot seven times in the back by a police officer in Kenosha.
“The American people are battling a public health and economic crisis with no clear end in sight, and Black Americans are bearing the brunt of the current administration’s many leadership failures,” Kamau Marshall, the Biden campaign’s director of strategic communications, said in a statement to ABC News. “Through COVID-19 and recent tragedies that have inflamed racial tensions, Black Americans have reignited their roles in fighting for justice, equality and peace. It is important during this crucial time that people know that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are standing with Black Americans not only in this moment of adversity, but in the moments ahead as we work collectively to dismantle systemic racism and injustice.”
Biden told reporters on Wednesday that he hoped that his visit would be a positive influence.
During his visit, Biden said he wants to “talk about what need be done, and try to see if there’s a beginning of a mechanism to bring the folks together.”
“What we want to do is we’ve got to heal,” he said. “We’ve got to put things together, bring people together. And so my purpose in going will be to do just that.”
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