White House ‘grieves’ with Jacksonville after racist kills 3 at Dollar General

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Wednesday, March 8, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden’s spokesperson reiterated the administration’s regrets after a White man from a neighboring county killed three Black people at a Dollar General.

“Even as we continue searching for answers, we must say clearly and forcefully that White supremacy has no place in America,” said Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Monday.

“As the President said in his statement yesterday, we must refuse to live in a country where Black families going to the store or Black students going to school live in fear of being gunned down because of the color of their skin,” she added. “Hate must have no safe harbor.”

Jean-Pierre then offered a critique of permissive gun laws.

“Silence is complicity, and we must not remain silent, and we must continue to do all we can to keep guns out of dangerous hands,” she said. “The President and the First Lady are praying for the victims and their families, and this entire administration grieves with the people of Jacksonville.”

Much of what Jean-Pierre said was also offered in a statement from the President himself Sunday.

“On Saturday, our nation marked the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington — a seminal moment in our history and in our work toward equal opportunity for all Americans. But this day of remembrance and commemoration ended with yet another American community wounded by an act of gun violence, reportedly fueled by hate-filled animus and carried out with two firearms.”

Biden also said: “Law enforcement has opened a federal civil rights investigation and is treating this incident as a possible hate crime and act of domestic violent extremism.”