By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
In the face of a sustained Republican campaign to stoke fears among white voters, Vice President Kamala Harris remains resolute, highlighting her trailblazing achievements and defending her legacy against racially charged attacks. Prominent figures within the Republican Party have continued the GOP’s attempt to cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s ability to complete a potential second term, equating a vote for him with a de facto endorsement of Harris as president. Former South Carolina Governor and GOP Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley asserted, “A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris,” while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, positioning himself as a contender for the 2024 presidential race, labeled Harris as “impeachment insurance.” “They feel the need to attack because they’re scared that we will win based on the merit of the work that Joe Biden and I, and our administration, has done,” Harris responded. She further emphasized the historic barriers she has shattered throughout her career, including being the first woman district attorney in San Francisco and the first Black woman to serve as California’s attorney general. When questioned about her readiness to assume the highest office, if necessary, Harris affirmed her preparedness while expressing confidence in Biden’s leadership. “Joe Biden is going to be fine. Let me tell you something: I work with Joe Biden every day,” she told CBS News. “The work that our administration has accomplished under Joe Biden’s leadership is transformative.”
Students walking across Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass.
By: Michael Mitsanas, NBC News
The Education Department is investigating Harvard University’s use of legacy admissions following a complaint from advocacy groups alleging that the practice violates federal civil rights law. In a letter Monday, the department notified an attorney for Lawyers for Civil Rights, which filed the complaint against Harvard this month, that it had opened a probe into the school’s admissions process. An Education Department spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that its Office for Civil Rights is investigating Harvard for possible violations of Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act but declined to provide additional comment. “We do not comment on open investigations,” the spokesperson said. A 31-page complaint, filed July 3 by the Greater Boston Latino Network and other advocacy groups, argued legacy admissions at Harvard systematically disadvantage applicants of color and contradict the university’s stated commitment to campus diversity. The complaint argues that the need to end so-called legacy admissions — the practice of giving preferential treatment to the children or other relatives of alumni in college or university admissions — is particularly acute at Harvard after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action programs at two universities, ending the systematic consideration of race in the admissions process. In the court filing, the advocacy groups asked the Education Department to declare that Harvard must end the practice if it is to continue to receive federal funds and argued that legacy admissions “are not justified by any educational necessity.” “Harvard cannot show that the use of these preferences is necessary to achieve any important educational goal,” the filing said. “To the contrary, the preferential treatment is conferred without regard to the applicant’s credentials or merits — the benefit is derived simply from being born into a particular family.” Asked to respond to the legal groups’ allegations and comment on the federal investigation, Nicole Rua, a spokesperson for the university, said Harvard is conducting a wide-ranging review of “aspects of our admissions policies” in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling. “Harvard remains dedicated to opening doors to opportunity and to redoubling our efforts to encourage students from many different backgrounds to apply for admission,” Rua said in a statement. Legacy admissions at Harvard, along with other universities, have come under increased scrutiny since the court’s ruling — President Joe Biden said last month that legacy admissions “expand privilege instead of opportunity.” The NAACP called on universities to end the practice this month, arguing that it unfairly advantages white applicants. The July 3 complaint cites Harvard data, released after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action, indicating that 70% of the university’s donor-related and legacy applicants are white and that they are six times more likely to be admitted. “A spot given to a legacy or donor-related applicant is a spot that becomes unavailable to an applicant who meets the admissions criteria based purely on his or her own merit,” the complaint said. If legacy and donor preferences were removed, it adds, “more students of color would be admitted to Harvard.”
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
Former President Donald Trump is now criminal defendant Donald Trump. For at least several moments on Tuesday, April 4, Trump was placed under arrest. His Miranda rights read, and fingerprints taken, but authorities spared him a mugshot and customary perp walk. Still, as he headed to the 15th floor courtroom at 100 Centre Street downtown, Trump joined the nearly 8,000 other non-violent felony defendants who have been arraigned in Manhattan so far in 2023. Shortly before 2 p.m. EST, Trump became the first former U.S. President arrested and criminally charged. This after becoming the first to have been impeached twice. “Can’t believe this is happening,” Trump posted as he headed into a courtroom where he found, perhaps for the first time in his adult life, that he wasn’t in control of the proceedings in front of him. It’s an ironic, if not predictable, fall for a man who campaigned in 2016 by mercilessly leading chants of “Lock her up,” against Democrat Hillary Clinton. And as unprecedented and surreal was the arrest, the charges leveled against the bombastic MAGA leader reveal what prosecutors claim is a man who operated as if he were above the law for a long time – including when he ruled the Oval Office. Indeed, the freshly unsealed indictment brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg included 34 criminal charges – all felonies related to falsifying business records, including several relating to allegedly making hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Judge Juan Merchan, a former prosecutor with 16 years on the bench, unsealed Indictment No. 71543-23, after Trump’s team reviewed them. Bragg alleged that Trump falsified business records to hide other crimes, including illegally pumping up his presidential campaign with ill-gotten cash. Specifically, the indictment alleges that Trump conspired with others to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election, a contest in which Trump defeated Clinton. Prosecutors alleged that Trump took part in an unlawful “catch and kill” scheme that included an illegal $130,000 payment he ordered to suppress information that would hurt his presidential campaign. Trump allegedly violated state and local election laws, making the charges a felony. The charges potentially carry a four-year prison sentence, which could mean that Trump, the current GOP 2024 presidential frontrunner, has entered a race that could end with him either in the White House or in prison. Despite an apparent somber mood displayed by Trump which signaled just how weighty the proceedings were, his campaign released a fundraising email seeking contributions of at least $47 for a T-shirt that contained a fake mugshot of the ex-president emblazoned with the words “Not Guilty.” Reportedly, Trump has raised more than $10 million in campaign contributions since word of an indictment spread. With security a big issue in the ex-president’s arraignment, prosecutors in Atlanta and Washington continue to investigate Trump, which could also lead to criminal charges, were provided the ability of witnessing how New York handles a case involving a divisive former commander in chief in a safe and drama-free way could be a critical test case. The potential cases against Trump in Atlanta and Washington relate to the former president’s interference in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia and the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill that left several people dead. Many top Republicans, including some of Trump’s potential rivals in next year’s GOP presidential primary, have criticized the case against him. President Joe Biden, who has yet to announce that he’s seeking reelection next year, and other leading Democrats have primarily had little to say about it. Trump is scheduled to return to Manhattan for a second court date in December. Prosecutors insist their case against Trump has nothing to do with politics. “Manhattan is home to the country’s most significant business market,” Bragg stated. “We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct. As this office has done time and time again, we today uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law.”
President Joe Biden on Friday awarded the Medal of Honor to retired Army Colonel Paris Davis, some sixty years after his superior officers recommended him for the nation’s highest honor. However, the Army lost the recommendations twice, and some believe racism may have played a role.
President Biden draped the Metal of Honor around Davis, who was awarded for fighting in Vietnam during a packed event at the White House.
Davis was captain and commander of the 5th Special Forces Group, one of the few Blacks in command.
He was engaged in a continuous pre-dawn raid on a contingent of the North Vietnamese army encamped in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province.
Davis fought in hand-to-hand combat with the North Vietnamese and thwarted the capture of three American soldiers. He also sprinted across open rice paddies to rescue members of his troop. His entire team survived “That world gallantry is not much used these days,” Biden said. “But I can think of no better word to describe Paris.” Colonel Davis retired in 1985 and faced segregation in Virginia.
He also wondered why he had never heard about the recommendation he received for the Medal of Honor. He was awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest combat medal, but his team members said his Black skin was a factor in the disappearance of the Medal of Honor recommendation.
Davis had been recommended for the Medal of Honor after the battle in 1965. Nine years later, a second nomination was submitted, but it also was lost. Army service members said there was no evidence of racism, but former President Bill Clinton said Black men were not recommended for the Medal of Honor in World War II. He then listed several Black men who received the Silver Star but were denied the Medal of Honor often given the Silver Star, a high honor, but not the Medal of Honor.
In 1997, President Clinton presented the Medal of Honor to seven African Americans who had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
In 2021, Christopher Miller, then acting defense secretary, ordered an expedited review of Davis’ Case.
Several weeks ago, President Biden called Davis, now 83, telling him he would receive the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony.
SELMA, AL – “We are so proud and appreciative that President Joe Biden, the 46th President of these United States of America, is speaking at the 30th Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee to commemorate the 58th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the Selma to Montgomery March and the passage of the1965 Voting Rights Act.
“It means a lot whenever a President comes to Selma for the Jubilee, but it is especially meaningful in light of the devastation wrought by the January 12th tornado that tore a terrible path through Selma,” said former Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders, co-founder of the Selma to Montgomery March Commemoration Foundation and co-founder of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee. Faya Rose Toure, the co-founder and Executive Director of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee said: “These are tough times in Selma. It is tough because of all the challenges Selma was already facing, which the January 12, 2023 tornado compounded and intensified. We needed President Biden to come this year more than ever, and he is coming. Many people come and cross the Bridge, but we need people to be a bridge to Selma. President Biden’s coming at this critical time tells us that he understands the need to not only cross the Bridge but also become bridges to Selma.” Congresswoman Terri Sewell in a press release, said, ““I am thrilled that President Biden will visit Selma for the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, As Selma continues to recover from the January 12th storms, President Biden’s presence will send a clear message that our community is not alone and shows that the federal government will continue to be a partner in rebuilding Selma and Dallas County. I look forward to welcoming the President to my hometown as we reflect on the sacrifices of the Foot Soldiers in the name of equality and justice for all.”
Dr. James Mitchell, President of Wallace Community College Selma and co-founder and chair of the Selma to Montgomery March Foundation said: “The Bridge Crossing Jubilee is the largest annual Civil Rights and Voting Rights gathering in the country, and Biden has participated in several Jubilees, Martin & Coretta King Unity Breakfasts and Bridge Crossings.
“In 2013, then-Vice President Biden came to Selma’s Bridge Crossing Jubilee at our invitation and was the keynote speaker at the 2013 Annual Martin & Coretta King Unity Breakfast. He also spoke at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge as Vice President and led marchers across the Bridge in 2013. Biden came again in 2020 as a candidate for President of the United States on the Sunday after he overwhelmingly won the 2020 South Carolina Presidential Democratic Primary.
“He first spoke as President of the United States when he delivered virtual remarks at the first ever drive in Martin & Coretta King Unity Breakfast in 2021, which was also broadcast live on the internet during the heart of the pandemic. Joe Biden understands Selma’s pivotal role in democracy and the sacredness of Bloody Sunday, so it is especially meaningful that he is returning in person as President of the United States this Sunday.” The White House publicly confirmed this morning that President Biden will travel to Selma on Sunday, March 5th, to commemorate the 58th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Specific details are to follow. With his coming this year, President Biden will be the third sitting President of the United States to speak at the foot of Edmund Pettus Bridge during the Bridge Crossing Jubilee. President Bill Clinton came in 2000 for the 35h Anniversary of Bloody Sunday. President Barack Obama came in 2015 for the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday. And now President Biden will be here this Sunday for the 58th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday to speak at the Bridge and lead marchers over the Bridge during the sacred and symbolic Bloody Sunday March. At the Selma to Montgomery March Foundation’s invitation, President Biden had been slated to speak at the Bridge during last year’s Commemoration of Bloody Sunday but sent Vice President Kamala Harris to speak at the Bridge after Russia invaded Ukraine. For more information on the schedule for the March 2 to 6, 2023, Bridge Crossing Jubilee, Visit our website at: bridgecrossingjubilee.com.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
In a filing sent to the U.S. Supreme Court this week, the Department of Justice agreed with President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive student loans. In 2022, the president promised to forgive all outstanding student loan debt for millions of borrowers, up to a maximum of $20,000 each. Republicans are leading the way in suing the federal government to stop the plan. The Department of Justice, however, said last week in a court filing that Biden’s actions are perfectly legal. Lawyers from the Department of Justice said that Congress gave the president “clear permission” to go ahead with his plan. A federal judge in Texas invalidated a program in October that would have helped 40 million people with their student loan debt. Two people who didn’t qualify for aid under Biden’s scheme sued the initiative on behalf of the conservative Job Creators Network Foundation. At the time, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the government strongly disagreed. “The President and this Administration are determined to help working and middle-class Americans get back on their feet, while our opponents, backed by extremist Republican special interests, have sued to prohibit millions of Americans from getting much-needed relief,” Jean-Pierre remarked. The HEROES Act of 2003, according to the White House, gives the Secretary of Education the authority to forgive student debt. “The program is consequently an illegal exercise of Congress’s legislative power and must be vacated,” wrote Judge Mark Pittman, a Donald Trump nominee. “In this country, we are not dominated by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone,” he continued. Federal student loan debt of up to $10,000 will be forgiven for borrowers with yearly incomes of less than $125,000 in 2020 or 2021, and up to $200,000 for married couples or heads of households. Borrowers who also got a federal Pell grant might have up to $20,000 in their loans discharged. Six states with Republican governors sued to stop Biden’s plan to forgive debts. This made the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put a hold on the plan. One plaintiff in Texas lost her right to have her federal student loans forgiven because the federal government did not service her loans. Since the other plaintiff did not obtain a Pell award, the amount of debt relief to which he is entitled is just $10,000. They said they had no way of voicing their disapproval of the program’s regulations because the administration had not followed the Administrative Procedure Act’s notice and comment rule-making procedure. Elaine Parker, president of the Job Creators Network Foundation, stated in a statement, “This verdict supports the rule of law which requires all Americans to have their voices heard by their federal government.” According to CNN’s reporting, Bernie Marcus, the former CEO of Home Depot, and a key Trump donor, established the Job Creators Network Foundation. Two challenges challenging Biden’s debt relief plan will be argued before the Supreme Court in February. In February, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases. In its petition, the Justice Department said, “The lower courts’ decisions have wrongly taken away the Secretary’s legislative authority to give targeted student loan debt relief to borrowers affected by national emergencies.”
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
President Joe Biden said he promised to lower costs for families and ensure that all Americans have access to quality affordable health care. On Tuesday, Dec. 27, the president proclaimed that he’d delivered on that promise. A record number of people – nearly 11.5 million – signed up for insurance on HealthCare.gov – about 1.8 million more and an 18% increase over last year. With enrollment remaining open through Jan. 15, and not counting those who signed up for coverage through their state marketplaces, Biden said gains like those have helped to drive down the uninsured rate to eight percent, the lowest level in U.S. history. “In recent days, we received further proof that our efforts are delivering record results and bringing families the peace of mind that comes with health insurance,” the President stated. “Right now, four out of five people who sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act can find health care coverage for $10 a month or less. These lower rates were set to expire at the end of this year, but thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, we were able to extend them and save millions of Americans on Obamacare an average of $800 a year.” The Biden administration noted that, on Jan. 1, Americans will see the benefits of additional cost-saving measures because of the Inflation Reduction Act. That includes seniors realizing a month’s supply of insulin capped at $35, Medicare beneficiaries paying $0 out of pocket for recommended adult vaccines covered by their Part D plan, and prescription drug companies needing to pay Medicare a rebate if they try to raise their prices faster than inflation for drugs administered at a doctor’s office. “We’re not finished working to make health care a right, not a privilege,” Biden declared. The administration continues to encourage individuals to visit HealthCare.gov by Jan. 15 to take advantage of lower rates and sign up for health care for the coming year.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
President Joe Biden will host leaders from across the African continent in Washington during a three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit beginning on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Senior administration officials said the Summit will demonstrate the United States’ enduring commitment to Africa and will underscore the importance of U.S.-Africa relations and increased cooperation on shared global priorities. Africa will shape the future — not just the future of the African people, but of the world, an administration official stated. White House officials further stated that Africa will “make the difference in tackling the most urgent challenges and seizing the opportunities we all face.” “I look forward to working with African governments, civil society, diaspora communities across the United States, and the private sector to continue strengthening our shared vision for the future of U.S.-Africa relations,” Biden said in statement. Fifty African delegations from 49 countries are expected to gather and engage in discussions that include governance, investment, development, climate change, and health. Brukina Faso, Mali, Guinea, and Sudan were not invited because the African Union suspended those nations and Eritrea also won’t have representation because America doesn’t have diplomatic relations with that nation. In a press briefing, a senior administration official said America plans to announce, “major deliverables and initiatives.” “This is also about defining a global agenda together where there are opportunities where Africans should – will, must – sit at the table and help us work through some of the most difficult challenges in this consequential decade,” the official stated. The summit will explore how America can work with African governments on security challenges, and a senior official said the Pentagon already is taking a three-pronged approach – blending defense, development, and diplomacy – to address African security challenges. Discussions also are expected to center on finances, morality, and other hot-button topics like human rights. “While we do not wish to make our African partners choose sides, the U.S. strives to be the partner of choice by offering relationships based on mutual respect and values,” an official from the U.S. Department of Defense stated. “By providing higher quality products and services and by working together with our partners on issues that are important to them. We are confident that our relationship will bring about long-term stability and prosperity.” Senior administration officials said Biden’s foreign policy is “rooted in values – values like promoting human rights. Human rights will always be on the agenda, and the president will not shy away from raising these issues with any foreign leader anywhere in the world.”
WASHINGTON — New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the fourth-ranking House Democrat, said Friday that he will run to replace House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the party’s leader after Republicans took back control of the chamber in last week’s midterm elections. His announcement in a letter to colleagues came a day after Pelosi said in a powerful floor speech that she is stepping down after a two-decade reign as the top leader of House Democrats.
If Jeffries is successful, it would represent a historic passing of the torch: Pelosi made history as the first female speaker of the House, while Jeffries, the current Democratic Caucus chairman, would become the first Black leader of a congressional caucus and highest-ranking Black lawmaker on Capitol Hill. If Democrats were to retake control of the House — a real possibility with Republicans having such a narrow majority — Jeffries would be in line to be the first Black speaker in the nation’s history. The ascension of the 52-year-old Jeffries to minority leader would also represent generational change. Pelosi and her top two deputies — Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. — are all in their 80s and are receiving from within the party for “new blood” in leadership; Hoyer will not seek another leadership post while Clyburn plans to stay on and work with the next generation. Reps. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., are seeking to round out the new leadership team, announcing Friday that they will run for the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in leadership. Clark, 59, announced a bid for Democratic Whip, while Aguilar, 43, is running for Democratic Caucus Chair. Pelosi endorsed all three to succeed her leadership team in a statement Friday, saying they are “ready and willing to assume this awesome responsibility.” Clyburn has also endorsed the three, while Hoyer backed Jeffries for leader on Thursday. “In the 118th Congress, House Democrats will be led by a trio that reflects our beautiful diversity of our nation,” Pelosi said. “Chair Jeffries, Assistant Speaker Clark and Vice Chair Aguilar know that, in our Caucus, diversity is our strength and unity is our power.” Clyburn, a towering figure in the caucus and close ally of President Joe Biden, called his protege Jeffries “absolutely fantastic” and signaled support for a full slate of younger set of leaders taking the reins of the Democratic leadership apparatus: Jeffries, Clark, and Aguilar
President Biden and First Lady lay flowers at memorial to the shooting victims in Buffalo, NY
By Hazel Trice Edney
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – As President Joe Biden stood amidst the heartbroken in Buffalo, N.Y. calling White supremacy a “poison” in the U.S., historians and scholars of America’s racism not only agreed with him, but outlined specifically how America must change.
“The FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Justice Department have all confirmed that the primary domestic terrorism threat comes from racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists who advocate for the superiority of the white race,” writes the Southern Poverty Law Center, a foremost authority on hate in America, in response to the killing of 10 predominately Black shoppers by a White 18-year-old in Buffalo Saturday.
The President, accompanied by First Lady Jill Biden, flew into New York Tuesday operating in the roll of comforters-in-chief. According to an account from the White House, “the President and First Lady 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 this tragedy.”
He declared in a speech: “What happened here is simple and straightforward: Terrorism. Terrorism. Domestic terrorism…Violence inflicted in the service of hate and the vicious thirst for power that defines one group of people being inherently inferior to any other group.”
The killer, Payton Gendron, went into the TOPS grocery store where predominately Black family members did their regular shopping on a daily basis. On Saturday, people were preparing for Sunday dinners, birthday parties or just stopping by the store for snacks and supplies. Gendron shot people in the parking lot on the way in and then proceeded to fire the gun inside, killing more people with a rifle speckled with writing, including racial slurs.
Before he was arrested, he had killed 10 people and injured three others. According to widespread reports, a manager had asked Gendron to leave the store the day before the killings as he loitered inside. He was also investigated by state police less than a year ago after authorities at his high school reported that he made threatening remarks concerning a murder/suicide. He was then examined by a mental hospital but was not charged.
On Tuesday, Biden called on the community to support the victims and survivors and to take action to prevent future tragedies. Namely, he called on Americans to reject the racist white “replacement theory” believed to have inspired the gunman behind the tragic Buffalo shooting and other shootings.
According to a statement by the SPLC, “the attack in Buffalo is the direct result of white nationalist propaganda, specifically the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, being promoted and now mainstreamed by major public figures. This false notion — that white people are being systematically replaced by Black people, immigrants and Jews — has deep historical roots but has gained traction in recent years. And with that traction has come violence, both physical and political.”
The SPLC statement continues, “In recent years we have seen multiple white gunmen commit horrific acts of violence against people of color, Jews, Muslims and immigrants, justified on the premise of the false conspiracy narrative. This time it took an 18-year-old extremist driving over 200 miles to murder 10 innocent people and injure three others – the vast majority who were Black – to bring this lie and its deadly consequences to the national forefront.”
Biden’s appeal for Americans to take stands against White supremacy and to speak up against the wrong of racism, is not enough, he said.
The SPLC agrees. The organization made several recommendations to end the repeated terrorist attacks:
•”It is especially important that politicians, civic leaders and law enforcement officials repudiate dangerous and false conspiracy theories like the ‘great replacement’ theory, which has now moved from far-right extremist spaces into the political mainstream. Despite its clearly violent implications, far too many politicians and pundits now repeat the myth regularly.”
•”Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, should provide more resources for programs and processes for early intervention. Programs in these areas should focus on extended support for victims, survivors and targeted communities more broadly, as the trauma resulting from racially motivated violence often reverberates widely.”
•”Congress should immediately enact the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act (S.964/H.R. 350) to establish offices within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to monitor, investigate and prosecute cases of domestic terrorism — and require regular reports from these offices.”
•”Tech companies must create — and enforce — terms of service and policies to ensure that social media platforms, payment service providers and other internet-based services do not provide forums where hateful activities and extremism can grow and lead to domestic terrorism. Social media platforms and online payment service providers must act to disrupt the funding of hate online to prevent their services from helping to incubate and bankroll terrorists and extremism,” The SPLC recommended.
Meanwhile, in Buffalo, Biden read off the names of each of the dead, giving brief descriptions of their errands that day or something about their lives: As a nation, I say to the families: We remember them. We’ve been reading about them. We visited the memorial where…the show of the love for them.:
•“Celestine Chaney, 65 years old. Brain cancer survivor. Churchgoer. Bingo player. Went to buy strawberries to make her favorite shortcake. A loving mother and a grandmother.”
•“Roberta Drury, 32. Beloved daughter and sister. Moved back home to help take care of her brother after his bone marrow transplant. She went to buy groceries for dinner. The center of attention who made everyone in the room laugh and smile when she walked in.”
•Andre Mackneil, 53. Worked at a restaurant. Went to buy his three-year-old son a birthday cake. His son [celebrating] a birthday, asking, “Where is Daddy?”• Katherine Massey, 72. A writer and an advocate who dressed up in costumes at schools and cut the grass in the parkand helping local elections. The glue of the family and the community.
•Margus Morrison, 52. School bus aide. Went to buy snacks for weekly movie night with the family. Survived by his wife and three children and his stepdaughter. The center of their world.
•Heyward Patterson, 67. Father. Church deacon. Fed the homeless at the soup kitchen. Gave rides to the grocery store to neighbors who needed help. Putting food in the trunk of others when he took his final breath.
•Aaron Salter, 55. Retired Buffalo police officer for three decades. Three decades. Loved electric cars. A hero who gave his life to save others on a Saturday afternoon. And had that man not been wearing that vest that he purchased – bulletproof vest – a lot of lives would have been saved. A beloved father and husband.
•Geraldine Talley, 62. Expert [baker]. And known for her warm, gentle personality. A friend to everybody. Devoted mother and grandmother.
•Ruth Whitfield, 88. Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother who sang in the church choir. A caretaker of her husband, bringing him clean clothes, cutting his hair, holding his hand every day she visited him in the nursing home. Heart as big as her head.
•Pearl Young, 77. A mother, grandmother, missionary of God. Public school teacher who also ran a local food pantry. Loved singing, dancing, and her family.
Biden continued, “And all three are injured: Zaire Goodman, 20. Shot in the neck but fighting through it. Jennifer Warrington, 50. Christopher Braden, 55. Both treated with injuries, on a long road to recovery.”
The President concluded, “Jill and I bring you this message from deep in our nation’s soul: In America, evil will not win — I promise you. Hate will not prevail. And white supremacy will not have the last word.”
