On Tuesday, President Joe Biden was in Buffalo, New York, to meet
with community leaders and pay his respects to the victims of a mass shooting that authorities say was racially motivated. The Saturday afternoon attack at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood left ten dead and three wounded.
The president did not hold back in labeling the deadly mass shooting an act of domestic terrorism and directly criticizing the suspected shooter’s racist ideology.
“White supremacy is a poison. It’s a poison…running through our body politic,” Biden said. “And it’s been allowed to grow and fester right before our eyes. No more, no more. We need to say as clearly and as forcefully as we can that the ideology of White supremacy has no place in America. None.”
The president added that “In America, evil will not win, I promise you,” the president continued. “Hate will not prevail. White supremacy will not have the last word. Evil did come to Buffalo. It has come to too many places.”
Biden’s remarks came after he visited a memorial for the victims and the first lady placed a bouquet of flowers at the site. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and other officials also placed flowers at the memorial.
The president also addressed gun violence in America during his remarks calling on Congress to enact stiffer gun control measures.”We can keep assault weapons off our streets,” Biden said. “We’ve done it before.”
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been at least 198 mass shootings in America in 2022, which is defined as four or more people shot, not including the shooter.