Biden: Legacy of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Jacob Blake will ‘inspire a new wave of justice in America’

All three had violent encounters with police that prompted one of the largest-scale series of protests since the 1960s. On Memorial Day, Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. Taylor was shot dead on March 13 as officers conducted a raid on her apartment to search for drugs. Blake was shot and paralyzed by police during an incident in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Each event sparked renewed protests across the country. On Tuesday, Seattle marked its 150th day of consecutive protests.

Protests broke out Monday night after police shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr. earlier that afternoon. Police said Wallace was shot after they responded to a call about a man armed with a knife. Video from the incident shows officers ordering Wallace to drop the knife before he was shot. Wallace was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to NBC News.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is investigating the shooting with a police unit tasked with officer-involved shootings, according to CNN.

Walter Wallace Sr. told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his son struggled with mental health issues and was on medication.

“Why didn’t they use a Taser?” he asked. “His mother was trying to defuse the situation.”

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told reporters that the officers involved did not have Tasers.

The protests that followed the shooting led to 30 police officers being injured. Vehicles were set on fire, and stores were looted.

Biden and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris also released a joint statement regarding Wallace’s death, arguing that “we cannot accept that in this country a mental health crisis ends in death” and criticizing the violence that erupted Monday night.

“Our hearts are broken for the family of Walter Wallace Jr., and for all those suffering the emotional weight of learning about another black life in America lost,” they wrote. “It makes the hock and grief and violence of yesterday’s shooting that much more painful.”

“Attacking police officers and vandalizing small businesses, which are already struggling during a pandemic, does not bend the moral arc of the universe closer to justice. It hurts our fellow citizens. Looting is not a protest,” they continued. “It is a crime.”

Biden has not shied away from expressing his support for the Black Lives Matter movement. In a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, Biden said, “Black lives matter. Period. I’m not afraid to say it.”