>> senate majority leader chuck schumer talked on the senate floor about saturday's mass shooting in his home state calling it the deadliest shooting in the history of buffalo and the worst mass shooting in history this year. the new york senator plans to travel with the first lady and the president to meet with the families of those killed. remarks were followed by senate

judiciary committee chair dick durbin. >> madam president, two days ago barbarism descended upon the city of buffalo. about 2:30 p.m. on saturday, in a predominantly black neighborhood on buffalo's east side, the loan gun man driving from 200 miles away equipped with an assault rifle, body armor and video camera carried out a targeted attack against unarmed civilians inside i of a tops supermarket. his goal? to kill as many black americans as possible. in a matter of minutes, ten people were killed including a former buffalo police officer who worked as a security guard. at least three more were wounded. it was the deadliest shooting in the history of buffalo and worst mass shooting in america this year. today we hold in our hearts

every single new yorker whose lifeho was cut short during saturday's violence. we weep knowing nothing will ever be able to bring them back. we mourn with their families and friends and the entire community still shellshocked by the shooting. tomorrow i will join with president biden, the t first lay and others to travel to buffalo to pay my respects to those who died as well as to visit the families and visit with local officials still investigating the attack. we also of course thank our brave first responders aten the scene moments after the shooting. without them, more undoubtedly would have been killed. and we stand strongly and proudly with the community of buffalo known as the city of neighbors. during times of crisis they've

always pulled together and that is happening today. the east side community where the shooting occurred is strong in faith, and i know that it along with the entire city will overcome this tragedy. i say that because i know this community. years ago i worked hard to bring that grocery store to the east side of buffalo because the community deserved a full-fledged supermarket. it was a much-needed oasis to what was then a total food desert. i know many in the community shop at that grocery store whether to buy food on their way home from church or before the games. it's where people see friends and relatives and catch up on things in between errands. it's become a community center. buffalo, the city of good neighbors and nowhere is that more true than on the east side. i don't know what it could

possess someone l to bring violence to a place like that, what i do know is that the weekend shooting is part of an ugly pattern, one that dates to the earliest days of the nation. racism has always been and unfortunatelyis still is the poison of america. the original sin of slavery in the decades of racial tigger, discrimination, separate but equal white supremacy into bigotry that followed unfortunately and continues to exert poisonous influence on our ussociety. the influence so poisonous that even today after america elected a black president and the marks for racial justice after the senate confirmed a black supreme court justice, woman black supreme court justice for the first time ever we must still reckon the unspeakable acts of violence like what happened saturday on jefferson avenue.

as i said that the community is strong in faith and i know it will overcome this tragedy, and i know that because i know buffalo.id mr. president, madam president, over the past few days, i will continue my conversations with local officials and federal investigators to get to the bottom of this. but while there is much we do not know yet about saturday's shooting, there are a few things that are already clear and that demand action. first, the victims on saturday were not targeted at random, nor was this a particular grocery store in this particular neighborhood of buffalo a haphazard selection. it was not. no, this was a racially motivated attack. the shooter made his choice by seeking the most predominantly black neighborhood in the

region. online the shooter proudly professed himself as a neofascist, white supremacist, anti-semite. his views shared extensively online and braced a dangerous ideology known as the great replacement that asserts that a conspiracy exists to replace white americans with immigrants and people of color. racially motivated shootings are sadly not new in the country. the last decade e again have too many examples of too many lives that have been extinguished at the hands of shooters harboring white racist, white h supremacit views. the same hatred that motivated the shooting at a walmart in el paso, the same poison that possessed the shooter of a synagogue in pittsburgh, the same bigotry that murdered eight people in atlanta last year and

the same evil that took the lives of nine worshipers in a church in charleston. at the same evil at play this saturday in the beloved city of buffalo, new york. the use like replacement theory were found in the darkest places and deranged minds then in the trenches of the internet and then to most americans these ideas are transparently repugnant and a friend to our core values and symbolize the statue of liberty. but unfortunately, with each passing year it seems harder and harder to ignore the echoes of

replacement theory and other racially motivated views are increasingly coming out into the open and giving reported legitimacy by republicans and cable news pendants. the messages not always explicit but we have seen the pattern. every time republicans were pendants vilify immigrants and invaders, every time they claim that millions of undocumented people cast ballots in our elections, every time loud voices been known and imagined classic america, the subtext is clear. these republicans argue people of color in the communities are posing a threat to the american way of life.

this is replacement theory in a nutshell. a dangerous and deeply anti-american worldview. it is poisoning minds, people's minds who spend hours wandering the darkest wastelands of the internet and let's be clear it is a message that has also found a special home in several right-wing outlets and on one channel in particular, fox news. in a request for viewers and ratings, organizations like fox news spent years perfecting the craft of the cultural grievance and political resentment that mirrors there messages found in the replacement theory. according to one measure of "the new york times," the top political pundit and most widely watched, tucker carlson spewed

rhetoric that echoes replacement theory at least 400 times on his show since 2016. let me replace that. according to one measure by "the new york times," the top and comic tucker carlson has spewed rhetoric that echoes the replacement theory at least 400 times on his show since 2016. 400 times. this is a poison that is being spread by one of the largest news organizations in the country. now to its credit, this morning "the wall street journal" editorial board which is run by the same elites that run fox news, owned by thehe same peopl, "the wall street journal" editorial board wrote that quote. politicians and media figures have an obligation to condemn such conspiratorial notions as

white replacement theory. those are the words of "the wall street journal" editorial page. they are right, but condemning the racist ideologies and violence is necessary, but hardly sufficient. it's not enough for outlooks like fox news to simply condemn saturday's violence and shooters racist views and then returned to the regularly scheduled program. to have an impact in the fight against domestic violence extremism, fox news and their hosts need to stop spreading dangerous ideas like replacement theories on their shows. let me say that again. organizations like fox news truly want to condemn this weekenddi is violence they needo stop spreading ideas like replacement theory on their shows. we see sadly, unfortunately on a

several all too many occasions what happens when these views are given a platform. every single media pendant, every single elected politician and indeed every single voice of influence in this country should band together to stop the views like replacement theory out of existence. they should have no place in american society and certainly no place in the segments of our most-watched news channels. what we need to do instead is respond to tragedies like this one, likeha this weekend, the oe that occurred with the result of hatred in the country and we must leave no stone unturned in pursuing solutions that make these less likely, these horrible attacks. just look at the pictures of the

people who died. to be clear, denouncing and rooting out the racistand conspiracy theories by the hard right is only one stepta we must take and certainly not a substitute for passing other meaningful legislation to address the gun violence epidemic. but as we mourn the lives that were taken away this weekend, as we grieve with the survivors we must also make a commitment to oppose the racism and white supremacy that's been with us for too long that inspired these violent attacks to begin with. if we don't do that, i fear these attacks will continue and even multiply and true justice in the nation will continue to evade the great nation. i will yield the floor. >> madam presidentan