Biden Commemorates 4th Anniversary of Charlottesville

President Joe Biden is marking the fourth anniversary of the white supremacist rally at Charlottesville, Virginia.

In a lengthy statement on Thursday, Biden said, “Four years ago today in Charlottesville, Virginia the battle for the soul of America was laid bare for all to see.”

“The forces of hate and violence were summoned from the shadows as Neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and white supremacists descended on a historic American city. With torches in their hands and veins bulging from their necks, they spewed the same antisemitic bile that was heard in Germany in the 1930s and with the same beatings and bigotry we saw in Jim Crow America for nearly a century,” he continued.

He added, “But what they didn’t account for was the extraordinary force of American goodness and decency. In that moment and as we’ve seen throughout our history, Americans of different races, religions, and backgrounds stood ground and stayed true to the promise of our nation: that we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.”

The president recalled the killing of Heather Heyer when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.

“Her life and activism are reminders that while we have never fully lived up to the promise of America, we have never fully walked away from it either,” he said.

He went on to note that what transpired in Charlottesville four years ago “motivated me to run for president and now motivates my Administration’s work to ensure that hate has no safe harbor in America.”

Biden shared some of the actions he took since taking office to advance racial equity but noted that “there is more work we must do as a nation.”