Joe Biden says action needed against ‘hate-fuelled violence’ after racist shooting in Florida

US President Joe Biden laments Jacksonville shooting deaths of three black people, and meets civil right leaders at the White House

Monday was the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jnr King delivered his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech

3-MIN READ3-MIN

US President Joe Biden during a meeting with organisers of the first March on Washington and members of the King family at the White House. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 7:30am, 29 Aug 2023Updated: 8:59am, 29 Aug 2023

US President Joe Biden called on Monday for action to end the type of “hate-fuelled violence” that authorities said motivated a white man to fatally shoot three black people at a Florida shop over the weekend. Biden said people must speak out about injustice.

“We can’t let hate prevail, and it’s on the rise. It’s not diminishing,” Biden said at the White House as he met civil rights advocates and the children of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jnr on the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington.

“Silence, I believe, we’ve all said many times, silence is complicity,” Biden said. “We’re not going to remain silent and, so, we have to act against this hate-fuelled violence.”

Biden’s meeting with the King family and other civil rights advocates came two days after Saturday’s racist attack in Jacksonville, Florida. Three black people were shot dead by a white man wearing a mask and firing a weapon emblazoned with a swastika. The shooter, who had also posted racist writings, killed himself.

President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris meet with organisers of the 60th anniversary of the March at the White House. Photo: AP

Asked how he would stop hatred, Biden said: “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 who were in the room with him. “But we have to understand, this is serious.”