(UnitedHeadlines.com) – Audience members heckled President Joe Biden while he gave a speech at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Jan. 8.
Biden spoke at the church where nine black people were killed in 2015 as a campaign stop to secure the vote of a key demographic in his re-election bid. His speech tried to tie Trump to the legacy of white supremacy following the Civil War by stating his 2020 election claims were “the Second Lost Cause.” He also tried to promote policies that Biden said have helped black Americans.
However, pro-Palestinian protesters heckled him, shouting, “cease-fire now.” While Biden spoke, a woman yelled from one of the pews that he should “call for a cease-fire in Palestine” if he really cared “about the lives lost here.” Biden stood silently onstage while the protesters repeated their chant of “cease-fire now.” Biden attempted to talk over them, saying, “That’s all right,” as other pro-Biden chants of “Four more years!” broke out. One supporter even said, Biden is “a good man.”
The protesters were removed from the church by security. Biden responded to the incident stating that he understands “their passion,” adding that the U.S. “will be quietly working with the Israeli government” to scale back their military operations and “get out of Gaza.”
Someone in attendance who was also in the church the day the nine church members were killed said the heckling brought her back to that trauma immediately. Following the incident, some leaders complained the heckling tarnished the memories of those killed at the church in 2015.
This is not the first time since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that killed over 1,200 Israel that pro-Palestinian supporters have heckled Biden. Protesters hassled him while he gave the keynote address at the annual dinner for the Human Rights Campaign, a private fundraiser. Some Biden administration staff members have even called on him to support a cease-fire.
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