{"id":14219,"date":"2020-08-26T09:15:14","date_gmt":"2020-08-26T13:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=14219"},"modified":"2020-09-17T10:19:31","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:19:31","slug":"joe-biden-praying-for-jacob-blake-and-his-family-calls-for-full-investigation-of-officers-involved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2020\/08\/joe-biden-praying-for-jacob-blake-and-his-family-calls-for-full-investigation-of-officers-involved","title":{"rendered":"Joe Biden “Praying” For Jacob Blake and His Family, Calls For Full Investigation of Officers Involved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jacob Blake, a Black man shot seven times by police in Wisconsin, is now fighting to survive. In a Facebook post on Monday<\/a>, Democratic Presidential hopeful Joe Biden said he was praying for “Jacob’s recovery and for his children”.<\/p>\n

Blake is now paralyzed, and it would \u201ctake a miracle\u201d for him to walk again, his family\u2019s attorney said Tuesday, while calling for the officer who opened fire to be arrested and others involved to lose their jobs. The shooting of Blake on Sunday in Kenosha \u2014 apparently in the back while three of his children looked on \u2014 was captured on cellphone video and ignited new protests over racial injustice in several cities.<\/p>\n

In his post, Biden called for immediate action, saying a “full and transparent investigation” must be done, and “the officers must be held accountable.”<\/p>\n

“Equal justice has not been real for Black Americans and so many others. We are at an inflection point. We must dismantle systemic racism. It is the urgent task before us. We must fight to honor the ideals laid in the original American promise, which we are yet to attain: That all men and women are created equal, but more importantly that they must be treated equally,” Biden’s post concluded.<\/p>\n

Jacob Blake’s father, also named Jacob Blake, said at a press conference: \u201cSeven times, seven times, like he didn\u2019t matter…But my son matters. He\u2019s a human being and he matters.<\/p>\n

Police have said little about what happened, other than that they were responding to a domestic dispute. The officers involved have not been named. The Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating.<\/p>\n

The incident comes just three months after the death of George Floyd, which set off protests around the nation.<\/p>\n