'Blatantly racist' element of society is a domestic terrorism threat: Buffalo's congressman
The congressman who represents Buffalo, New York in Congress warned of racist domestic terrorism after an 18-year-old white man allegedly murdered ten people at a mass shooting being investigated as a hate crime.
The suspect reportedly wrote a 106-page manifesto pushing the racist "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory espoused by Fox News personality Tucker Carlson.
Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) discussed the racist dynamics of the attack in an interview with CNN's Pamela Brown.
Higgins noticed the investigation was in its early stages, but said it appears "cohesive in terms of the motivation."
"This was an individual that was from outside our area, he was not from Buffalo. He came to Buffalo heavily armed with at least an AK-47 that was modified, killed ten people, three people are in the hospital, expected to recover. But this is a sad day for Buffalo, a sad day for the nation," he explained.
"There's premeditation. When you make a charge against somebody, you have to put all those pieces together. But even in the preliminary information that we have, clearly this is an individual that selected Buffalo, selected an area of Buffalo that is predominantly African-American, from outside the area. That is not coincidental," he argued. "And we believe, and law enforcement officials believe, that this is part of an organized effort to attack the minority community generally and the community of Buffalo as its target."
"When you say part of an organized effort, what do you mean by that?" Brown asked.
"That there is an element in our society that is blatantly racist, and they're violent and this is clearly an indication of domestic violence. There was -- you know, he live-streamed the horrific detail in real time of this murder of innocent people," he explained.
He warned racism is a threat to the country.
"And so all indications are, this points to an effort to exact domestic terrorism that is racially motivated on a community. But that threat to our community in Buffalo and western New York is a threat to the nation," he said.
Watch:
Brian Higgins www.youtube.com