US: Biden condemns racism on 60th anniversary of MLK speech
August 29, 2023
United States President Joe Biden spoke out against racial injustice Monday after a racially motivated attack in which three Black people were killed over the weekend.
Biden was also speaking on the 60th anniversary of the historic march on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream Speech," in which he called on the US government to guarantee and uphold the rights of Black people.
Biden meets with King's family
Biden said at a meeting at the White House with civil rights advocates and the children of Martin Luther King Jr. that they "can't let hate prevail, and it's on the rise."
He called for an end to the type of "hate-fueled violence" that authorities said motivated a white man to fatally shoot three Black people at a Florida store.
The shooter, a 21-year-old white man, wore a mask as he opened fire at Black people at a Dollar General store in what authorities said was a hate crime.
Police said the shooter, who had also posted racist writings, then killed himself.
Biden said they could stop hatred by "talking directly to the American people because I think the vast majority of the American people agree with this table," referring to the civil rights advocates in the room.
'More in common than what separates us' — Kamala Harris
US Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black person elected vice president, was also at the meeting and said Americans had more in common than what divided them.
"Yet there are those who are intentionally trying to divide us as a nation and I believe each of us has a duty, a duty to not allow factions to sever our unity," she said.
After the meeting, King’s son lamented the state of racial affairs in the US, saying, "We are at a very challenging and difficult time."
In an opinion piece written for the Washington Post, Biden said the administration is working to advance King’s dream of a society in which people don’t judge others by their skin color.
rm/kb (AP, DW sources)