Headline RoundupMay 21st, 2023

Is White Supremacy the “Most Dangerous Terrorist Threat” as Biden Suggests?

Summary from the AllSides News Team

President Biden spoke at Howard University’s commencement in Washington, D.C. last weekend, where he called white supremacy the “most dangerous terrorist threat” to the U.S., drawing mixed media reactions.

For Context: Howard, a historically black university, is 86% black, according to Wikipedia. Vice President Kamala Harris is an alumnus.

Not Far Enough: Sarah Posner for MSNBC (Left) thinks Biden’s remarks did not go far enough and should have directly acknowledged the Republican Party and Former President Donald Trump’s support of white supremacy. Posner says Republicans like Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) enable white supremacists, and that “Many Trump Republicans view themselves as engaged in a struggle for white supremacy.”

“Work to Do”: John T. Bennett for Roll Call (Center) says Biden “has work to do to convince Black voters he deserves a second term.” Bennett recalls recent polling of black voters where 42% of respondents wanted white supremacy declared a national security threat, but also the upward trend of black men voting for Republicans. Roll Call's article image depicts a student at Howard’s commencement whose mortar board read “Biden and Harris don’t care about black people.”

A Convenient Narrative: Wilfried Reilly for National Review (Right), says “white supremacy” as the “most dangerous terror threat” domestically is “arguably true,” but far less threatening than murder and opioids which have recently claimed record high numbers of lives. Reilly argues Biden is promoting a narrative that is politically beneficial to the American Left, but is much too narrow in focus.

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