TRANSCRIPT: Majority Leader Schumer Remarks In Buffalo, New York With President Biden Following The Racially-Motivated Murder Of Ten Buffalonians

Buffalo, N.Y. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today delivered remarks following the racially-motivated killing of 10 innocent people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Good afternoon. First, I want to thank all of you for being here. And I want to thank you President Biden and Dr. Biden for coming to Buffalo. Amidst all the hurt and pain, Mr. President, when you said you would come, your announcement was a strong way of hope to this community.  

Now, like all of you, today what I feel above all is just immense anguish. Nothing I can say will undo the terrible suffering you are enduring, nor bring back those who were senselessly and unjustly taken from us. 

But I can say this: Buffalonians are brave, compassionate and resolute. And this community will emerge from this tragedy stronger and more determined than before.

I know that because I know this community.  I remember like it was yesterday when I stood outside the new Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue. I was proud to have advocated for its construction, bringing affordable and healthy food to this food desert.

What we didn’t know then was just how much the Tops would become a neighborhood gathering place, which is why this vicious killer choose this supermarket for his evil deed. He wanted to put a dagger in the heart of the community, how vicious and mean and cruel and deranged he was.

I’m sure many of you shop there. It’s where you buy your groceries on your way home from church before the Bills game.

It’s where you see your friends and relatives and catch up in between errands.

Buffalo is the “City of Good Neighbors,” and nowhere else is this more true than on the East Side.

And to the City of Good Neighbors: I pledge to stand with you through this awful, awful tragedy, to work in the Senate to oppose the poison of white supremacy that inspired this attack, to work towards finally ridding our streets of weapons of war, and to make sure that this community has all resources necessary to heal, to endure, to stand tall once again.

May God bless those who lost their lives, the loved ones they leave behind, and may he protect the injured and keep them safe from harm.

As the scripture in Isaiah says, “blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

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