Biden in Buffalo decries racist hate, urges nation to reject white supremacy

President Joe Biden is joined by First Lady Jill Biden at the Delavan Grider Community Center in Buffalo today. (Photos by Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

BUFFALO – President Joe Biden was in Buffalo today to mourn with the families who lost loved ones on Saturday in a mass shooting at a Tops grocery store.

Biden also delivered remarks at the Delavan Grider Community Center in Buffalo and decried the “domestic terrorism” from the 18-year-old gunman from the Binghamton area.

That man, who surrendered to police and is in custody, targeted the store because it’s in a predominantly Black neighborhood. The gunman drove 200 miles to attack innocent people in a grocery store.

President Joe Biden greets a child while in Buffalo today.

Biden rebuked the white supremacy ideology that authorities say fueled the attack and poisoned the mind of the gunman.

Biden said “angry, alienated, lost and isolated individuals” are being radicalized into believing “replacement theory,” which depicts minorities as threats to overtaking white people. Biden faulted the media, political figures and the internet for fueling these thoughts.

“I call on all Americans to reject the lie, and I condemn those who spread the lie for power, political gain and for profit,” Biden said.

The president said he will call on Congress to keep assault weapons off the streets and fight how the internet is often used “to recruit and mobilize terrorism.” He called on Americans to reject white supremacy.

“In America evil will not win,” Biden said. “I promise you. Hate will not prevail, and white supremacy will not have the last word.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, U.S. Senate Majority leader Charles Schumer, and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also spoke at the Delavan Grider Community Center. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Congressman Brian Higgins also gave remarks.

“This should not just provoke a conversation in this community, this needs to stimulate a national conversation about how we make sure that we’re doing everything we humanly can to eradicate this evil and send it back under the rock from which it came,” Hochul said. “That is what we must do in our nation; continue to work on the access to guns. Yes, the gun he acquired was illegal in the state of New York, but it still had the capacity to kill people. But you couple that with an illegal magazine from another state you brought in literally minutes away in Pennsylvania. Do you know how easy that is? That’s why we need a national gun policy that’s common sense like we have here in New York. We need this everywhere.”