New York, May 15, 2022 – The American Jewish Congress strongly condemns the racially-motivated mass schooting in Buffalo, New York and shares our prayers and deepest sympathies with the victims, their families and friends, and the people of Buffalo. This shocking crime is the latest example of how white supremacist radicalization is directly threatening the security of American communities. Our failure to take action now will continue to make minority communities the targets of violence.
Shockingly, a video live-streamed by the attacker as he shot and killed 10 people, began circulating online shortly after the attack and gained over 3 million views. The American Jewish Congress has been working with the Online Hate Prevention Institute in Australia to monitor the spread of the attacker’s video around the clock, especially given the fact that the 18-year old shooter in Buffalo was himself inspired to carry out this attack by a video of the 2019 terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand.
After contacting with the parent company of Streamable, a US-based video streaming company, we were able to remove the video at 2:30 pm EST on May 15, 2022. By that time, however the video had gained more than 3.2 million views. We will continue to monitor and take action on other copies of such terrorism-inciting material.
The suspect reportedly published a manifesto in which he laid out specific plans to attack Black people and repeatedly cited the antisemitic “Great Replacement” theory. His manifesto, which embraced the white supremacist trope that a Jewish-led cabal is attempting to replace white Americans with non-white people, included dozens of pages of antisemitic and racist memes.
This is just the latest disturbing example in a horrific string of white supremacist crimes targeting members of the Black, Jewish, AAPI and other vulnerable minorities. With this swell of white supremacist activity threatening the security of our communities, the American Jewish Congress will continue to monitor and lead the way through monitoring and taking action on online extremism and radicalization, advocating for a toughening of the mechanisms that allow the proliferation of radicalizing content online, and with the support of our Advisory Board to Counter Domestic Terrorism and White Supremacy.
