White House summit aims for end of hate-fueled violence
WASHINGTON — A grocery store in Buffalo. A nightclub in Orlando. A Walmart in El Paso: All sites of hate-fueled violence against Black, Hispanic or LGBTQ Americans over the past five years. And all somber symbols of a “through line” of hate that must be rooted out, President Joe Biden said Thursday.
The administration gathered educators, faith leaders and others who have experienced violence firsthand for a discussion on how stop the violence, and promised action.
In 2020, hate crimes in the U.S. were the highest in more than a decade, and the Justice Department has pledged to increase efforts to counter it. Now, political violence fueled by lies about the 2020 election is overlapping with hate crimes: A growing number of ardent Donald Trump supporters seem ready to strike back against the FBI or others whom they believe are going too far in investigating the former president.
Biden spoke of a hate “through-line” that, along with racism, bigotry and violence, has long plagued the nation. Hate never goes away, he said, it only hides. And it is up to everyday Americans to stop giving it any air and to stamp it out.
“All forms of hate fueled by violence have no place in America,” he said.
On Thursday, Biden briefly mentioned the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as a moment that didn’t reflect “who we are” as a nation. And he said that hate had been given too much oxygen in politics, media and on the internet lately.
“The violence and the haters are in a minority . ... Unless we speak out, it’s going to continue,” he said.
Biden pointed to new federal efforts to help schools, local law enforcement agencies and cultural institutions prevent and respond to such violence. He also called on Congress to impose stronger transparency requirements on social media companies, whose platforms allow anonymous users to proliferate hate.
Law enforcement officials nationwide are warning and being warned about rising threats and the potential for violent attacks on federal agents or buildings in the wake of the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.