A picture of US President Joe Biden kneeling in front of a black child in front of a black child does not show him begging George Floyd’s son for forgiveness. The photo, taken in September 2020, shows Biden kneeling while talking to a child named CJ Brown during a visit to Detroit, Michigan.
Reports making this claim can be found here and here.
The caption on one reads: “” US President Joe Biden kneels around begging George Floyd’s son for forgiveness. The same kneeling position that killed Floyd. The Minneapolis government is allocating $ 27 million to Floyd’s family when alleged killers are on trial ”(here).
Social media users shared the image during the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who last year (here) used his knee to pin a handcuffed Floyd, a Black man, to the ground for more than nine minutes.
The photo, which is available here, was taken on September 9, 2020 by Reuters photographer Leah Millis, while the then Democratic presidential candidate Biden was campaigning in Detroit.
The caption to the photo reads: “Democratic US presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden talks to CJ Brown as he makes a short stop at ‘Three Thirteen’ clothing store to buy some items for his grandchildren while in Detroit in September , Michigan, go visit. 9, 2020. ”
Reuters Fact Check previously denied that Biden was kneeling in front of the American flag in Pennsylvania when he knelt to talk to a child (here).
Reuters also refuted allegations that the then-candidate Biden was kneeling during the American national anthem during an event in Miami, Florida, when he posed for a group photo with a dance group (here).
The wrong photo of Biden and Brown circulated in November 2020, and social media users described the child as Floyd’s daughter (here). AFP conducted a fact-checking of the claims here at the time.
It’s true that Biden addressed Floyd’s six-year-old daughter, Gianna Floyd, in a video played on June 9, 2020 (here) at her father’s funeral in Houston. In the video, Biden said to Gianna, “You’re so brave. Daddy looks down that he’s so proud of you. I know you miss the bear hug, ride on his shoulders so you can touch the air.”
VERDICT
Failure. This image of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden kneeling while talking to a child does not show him begging George Floyd’s son for forgiveness.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.