The Democratic National Convention is underway, and former Vice President Joe Biden became the party's official nominee for president on Tuesday night. Pre-taped speeches from lawmakers, former presidents and cabinet officials and pundits alike all showed the Democratic Party's leaders rallying around Biden.
Speakers picked apart President Trump's first term in office and propped Biden up as the leader that America needs, but refused to address the elephant in the room: the violence and rioting currently destroying a handful of America's cities. The DNC even gave speaking slots to Mayors Lori Lightfoot of Chicago and Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., while the pair of mayors both did not acknowledge the unrest occurring in the cities that they are supposed to be governing.
In a headline panel on police reform and racial bias, Lightfoot likened violent protests to a need for "economic empowerment."
"It's about economic empowerment," Lightfoot said. "Because if people are lifted out of poverty and they are given an opportunity to feel a stake in their own future, that goes a long way."
Bowser, on the other hand, said that demonstrators in the nation's capital were "peacefully protesting" while President Trump was "plotting."
"While we were peacefully protesting — Donald Trump was plotting"
— Bloomberg (@business) August 18, 2020
Watch LIVE as Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at the DNC https://t.co/2l2nJgS8Gs
Biden tip-toed around the idea of "defunding the police," telling the DNC's audience that "most cops are good." The newly-minted nominee did not acknowledge the violence plaguing cities nationwide and did not draw a distinction between peaceful protesting and violent looting. If the DNC wants to present Biden as a healing candidate, the American people deserve to hear the nominee and party officials denounce the violence encompassing America's cities.