Biden to host summit on countering hate-fueled violence

President Biden plans to host a summit in mid-September focused on stamping out the effects of hate-fueled violence in the United States in furtherance of his campaign pledge to unify the country.  

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Friday that the “United We Stand” summit would be held on Sept. 15 at the White House with the goal of countering “the corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence on our democracy and public safety.” 

“Even as our nation has endured a disturbing series of hate-fueled attacks, from Oak Creek to Pittsburgh, from El Paso to Poway, from Atlanta to Buffalo, Americans remain overwhelmingly united in their opposition to such violence,” Jean-Pierre said.  

“The United We Stand Summit will bring together heroes from across America who are leading historic work in their communities to build bridges and address hate and division, including survivors of hate-fueled violence,” she said.  

The summit will take place roughly four months after Biden decried the shooting that left 10 dead in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, N.Y., as an act of domestic terrorism and called white supremacy a “poison” in the U.S.  

“We need to say as clearly and forcefully as we can that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America,” Biden said at the time after meeting with families of victims in Buffalo. “None.”

Attendees of September’s summit will include bipartisan federal, state and local officials, members of law enforcement, representatives of civil rights groups, faith and business leaders, gun violence prevention groups and individuals who formerly belonged to violent hate groups who now work to prevent violence, Jean-Pierre said, without providing specific names.  

The White House typically waits until the day of any given event to offer the names of participants.  

Biden has consistently cited the car attack at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., as motivating him to run again for president in 2020.  

He pledged on the campaign trail to work to bridge divides in America and heal “the soul of the nation,” a task that has proven immensely difficult given the deep political polarization in the country.  

The “great replacement” theory cited by the shooter in Buffalo earlier this year has been echoed by prominent figures on the right. 

Jean-Pierre said that September’s summit will “present an important opportunity for Americans of all races, religions, regions, political affiliations, and walks of life” to work together to counter hate-fueled violence.