Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden visited Thursday with the Blake family amid rising scrutiny and criticism over Jacob Blake Sr.’s apparent history of anti-Semitic and racially charged social-media posts.
Mr. Blake’s son Jacob S. Blake was shot and seriously injured during an Aug. 23 arrest by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, touching off protests and rioting, and prompting the visit from the Democratic presidential candidate with Blake family members at the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
The meeting took place as details emerged on the “Jacob Blake” account on Facebook, which showed the father’s photo and included the Aug. 23 post, “My son is alive and stable.”
Earlier posts accused Jews of controlling the media and financial institutions; mocked White people as “crackers” and “pink toes;” described certain women as “hoes,” and expressed support for the Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan.
“The same pink toe Jewish people that control the interest rate control the interest rate they control Minds and money,” Mr. Blake Sr. posted on Nov. 6, 2017.
Other posts from 2017-19 included the messages, “I’m with Farrakhan,” “A jew can’t tell me shit period,” “The Jewish media picks and chooses who is a terrorist and [who] is not,” “A cracker jew can do whatever to a white woman for years but let a jig try it,” and “One day pink toes will burn frfr,” which stands for “for real for real.”
His Facebook and Instagram accounts remained available for viewing as of Thursday morning. A list of the posts was compiled by several media outlets, including Breitbart and Heavy.com.
The litany of anti-Semitic comments was condemned Thursday primarily by conservatives, including Donald Trump Jr., who tweeted, “Is Joe Biden still going to meet with this man?”
Is Joe Biden still going to meet with this man?Jacob Blake Sr. Has Long History of Racist, Antisemitic, Anti-Christian Posts; Set to Meet Joe Biden https://t.co/Tp607VTHXy
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 3, 2020
Mr. Biden and his wife Jill Biden met with members of the Blake family in the aftermath of the shooting of Jacob S. Blake, 29, who was paralyzed, perhaps permanently, after being shot in the back seven times, according to Blake family attorneys.
The Kenosha police were called to a home by a woman who said he had taken the keys to his car and refused to return them.
Jacob S. Blake had a warrant for his arrest based on a July charge of third-degree sexual assault, and was shot as he opened the driver’s side door, where there was a knife on the floorboard, by Officer Rusten Sheskey, according to state authorities.
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) September 3, 2020
Jacob Blake Sr., who has been active in Black Lives Matter protests since the shooting, also criticized in his posts President Trump, police officers, and the Catholic Church, with a number of comments blasting the church over the pedophilia scandal.
Other disparaging comments were directed at well-known women, including former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, saying, “Sarah Sanders has to be the ugliest woman in the world no questions asked,” in a post dated Jan. 25, 2019.
In a post on Nov. 16, 2018, he called former Clinton White House intern Monica Lewinsky a “hoe,” adding, “she gets no sympathy because a hoe is a hoe.”
Four Blake family members, including Jacob Blake Sr., attended the private meeting with the Bidens in person, while Julia Jackson, Jacob S. Blake’s mother, participated by phone.
Three attorneys representing the Blakes — Ben Crump, Patrick Salvi and B’Ivory LaMarr — also took part in the visit, which lasted an hour, according to the pool report.
The Bidens were scheduled to attend a community event in Kenosha after the meeting.
• David Sherfinski contributed to this report.
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