Jill Biden’s Milwaukee speech interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters – The Badger Herald

Friday night marked Milwaukee’s launch Italian party at Henry Maier Festival Park, returning for the first time since 2019. This year, the First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, joined the celebration and spoke at the opening ceremony at the Aurora Pavilion.

Dr. Biden was greeted by Mayor Cavelier Johnson and Sandy Winard, President of the Italian Community Center of Milwaukee.

The Henry Maier Festival Park was full of Italian-American pride, with Italian and American flags flying high. Biden, who is of Sicilian heritage, used the time to briefly reminisce about her childhood memories with her grandparents.

During her speech, Dr. Biden was interrupted five times by pro-Palestinian protesters shouting from the crowd. Other attendees jumped into action, physically blocking the protesters’ view of the stage as the crowd booed them and began chanting “four more years” in opposition.

Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupt US First Lady Jill Biden’s speech. May 31, 2024.

“Even though (the protests) are a little disturbing, thank God we live in a democracy,” Biden commented after the first protester was removed by law enforcement.

Dr. Biden waited for each interruption to die down before continuing his speech.

“We can talk, you don’t have to yell at me,” Biden said. “We only get things done when we talk.”

In her 17-minute speech, Biden rarely mentioned her husband. Only toward the end did she make a connection between Italian immigrants’ aspirations for a better life in the United States and her husband’s economic strategy, which she described as building the economy “from the middle out and from the bottom up,” giving families a chance to make a good living.

No mention was made of former President Donald Trump, who was found guilty of all 34 felony charges in the May 30 hush-hush filing.