WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Joe Biden has called on all Americans to condemn white supremacy.
Biden made his call while delivering a speech at Grider Community Center in Buffalo, New York, after paying respect to the victims of Saturday's shooting at a Buffalo supermarket targeting the Black community.
An 18-year-old gunman killed 10 people and wounded three others at the Tops Friendly Markets store in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo. Most of the victims were Black.
Three days after one of the deadliest racist massacres in recent American history occurred, the President and First Lady Jill Biden visited Tops Market memorial.
They later met with family members of the victims, law enforcement and first responders, and local leaders at a community center to offer their condolences and comfort to those affected by the tragedy.
'White supremacy is a poison. It's a poison running through our body politic. And it's been allowed to fester and grow right in front of our eyes,' Biden told the gathering.
'No more. I mean, no more. We need to say as clearly and forcefully as we can that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America,' he added.
Biden said, 'We have to refuse to live in a country where Black people going about a weekly grocery shopping can be gunned down by weapons of war deployed in a racist cause'.
Those who were killed in the shooting included shoppers, grocery workers and a security guard who tried to stop the gunman.
The President called on Congress to take action to keep weapons of war off U.S. streets and keep guns out of the hands of criminals and people who have a serious mental illness that makes them a danger to themselves or others.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressman Brian Higgins who represents Buffalo accompanied the first couple on board Air Force One.
On the ground in Buffalo, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, and Buffalo City Council President Rev. Darius Pridgen joined the President.
Hochul criticized social media platforms for online racism and pledged to get illegal guns off the streets.
Biden had signed a set of executive orders last year aimed at curbing gun violence in the wake of a series of mass shootings that shocked the country.
In spite of tough federal measures, U.S. cities are going through a historic spike in homicides and violence, mainly targeting Black and brown Americans.
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