President Biden spoke in Buffalo Tuesday about Saturday’s mass shooting victims at a grocery store patronized mainly by the city’s black community.
Related: Buffalo mass shooting: Gunman facing murder charges after killing 10, wounding others in racist attack at grocery store
“White supremacy is a poison. It’s a poison … running through our body politic,” Biden said. “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 talked about the shooting victims, including Andre Mackniel, who went to the market to buy a birthday cake for his three-year-old son.
“White supremacy is a poison,” President Biden said in Buffalo on Tuesday. “We need to say as clearly and forcefully as we can that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America. None.”
Read a transcript of his speech. https://t.co/Erpx6jHh7B
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 17, 2022
Related: Auburn resident among victims killed in hate crime at Tops supermarket in Buffalo
Earlier in the day, the President and First Lady Jill Biden visited a memorial for the victims. Mrs. Biden laid a wreath of flowers at the memorial. Governor Kathy Hochul, Senators Schumer, Gillibrand, and other top New York officials also laid flowers at the memorial.
Jill and I are in Buffalo to stand with the community and to grieve with the families. As a nation, we must find purpose to live a life worthy of those we lost. We must resolve that from tragedy will come hope and light and life. pic.twitter.com/Om8sTigHXl
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 17, 2022
The President also discussed the problem of gun violence during his Buffalo visit. The Gun Violence Archive reports there have been at least 198 mass shootings this year. Mr. Biden said before leaving Buffalo that getting action on gun control would be difficult, but that he would continue trying.
Meanwhile, the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime. The 18-year-old alleged shooter has reportedly told authorities he was targeting the black community. Payton S. Gendron has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. The US Justice Department and FBI are investigating.
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