By CHRIS MEGERIAN and ZEKE MILLER
BUFFALO (AP) — President Joe Biden mourned with Buffalo’s grieving households on Tuesday, then exhorted the nation to reject what he angrily labeled the poison of white supremacy. He mentioned the nation should “reject the lie” of the racist “replacement theory” espoused by the shooter who killed 10 Black individuals in Buffalo.
Speaking to victims’ households, native officers and first responders, Biden declared that America’s variety is its power, and warned that the nation should not be be distorted by a “hateful minority.” He promised to “expose” those that promote hateful ideology.
“The American experiment in democracy is in danger like it hasn’t been in my lifetime,” Biden mentioned. “It’s in danger this hour. Hate and fear being given too much oxygen by those who pretend to love America but who don’t understand America.”
He pledged, “In America, evil will not win, I promise you. Hate will not prevail, white supremacy will not have the last word.”
Back on the White House Tuesday night, Biden laid the blame for the Buffalo incident and others not simply on “wackos” who commit hate crimes, but additionally those that “fill their brains with false ideas.”
As lengthy as he’s president, he mentioned, “I’m going to fight like hell and we’re going to expose everybody.”
Biden’s emotional remarks got here after he and first woman Jill Biden paid their respects at a makeshift memorial of blossoms, candles and messages of condolence exterior the Tops grocery store, the place on Saturday a younger man armed with an assault rifle focused Black individuals within the deadliest racist assault within the U.S. since Biden took workplace.
“Jill and I have come to stand with you, and to the families, we have come to grieve with you,” Biden mentioned.
He added: “Now’s the time for people of all races, from every background, to speak up as a majority … and reject white supremacy.”
Replacement idea is a racist ideology, which has moved from white nationalist circles to mainstream, that alleges white individuals and their affect are being deliberately “replaced” by individuals of coloration via immigration and better start charges.
In Buffalo, the president was confronting anew the forces of hatred he ceaselessly says known as him again to hunt the White House.
“It’s important for him to show up for the families and the community and express his condolences,” mentioned Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP. “But we’re more concerned with preventing this from happening in the future.”
It’s unclear how Biden can do this. Proposals for brand new gun restrictions have repeatedly been blocked by Republicans, and racist rhetoric espoused on the fringes of the nation’s politics has solely grown louder.
Asked about gun laws, Biden mentioned on the airport, “It’s going to be very difficult. … I’m not going to give up trying.”
Wayne Jones, whose mom Celestine Chaney was killed within the assault, mentioned he appreciated Biden taking time to satisfy with the households, however he was not optimistic something will probably be achieved in Washington with out an finish to partisan division.
Money is a giant drawback, too, he mentioned. “A lot of money is being made from gun purchases — who needs an AR-15?”
Biden’s condemnation of white supremacy is a message he has delivered a number of instances since he turned the primary president to particularly tackle it in an inaugural speech. However, such beliefs stay an entrenched menace at a time when his administration has been targeted on addressing the pandemic, inflation and the battle in Ukraine.
In his remarks Tuesday, Biden paid tribute to every of the ten individuals who misplaced their lives, describing them as beacons of their group and deeply dedicated to household.
Three extra individuals had been wounded. Nearly all of the victims had been Black, together with all of those that died.
The shooter’s writings echoed these of the white supremacists who marched with torches in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, a scene that Biden mentioned impressed his resolution to run towards President Donald Trump in 2020 and that drove him to affix what he calls the “battle for the soul of America.”
In Buffalo, Payton Gendron, 18, was arrested on the grocery store and charged with homicide. He has pleaded not responsible. His legal professionals declined to remark Tuesday.
Before the capturing, Gendron is reported to have posted on-line a screed overflowing with racism and antisemitism. The author of the doc described himself as a supporter of Dylann Roof, who killed 9 Black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, and Brenton Tarrant, who focused mosques in New Zealand in 2019.
Investigators are Gendron’s connection to what’s referred to as the “great replacement” idea.”
“I condemn those who spread the lie for power, political gain and for profit,” Biden mentioned, stopping wanting naming these he believes accountable for perpetuating it.
The substitute claims are sometimes interwoven with antisemitism, with Jews recognized because the culprits. During the 2017 “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville, white supremacists chanted “Jews will not replace us.”
In the years since Charlottesville, substitute idea has moved from the web fringe to mainstream right-wing politics. A 3rd of U.S. adults consider there’s “a group of people in this country who are trying to replace native-born Americans with immigrants who agree with their political views,” in keeping with a ballot carried out in December by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host, is one distinguished TV one that accuses Democrats of orchestrating mass migration to consolidate their energy.
“The country is being stolen from American citizens,” he mentioned in August of final 12 months. He repeated that theme a month later, saying that “this policy is called the great replacement, the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from faraway countries.”
Carlson’s present routinely receives the very best rankings in cable information, and he responded to the furor Monday night time by accusing liberals of attempting to silence their opponents.
“So because a mentally ill teenager murdered strangers, you cannot be allowed to express your political beliefs out loud,” he mentioned.
His commentary displays how this conspiratorial view of immigration has unfold via the Republican Party forward of this 12 months’s midterm elections, which is able to decide management of Congress.
Facebook ads posted final 12 months by the marketing campaign committee of Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., mentioned Democrats need a “PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION” by granting amnesty to unlawful immigrants. The plan would “overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington.”
Alex DeGrasse, a senior adviser to Stefanik’s marketing campaign, mentioned Monday she “has never advocated for any racist position or made a racist statement.” He criticized “sickening and false reporting” about her ads.
Stefanik is the third-ranking chief of the House Republican caucus, changing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who angered the get together together with her denunciations of Trump after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
Cheney, in a tweet on Monday, mentioned the caucus’ management “has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse.”
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Associated Press writers Robert Bumsted, Karen Matthews and Jennifer Peltz iin New York contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”