US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has begun a visit to the key state of Wisconsin by meeting with the family of Jacob Blake, the black man whose shooting by a white police officer sparked days of sometimes violent protests.
Mr Biden spent more than an hour in private with Mr Blake's father, Jacob Blake Sr, his siblings, and one of his lawyers, B'Ivory LaMarr.
Mr Blake's mother Julia Jackson and another lawyer, Ben Crump, joined by phone.
Mr Blake remains hospitalised after being shot seven times in the back as authorities tried to arrest him.
After the meeting, Mr Biden told a gathering of Kenosha community members about the impression Mr Blake's family left on the Democratic nominee.
Joe Biden exits a building after meeting with relatives of Jacob Blake at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. Source: AP
"What I came away with was the overwhelming sense of resilience and optimism that they had about the kind of response they're getting," Mr Biden said from Grace Lutheran Church.
Mr Biden said he was "optimistic". “I promise you, win or lose, I’m going to go down fighting. I’m going to go down fighting for racial equality, equity across the board.”
“Don’t tell me things can’t change,” he added, referring to his time as vice president under President Barack Obama. “I thought you could defeat hate. Hate only hides.”
The trip, Mr Biden's first to Wisconsin of the general election campaign, is intended to draw sharp contrasts with US President Donald Trump.
Mr Biden is seeking to portray himself as a unifying figure, able to lead the country through a reckoning with systemic racism along with the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout.
Mr Trump didn't meet with the Blake family when he visited Kenosha earlier this week.
Mr Biden is expected to follow his private meeting with a public discussion later on Thursday with community representatives in a city still reeling from Blake's shooting and the protests.
Reflecting that his trip comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Biden wore a mask as he arrived in Milwaukee.
Yet he broke his usual health protocols to shake hands with a campaign staffer.
Ahead of his visit to Wisconsin, Mr Biden called for the officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times to be charged.
The shooting sparked days of unrest in the small city of Kenosha in the midwestern state, during which two people were killed, although tensions have calmed in recent days.
"Let's make sure justice is done," Mr Biden said, weighing in on the ongoing investigation.
US President Donald Trump was in Kenosha on Tuesday and pledged support for law enforcement and local businesses hit by looting.
The shooting is still under investigation, with police indicating there was an altercation during an attempt to arrest Mr Blake.
Mr Trump has been hoping for months to shift the election battle against Mr Biden - from a verdict on his widely panned handling of the coronavirus pandemic to what he sees as far more comfortable territory of law and order.
Police attempt to push back protesters outside the Kenosha County Courthouse (AAP) Source: AAP
"These are not acts of peaceful protest but really domestic terror," Mr Trump said after touring damage in the city, describing multiple nights of angry demonstrations last week that left two people dead.
Democrats and police reform advocates see Kenosha as a symbol of institutional racism.
They see Rittenhouse, a Trump supporter, as emblematic of right-wing militias that are increasingly brazen about brandishing weaponry in political settings and attempting to act as amateur law enforcers.
Mr Trump, however, comes with a different priority: countering what he has repeatedly described as the "anarchy" in Democratic-led cities.
But Mr Trump controversially has refused to condemn the growing presence of armed vigilantes and militias on the streets, calling the alleged killings by Rittenhouse "an interesting situation."
Mr Trump has accused Mr Biden of weakness on the spate of violent protests in cities like Kenosha and Portland, seeking to paint the Democrat as incapable of controlling the party's left wing.
