In his second campaign event of the year, President Joe Biden condemned the “poison” of white supremacy while speaking at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina — the site of the 2015 racist massacre, where nine Black parishioners were shot to death by the white stranger they had invited to join their Bible study:
“The word of God was pierced by bullets and hate, rage, propelled by not just gunpowder but by a poison — poison that has for too long haunted this nation. What is that poison? White supremacy. Oh, it is — it's a poison. Throughout our history, it's ripped this nation apart. This has no place in America — not today, tomorrow, or ever.”
The president’s speech followed his blunt remarks last Friday on the eve of the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, in which he slammed former President Donald Trump for “glorifying” and “laughing about” political violence.
