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by Jeff Mason
BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday blamed white supremacists, the media, the internet and politicians for spreading racist conspiracy theories, during a visit to Buffalo, New York , where ten African Americans were killed in a supermarket on Saturday.
Authorities described the attack by Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old white man with a semi-automatic rifle, as an act of “racially motivated violent extremism”.
“White supremacism is a poison. It’s a poison circulating in our body politic,” Joe Biden said after meeting the families of the victims as well as emergency workers.
“This ideology has no place in America. None,” the White House chief added.
At the heart of the authorities’ investigation is a 180-page manifesto allegedly written by Payton Gendron, which highlights the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, according to which the white population is voluntarily replaced in the United States and elsewhere. by minorities through immigration.
Joe Biden criticized this theory, with long historical origins in the country and which is now spreading in certain conservative political circles.
“Hate and fear are getting way too much oxygen from those who claim to love America,” he said, decrying politics and profiteering.
“Now is the time for individuals of all races, of all backgrounds, to speak out as the majority in America and reject white supremacy,” added the American president.
“What happened here is simple: terrorism, domestic terrorism.”
Joe Biden recalled that he had campaigned in 2020 with the objective of reviving the soul of the country after what he described as failures of his predecessor Donald Trump in the denunciation of racist acts.
The current tenant of the White House, however, has so far failed to stem the emergence of white supremacist groups or to combat gun violence, while the United States has been the scene of a series of mass shootings in recent months.
Joe Biden has called on Congress to pass tougher gun control measures, but his Democratic backers don’t have enough votes to push through legislation, while many Republican lawmakers oppose it. .
(Reporting Jeff Mason, Alexandra Alper and Trevor Hunnicutt; French version Jean Terzian, editing by Bertrand Boucey)