ZitatPresumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is facing growing pressure from activists and party leaders to pick a nonwhite running mate in the wake of explosive incidents involving race and police violence that have stoked widespread outrage.
Biden has pledged to select a woman, prompting leading Democrats to publicly and privately promote several high-profile women of color for the job. Those calls have grown louder this week following the death of a black man in police custody in Minneapolis, a racist conflict in a New York City park and the fatal shooting of a black jogger in Georgia.
Biden’s recent suggestion that African American voters who aren’t already supporting him “ain’t black” and the coronavirus’s disproportionate effect on nonwhite communities have added to the pressure.