Photo Credit: Evan Vucci
US President Joe Biden announced that he would hold a summit in the White House to address hate-related violence.
According to the White House, the Summit will be called the “United We Stand Summit.” Biden will invite experts, crime survivors, and other local leaders so they can tackle the issue extensively. Through the Summit, the nation will be able to highlight people who have been victimized by hate crimes.
For instance, the Summit will honor mass shootings that have happened before, like the Orlando gay nightclub shooting in 2016 and El Paso Walmart shooting in 2019. These incidences have taken the lives of people who were subject to discrimination. Among the victims include Mexicans and Black people.
Vice President Kamala Harris will also be present during the Summit, who will also speak out against the violence made by racists and other individuals. A presentation will also be done, which shows the statistics on hate-based violence in the United States. Also, a former neo-Nazi will take center stage and start a conversation on the matter. Finally, Biden will be speaking in front of the congregation and discussing the entirety of the Summit and its purpose.
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The purpose of the Summit
Biden’s agenda for his administration has always been unity. Under his leadership, Biden vows to unite people from all walks of life, origin, and age. However, many still doubt if the incumbent president can attain his goal.
The event was also announced weeks following Biden delivered a speech warning extremist Republicans who he considers as threats to democracy.
“America must choose: to move forward or to move backward. To build the future or obsess about the past. To be a nation of hope and unity and optimism, or a nation of fear, division, and of darkness,” said the president.
“MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies,” he added.
Officials from the White House also said that the Summit is not politically-driven but tackles an issue that everyone needs to be alerted on, as it affects every person in the nation. Further, the officials revealed that Biden would address the nation and emphasize his message of unity, leading up to the conclusion of the importance of the Summit.
For Biden, the country is better united than divided. This could only mean that violence that intends to compartmentalize people and spread hate among races and origins is not something that needs to be tolerated but completely eradicated. Hate-based violence has no place in the United States.
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America’s identity is under threat
According to a special envoy of the Biden administration, Deborah Lipstadt, a big fraction of the American populace thinks that the country’s identity is being attacked. Lipstadt works with the White House in monitoring and combatting antisemitism.
“Whether they read it online, whether they hear it in the media, whether they hear it from certain politicians – but they believe it. People have to recognize that it’s this panoply of hatreds that constitute this threat to our democracy and threat to our country and to national security and foreign countries as well,” she said.
Meanwhile, the White House has also sent a strong message to technology companies to regulate and monitor hate-based violence. The government has included media companies like Twitch, Microsoft, YouTube, and Meta in its campaign against hate-based violence. In addition, a senior official of the White House stressed the importance and effect of social media companies in resolving several issues plaguing the US.
“Every tech company should be thinking about what they can do,” he said.
Source: NPR
