Cheney slams GOP leadership..enabling ‘white nationalism’..Buffalo shooting

Source: The Hill | May 16, 2022 | Mychael Schnell

Cheney slams GOP leadership for enabling ‘white nationalism’ following Buffalo shooting

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Monday slammed House Republican leadership, accusing the top lawmakers of enabling “white nationalism, white supremacy and anti-semitism” after a man who allegedly espoused a racist, far-right conspiracy theory fatally shot 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y.

Cheney, who was ousted from her perch in House Republican leadership in May of last year because of her refusal to back former President Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election, called on her GOP colleagues to “renounce and reject” white supremacist views and those who promote them.

“The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them,” Cheney wrote in a tweet.

The message comes just days after a gunman opened fire at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo on Saturday, killing 10 people and injuring three more. Eleven of the victims were Black. Police are investigating the attack as a hate crime.

The shooting has drawn a national spotlight on the “great replacement theory” after a manifesto written by the suspected shooter, 18-year-old Payton Gendron from Conklin, N.Y., who is white, made references to the racist conspiracy theory, which claims that an intentional effort is underway to replace white Americans with individuals of color through immigration.

Gendron’s writings also pointed to previous gunmen who carried out mass shootings driven by white supremacy beliefs, according to The New York Times, including Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black people at a South Carolina church in 2015.

A number of lawmakers have faced criticism in the past for rhetoric that was similar to those espoused in the great replacement theory, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who replaced Cheney as House GOP conference chair last year.

……..

Tagged: , , , , ,

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.