Biden denounces 'poison' of white supremacy in South Carolina Black church

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday denounced white supremacy and political violence in a direct message to Black voters during a visit to South Carolina aimed at shoring up a critical constituency whose support has waned since he took office.

Biden spoke from the pulpit of the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, where avowed white supremacist Dylann Roof gunned down nine Black parishioners in 2015.

The Democratic president continued to sharpen his attacks on former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican Party's 2024 nomination.

Describing the 2015 attack at the church, Biden said: "The word of God was pierced by bullets of hate and rage propelled by not just gunpowder, but by a poison. Poison that has for too long haunted this nation. And what is that poison? White supremacy ... This has no place in America – not today, tomorrow or ever."

Biden described Trump as a threat to democracy, citing the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters in 2021 hoping to overturn the Republican's election loss.

"That violent mob was whipped up by lies from a defeated former president," Biden said. "His actions were among the worst dereliction of duty of any president in American history."

White supremacy propaganda soars to all-time high

The spread of white supremacist propaganda in the United States hit record levels in 2022, according to a report published last March by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

"Our data shows a 38 percent increase in incidents from the previous year, with a total of 6,751 cases reported in 2022, compared to 4,876 in 2021. This is the highest number of white supremacist propaganda incidents ADL has ever recorded," the report stated.

(With input from agencies)