Joe Biden, George Floyd and #BLM: how Biden won the race for presidency.

In this article, I will analyze how Joe Biden used the events of George Floyd and the consecutive rise of the Black Lives Matter movement to win over black voters during the run-up to the 2020 presidential elections. This will be done by means of a discourse analysis of Biden’s tweets in which he mentions George Floyd. Before starting this analysis, I will discuss some important background information on the death of Floyd, racism in America and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

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George Floyd: what happened?

It cannot have escaped your notice: the death of George Floyd on the 25th of May this year. Floyd, an Afro-American man of 46 years old, died as a result of excessive police violence. After allegedly having tried to pay with a counterfeit bill, Floyd was arrested by four white police officers from the Minneapolis Police Department. During his arrest, one of the police officers knelt on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes while he was already handcuffed and on the ground. Despite Floyd’s complaints about being unable to breathe, the officer refused to lift his knee from Floyd’s neck. After his death, two autopsies revealed that Floyd’s death was a result of the neck and back compression enforced by the police officers.

As a result of Floyd’s death, worldwide protests against racism and excessive police violence underwent a huge rise. A day after his death, hundreds of people marched towards the Minneapolis Police while carrying posters and signs with phrases such as “I can’t breathe” and “Black Lives Matter”. In the following days, weeks and even months, numerous American cities went through a period of peaceful protests as well as violent riots. Statues and monuments associated with racism or slavery were destroyed, businesses vandalized and riots violently struck down by police forces. Due to the extent of the protests, the #BLM movement received worldwide awareness and the debate on contemporary racism instigated.

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Contemporary racism in America

The debate on racism is not something that Americans are unfamiliar with as racism towards black people has been around for hundreds of years. During the Atlantic slave trade, almost half a million Africans were transported to what is now called the United States to serve as slaves for the white elite (Eltis, 2008). As a result, slavery became racialized by a system based on African ancestry and skin color (Wood, 2003). From this time onwards, the social groups of us (white Americans) and them (black Afro-Americans) were constructed and kept alive.

As Balibar (2007) mentions, racism is a social phenomenon that inscribes itself in practices, discourses and representations. The practices of violence, humiliation and exploitation of Afro-Americans, the discourse of us versus them and the promotion of segregation to preserve ‘America’s true identity’ that began hundreds of years ago have all contributed to contemporary racism against Afro-Americans.

Although slavery was formally abolished in 1865, the consequences of it are still apparent today. The complete destruction of racism would requirerevolt of its victims, transformation of racists themselves and even decomposition of the community in which racism was created at first (Balibar, 2007).

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The media environment and #BLM

One step in this process towards a world free of racism that has been accomplished multiple times, is the revolt of racism’s victims. However, not every act of revolt has received as much attention as the protests and riots following up Floyd’s death. A huge reason for the enormous attention the #BLM movement received is the contemporary news media environment.

The structure of this environment comes along with new political opportunities for protest organizations, activists and their supporters to communicate independently of mainstream news media. They allow everyone with access to these media to spread their ideas and call for action. Although mainstream media are still important producers of ideas and ideologies, digital media like Facebook and Twitter have acquainted a more prominent position.

A consequence of this is the development of 'citizen journalism'. Citizen journalism is  ordinary people who are caught up in extraordinary events, feel compelled to adopt the role of a professional news reporter (Greer & Mc Laughlin, 2010). Nowadays, almost everyone is equipped with a device that allows them to record and upload content on the internet. From then on, this content can be picked up by other users and disseminated like a virus.

This type of journalism brings 'authenticity', immediacy and realism to news stories because they allow dramatic and visually powerful evidence of real-time events (Greer & Mc Laughlin, 2010). In some cases, citizen journalism develops into digital vigilantism. Trottier (2017) describes digital vigilantism as a process where citizens who are collectively offended by other citizens’ activities, coordinate retaliation on mobile devices and digital platforms. The starting point of digital vigilantism is moral outrage, typically towards an act that has been captured and transmitted via mobile devices and through social platforms (Trottier, 2017). As a result of this outrage, the offended citizens will collectively organize retaliation against the target. The offending acts that are part of this retaliation range from mild actions to the participation in riots.

The performance of citizen journalism and the development into digital vigilantism played a crucial role in the rise of the #BLM movement after Floyd’s death. Darnella Frazier, a 17-year-old, decided to record Floyd’s arrestation as she was on the scene. She broadcasted it live on Facebook which allow anyone on the platform to witness the event.

The video soon caught the attention of thousands of viewers and was shared by other users rapidly. Viewers were outraged by the unnecessary police violence s a result of this outrage, digital vigilantes started to call out the officers involved in Floyd’s arrestation and demanded justice for Floyd. Like-minded individuals were able to connect with each other through online platforms and arranged offline as well as online activism such as the protest march to the Minneapolis police station and the well-known #blackouttuesday on Instagram.

Since Floyd’s death had such a profound impact on a national scale in the United States, it was impossible for American politicians to avoid the debate. Especially during the run-up towards the 2020 presidential elections, it was a topic that could not be left undiscussed.

In the next part of this article, I will discuss how presidential candidate Joe Biden responded to the death of George Floyd and the consecutive rise of the #BLM movement. More specifically, I will analyze how Biden used the situation to win black votes during the run-up to the 2020 presidential elections. This will be done through a discourse analysis of a sample of Biden’s tweets that exists of thirteen tweets in which he mentions George Floyd. Relevant information like the context of these tweets, Twitter as a medium and Joe Biden as a sender will be thoroughly discussed as part of this analysis.

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The 2020 presidential elections

The first point that I would like to address is the time frame, which is very relevant to this analysis. All tweetsanalyzed for this article were posted during the run-up to the 2020 presidential elections. The American elections are known for being accompanied by a long period of election campaign. So, although the actual Election Day wasn’t until November 3rd, the death of Floyd on the 25th of May took place when the battle for presidency was already in full swing.

As the death of Floyd resulted in a wave of protest, riots and debates on contemporary racism, it took over national as well as international mass media. Such issues that dominate the news can directly impact voter appraisals of presidential candidates as voters may approve or disapprove with the way they deal with public issues like these (DiCamillo, 2020). It was therefore very important for the 2020 presidential candidates to publicly proclaim how they felt about the situation.

Floyd's death took place when the battle for presidency was already in full swing. 

This created an opportunity for Biden to win over voters. Although the debate on racism was a hard one to instigate and could backfire as well, it could result in a lot of votes from people of color if he handled it correctly. Especially for Biden, as the Afro-American community already tends to support the Democratic candidate during presidential elections (Chatelain, 2020).

Motivating black people to vote was even more essential as the black voter turnout had seen a decrease over the past elections (Chatelain, 2020). Therefore, Biden had to take the opportunity to convince black voters and motivate them to vote for him on Election Day by showing his support for their community. And so he did. He took a clear stance on his Twitter and publicly supported the #BLM movement, condemned systematic racism and demanded justice for Floyd.

The posts below present some examples of how Biden clearly took a stance against racism and supported the #BLM movement. First of all, he openly shows his disapproval of the excessive police violence that was seen in Floyd’s arrest. He mentions to be grateful for the firing of the Minneapolis police officers that were involved in the arrest of Floyd. He calls their actions, referring to the murder of Floyd, egregious and calls for a thorough FBI investigation. Moreover, he mentions that long past time.

Secondly, Biden shows his support for the #BLM movement. In  27th, Biden refers to the movement by stating “His life mattered”. Lastly, he acknowledges and condemns contemporary racism by stating that systematic racism should have been reversed a long time ago.

Besides focusing on self-promotion by demonstrating his own support for the black community, Biden also tried to undermine his main opponent in the battle for presidency and at that time ruling president Donald Trump. In Biden’s tweet seen below, he expresses aversion for the way Trump spoke about Floyd during one of his speeches. Biden emphasizes the impact that Floyd’s last words had as “I can’t breathe” became a well-known phrase related to Floyd’s death and the #BLM movement. After stating this, he clearly disapproves of Trump putting any other words in Floyd’s mouth by criticizing that act as “frankly despicable”. By doing so, Biden not only aims at positively impacting voter appraisals of himself but simultaneously tries to negatively influence those of Trump.

 

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The medium shapes the message

Not only the time frame but also the medium for communication, in this case being Twitter, is highly relevant to this analysis. Twitter has increasingly become a political battlefield over the years (Blommaert, 2020). A growing number of politicians and political parties have decided to step into the world of social media. But what is their motivation to do so? Research has found that both marketing and dialogue with voters are important motives for political social media use (Enli & Skogerbø, 2013). Politicians’ tweets often include links to articles or interviews about themselves, not to provide new political insights but to self-promote (Parmelee & Bichard, 2011).

Supporting self-promotion by adding links to interviews is something that Biden did as well, as you can see in the cluster of tweets below. Biden has posted four tweets in which he addresses Floyd’s death and refers to speeches of himself discussing the topic. He accompanies these videos with phrases as “Tune in as I address the unfolding situation in Minnesota and the killing of George Floyd”. As talk and image mutually enhance each other, the inclusion of videos is a smart movelike these can complement the statements that Biden makes in his tweets (Goodwin, 1994). This is even more  that the affordances of Twitter only allow for 140 characters per tweet.

Not only has Biden used material representations of himself to invigorate his tweets, he has also included a video of Floyd’s family. In this video, Floyd’s brother reminisces how loving his brother was and that he and other victims of white police brutality should be alive today. Biden accompanies this video with an affirmative statement in which he acknowledges Floyd’s “giving spirit” and the belief that he should still be alive. By using this video in his tweets, he creates a sense of connectedness with the Afro-American community. Moreover, the video is emotionally appealing as it involves Floyd’s brothers who have just lost a loving family member.

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Discursive practices: invigorating statements

Moving forward, I want to zoom in on some of the actual language in Biden’s tweets. In his tweets, multiple discursive practices can be found like coding, highlighting and the use of metaphors. The first thing that I would like to address is the fact that Biden codes the death of Floyd as a murder by saying “… the killing of George Floyd”. By classifying Floyd’s death as a murder, he directly accuses the police officers that were involved for killing Floyd.

He backs up this statement by mentioning “And we need real police reform to ensure this never occurs again”, “I’m grateful for the swift action in Minneapolis to fire the officers involved.” and “It’s a long time past reform policing” in other tweets. By coding the death of Floyd as a killing and by judging the police officer’s acts, Biden publicly acknowledges that Floyd’s death was a result of unjustifiable police violence. This may have a far-reaching impact as coding Floyd’s death as a murder organizes people’s perception of the event (Goodwin, 1994).

Secondly, it is striking how often Biden highlights that victims of police brutality should not be forgotten. By including the names of Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake, he empowers this statement as it shows that it is an extensive problem with numerous victims. In multiple tweets, Biden refers to the importance of taking swift action

s instead of letting it all blow over by stating “We can’t let George Floyd become just another pair of hashtags”. With this metaphor, Biden implies that more action is needed than merely raising attention on social media. It requires more for systematic racism to be reversed than just some hashtags. “This is a moment of action”, Biden states. By announcing this, Biden implies that he is willing to take real action against racism.

Thirdly, Biden metaphorically refers to racism in America in his tweet of May 30th. He says “It’s time for us to take a hard look at uncomfortable truths. It’s time for us to face the deep, open wound we have in this nation”. Although he does not specifically mention racism, his closing sentence “We need justice for George Floyd” gives it all away. The uncomfortable truths and the deep, open wound that Biden comments on refers to the structural racism that has been around for hundreds of years. He implies that, although it is uncomfortable and painful, the problem needs to be faced and solved in order to serve justice to Floyd. This shows Biden’s followers that he is not afraid to face the problems, as comprehensive as they may be.

There is one final tweet that I would like to address since it has not been included in the analysis up until now. In the tweet below, we can again find Biden’s obvious opinion. It is important to note that in this tweet, he makes a very clear distinction between the “black reporter” and the “white police officer”. By including the words black and white, he emphasizes the importance of skin color in this context. He then suggests the innocence of the black reporter by saying “while doing his job” which is followed up by a contrasting accusation of the white police officer as Biden says he “killed George Floyd”. In this tweet, Biden once again shows that he finds it incomprehensible that there is a difference in the way that black and white people are treated. The word choice in this tweet clearly shows that he supports the black reporter and condemns the white police officer.

 

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Joe Biden: power through authority

Before drawing any conclusions, it is important to keep in mind that the sender of a message can influence the effect of this message. As Biden has been a senator since 1973 and served as vice-president during the Obama administration, he is a public figure with political authority in America. According to Becker (1967) this gives Biden the power to define the way things really are as he has a prominent position on the hierarchy of credibility.

This hierarchy of credibility refers to a system of ranked groups, in which members of the highest groups have the right to define, shape and classify things and people (Becker, 1967). Anything told by those at the top of the hierarchy deserves to be regarded as credible by those of lower ranks. Therefore, Biden’s tweets will be regarded as credible by those who have accepted this established order (Becker, 1967). As a result, Biden can be extremely important in the establishment of a new normality in which racism does not belong. By communicating his ideas and beliefs, he can significantly influence those of others.

Biden can be extremely important in the establishment of a new normality in which racism does not belong.

This idea is supported by the belief that a great deal of power and social control is not exercised by physical force but rather by the activities of experts who are accepted to define, describe and classify things and people (Camron, 2001). The practice of defining, describing and classifying is carried out by using language, for instance on social media. To conclude, Biden has the power to influence the beliefs of others due to his political authority and prominent position in the American society. The messages that he distributes will be picked up by a large audience and can be highly influential in debates on the construction of society and racism.

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Was Biden's strategy successfull?

This article aimed to investigate how Joe Biden used the death of George Floyd and the consecutive rise of the #BLM movement to win over black voters. Floyd’s death led to a wave of protests and riots and instigated the debate on contemporary racism. During the run-up to the 2020 presidential elections, this was a topic that could not be left out in the candidates’ campaigns. For Biden, this situation came with opportunities to win over black voters by showing support for their community.

The discourse analysis has demonstrated that Biden clearly took a stance against racism by strongly supporting the black community in tweets where he mentions George Floyd. He did this through statements in which he condemns excessive police violence, acknowledges structural racism and states action must be taken. In some cases, he complemented these statements by material representations or invigorated them with discursive practices. These statements can be highly influential in the public debate on racism as Biden is a public figure with political authority. Biden's opinions and beliefs may be of great importance in the construction of a new normality in which there is no space for racism.

You might wonder if this all helped Biden in his battle for presidency. Well, after days of counting votes, Biden was finally elected as the next president of the United States on the 7th of November. Biden broke the record and received more than 81 million votes. More relevant to this article is the fact that Biden convincingly beat Trump in the number of black voters with a percentage of 87 to 12 (Molyneux, 2020). The total amount of black votes that Biden received even exceeded the amount that Barack Obama received when he was elected as the first ever Afro-American president of the United States. Moreover, the black voter turnout was higher than in the 2016 elections (Stafford, Morrison & Kastanis, 2020). Biden has clearly won the trust of Americans to fight racism together with them. Now all that remains for us is to wait and hope that Biden uses his newly acquired position to add actions to his words.

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References

Balibar, E. (2007). Is there a 'neo-racism'?. Race and racialization: Essential readings, 83.

Becker, H. S. (1967). Whose side are we on?. Social problems, 14(3), 239-247.

Blommaert, J. (January 14, 2020). Twitter politics: the next stage. Diggit Magazine.

Cameron, D. (2001). Working with spoken discourse. London, England: SAGE.

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DiCamillo, M. (2020). Release #2020-11: California voters overwhelmingly prefer Biden to Trump in the November presidential election.

Eltis, D. (2008). Extending the Frontiers: Essays on the New Transatlantic Slave Trade Database. Yale University Press.

Enli, G. S., & Skogerbø, E. (2013). Personalized campaigns in party-centred politics: Twitter and Facebook as arenas for political communication. Information, communication & society, 16(5), 757-774.

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Greer, C., & McLaughlin, E. (2010). We predict a riot? Public order policing, new media environments and the rise of the citizen journalist. The British Journal of Criminology, 50(6), 1041-1059.

Molyneux, J. (2020). The fall of Trump. Irish Marxist Review, 9(28), 3-4.

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Stafford, K., Morrison, A., Kastanis, A. (November 9, 2020). ‘This is proof’: Biden's win reveals power of Black voters. AP News. 

Trottier, D. (2017). Digital vigilantism as weaponisation of visibility. Philosophy & Technology, 30(1), 55-72.

Wood, P. (2003). "The Birth of Race-Based Slavery". Reprinted from "Strange New Land: Africans in Colonial America". Oxford University Press.

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