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Biden Backers Chant 'Four More Years' as Protesters Demand Gaza Cease-Fire
"Biden and every American politician who continues to support arming Israel as it kills more and more Palestinians in Gaza every day do not deserve a moment of peace in their public lives," said one critic.
Jan 08, 2024
Demonstrators demanding a cease-fire in the U.S.-backed Israeli war on the Gaza Strip were drowned out by supporters of President Joe Biden chanting "four more years" in Charleston, South Carolina on Monday.
A few audience members disrupted Biden—who is seeking reelection this year—as he addressed a crowd at Mother Emanuel AME Church, where a white supremacist gunman killed nine Black worshippers in 2015.
"If you really care about the lives lost here, then you should honor the lives lost and call for a cease-fire in Palestine," shouted one protester, who was then joined by others in chanting, "Cease-fire now!"
As the cease-fire supporters were escorted out of the church, much louder chants of "four more years" broke out.
Biden has affirmed his "unwavering" support as Israel has waged war on Gaza since the Hamas-led attack of October 7. He asked Congress for a $14.3 billion package on top of the $3.8 billion in military aid that the U.S. gives Israel annually and his administration twice bypassed congressional oversight to approve recent arms sales to the country.
Appearing caught off-guard by Monday's disruption, Biden eventually quieted the crowd with raised hands and repeated "thank you’s.
"Look folks," the president said, "I understand their passion, and I've been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza, using all that I can to do that. But I understand the passion."
In response to footage of the event, IfNotNow, an American Jewish group organizing to end U.S. support for Israel's apartheid system, said: "Biden was shaken. He's starting to understand the reality: His war on Gaza is horrifically unpopular, and people are fed up."
Noting that the disruption in South Carolina came after New York City demonstrators on Monday morning shut down the Holland Tunnel and three major Manhattan bridges, IfNotNow added: "Young people are furious. We will not allow Biden and the U.S. to continue to support the starvation and slaughter of Gaza."
Also welcoming the protest in Charleston, Naftali Ehrenkranz of Justice Democrats said: "Hell yeah. Biden and every American politician who continues to support arming Israel as it kills more and more Palestinians in Gaza every day do not deserve a moment of peace in their public lives. Cease-fire now."
Some Biden backers criticized the protesters for "targeting" the president on "hallowed ground," provoking responses that highlighted recent actions by Israeli forces in Gaza—from killing thousands of kids to bombing places of worship—as well as the history of this church, which was co-founded by Denmark Vesey, who was executed for planning a slave revolt.
"To dilute the history of Black churches as if they aren't the epicenter of civil rights organizing is more than a little harmful. It's downright disingenuous," argued writer and audio producer B.A. Parker. "And if young folk are protesting in a church as a call to action, then maybe they should be heard instead of 'collected.'"
Writer Todd Dillard declared on social media, "I need Democrats to understand that when a protestor shouts '20,000 dead Palestinians; their blood is on your hands' responding with 'FOUR MORE YEARS FOUR MORE YEARS FOUR MORE YEARS' is the grimmest, darkest thing imaginable."
As of Monday, Israeli bombings and raids in Gaza have killed over 23,000 Palestinians and injured nearly 59,000 more. A growing number of legal scholars and world leaders have accused Israel of genocide, including at the International Court of Justice.
"The Democrats rushing to Biden's defense should realize that chanting 'four more years' in response to a protest objecting to the U.S. government's support of a genocide in Gaza is not doing anything to improve the president's standing as his poll numbers continue to drop," saidIn These Times senior editor Miles Kampf-Lassin.
As The New York Times reported Monday:
Voters broadly disapprove of Mr. Biden's handling of the war, and it has become a major political vulnerability for him.
The protest on Monday, though brief, was a stark reminder that Mr. Biden will not be able to escape the subject as he seeks reelection. Protesters calling for a cease-fire interrupted at least two of his speeches late last year, one in Minnesota and one in Illinois. More than 500 appointees and employees in the federal government signed a letter calling for a cease-fire in November, staff members held a vigil outside the White House in December, and two officials have resigned in protest of his policies on Israel and Gaza.
"I imagine there will be even larger protests like this at Biden's campaign events in swing states like Michigan and Georgia," predicted Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid.
Palestinian American political analyst Yousef Munayyer agreed, saying that this is "probably gonna be the norm for every public event on the campaign trail."
Biden is under mounting pressure from not only the public but also progressives in Congress, with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) warning in a Friday interview with Common Dreams that calling for a cease-fire in Gaza "is going to be a dividing issue for the Democratic Party for the future, like the Iraq War was... And I think the window is rapidly closing to be on the right side of history."
Referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Center for International Policy's Matt Duss told MSNBC's Chris Hayes that "Biden has essentially outsourced decision-making for an extremely consequential war... to one of the most dangerous, right-wing authoritarian leaders in the world—and I do use that term advisedly."
"The outrage at President Biden's handling of this war and his continuing unconditional support for this massacre that we've been seeing over the past three months is really off the charts," Duss added, warning that the issue could impact the November presidential election.
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Charleston Massacre Draws Attention to White Supremacist Backing of Politicians
Jun 27, 2015
This week, The Guardian reported that the leader of a right-wing group which apparently influenced Dylan Roof's extremist views on race before the Charleston church shootings had donated tens of thousands of dollars to leading Republicans.
Earl Holt, president of the Council of Conservative Citizens who once stated that African Americans were "the laziest, stupidest and most criminally-inclined race in the history of the world," has spent $65,000 backing GOP candidates including presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum. In a manifesto attributed to Roof, the accused Charleston shooter credited the CCC with informing his views about race and African Americans in particular.
The Washington Post further reported that Holt, who is based in Longview, Texas, has also contributed to numerous other campaigns, including the 2014 Senate bids of Tom Cotton in Arkansas and Thom Tillis in North Carolina. Once the contributions were made public, many of the candidates announced they will be returning the funds. As Sen. Cotton said in a statement:
We have initiated a refund of Mr. Holt's contribution. I do not agree with his hateful beliefs and language and believe they are hurtful to our country.
This isn't the first time a donor tied to white nationalist and white supremacist groups has drawn attention for supporting conservative politicians. In recent years, there have been several instances of individuals linked to fringe groups making political contributions, especially in support of candidates popular in the Tea Party movement. In many -- but not all -- of the cases, candidates have returned donations and distanced themselves from known extremists once the contributions have been brought to light.
MICHAEL PEROUTKA
A Maryland-based lawyer, Peroutka identifies as a Christian Reconstructionist who believes there is "no such thing as a civil right." For years Peroutka was closely involved with the League of the South, a neo-Confederate group that favors secession and has defended the Council of Conservative Citizens in the wake of the Charleston massacre. Peroutka was a member of the League's board and was a featured speaker at their 2013 conference, "Southern Independence: Antidote to Tyranny." (Peroutka quit the League when news about his ties to the group surfaced during his 2014 campaign for Anne Arundel County Council.)
Peroutka and his law firm have been generous political donors for conservative candidates. According to election spending data compiled by the National Institute on Money in State Politics' FollowTheMoney.org database, Peroutka has contributed more than $300,000 over the last 12 years, including $2,500 for Sen. Ron Paul as a write-in candidate for president in 2012. He also contributed to at least two U.S. House candidates: former Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) and current Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD). In addition, FollowTheMoney.org shows more than $200,000 in contributions from Peroutka's law firm since 2000, including to the campaigns of Rep. Harris and Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV).
By far the biggest beneficiary of Peroutka's political giving has been judge Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. All told, records show Peroutka and his firm funneling $180,000 to benefit Moore and his organizations between 2006 and 2012. In February, Judge Moore earned national attention when he ordered judges and state employees to ignore a federal court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in Alabama.
In this video from Right Wing Watch, Peroutka addresses a 2012 League of the South conference during which he led the crowd in singing "Dixie," the de facto anthem of the Confederacy, which he called the "national anthem."
CARL FORD
A bankruptcy lawyer in Laurel, Mississippi, Ford is the former lawyer for Sam Bower, the imperial wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan who died in prison after being convicted of the murder of civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer. Ford is also active in the League of the South and was active in the Mississippi Klan in the 1960s.
In 2014, news surfaced that U.S. Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Tea Party favorite from Mississippi, received an $800 donation from Ford, who said he especially appreciated McDaniel's position against "so-called immigration reform." Federal campaign finance records show the McDaniel campaign ultimately returning $1,800 worth of donations from Ford.
As reported in The Daily Beast, campaign finance records also show Ford donating to former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-MS) and the 2006 campaign of Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA).
RON WILSON
A businessman and politician in Anderson County, South Carolina, Wilson for many years was an active member of the League of the South and Council of Conservative Citizens, where he was a columnist for the group's publication "Citizen Informer" from 1989 to 1993. He also was part of an extremist wing that gained control of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, rising to the level of commander-in-chief from 2002 to 2004.
Wilson was also a leader or spokesman for three groups in South Carolina dedicated to defending the Confederate flag: the South Carolina Heritage Coalition, which he directed; the Palmetto League; and Americans for the Preservation of American Culture, a political committee he founded in the early 2000s.
As reported in the Independent Mail, Americans for the Preservation of American Culture raised $22,900 between 2002 and 2008, the year it got involved in national elections:
During the 2008 Republican primary, the group produced radio ads and YouTube videos that attacked both U.S. Sen. John McCain and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney for failing to support the Confederate flag, while getting behind former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee for supporting Southerners' rights to determine whether to fly the flag.
Eighty percent of the PAC's money came from Wilson and his family.
In 2012, Wilson was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for operating a Ponzi scheme that federal investigators determined had defrauded investors of more than $59 million.
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'Stand With Charleston': Communities Across Country Rise Up for Black Lives
In streets, faith spaces, and community centers nationwide, people are honoring the nine lives taken in this week's white supremacist massacre
Jun 21, 2015
As Charleston's historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church reopens for services, people across the United States on Sunday are marching through the streets, mobilizing in their faith communities and staging direct actions to demand an end to white supremacist terror nationwide.
"We are very encouraged by the organizing and the heart and resilience we are seeing on the ground, and we are hopeful that it will continue--that we might be able to precipitate a meaningful, transformative political and cultural shift in this country."
--Maurice Mitchell, Movement for Black Lives
"What happened to our family is part of a larger attack on Black and Brown bodies," wrote Rev. Waltrina Middleton, a family member of Rev. Depayne Middleton, who was killed in the massacre. "We call on all people, public officials, faith leaders and Americans from all walks of life to help address the festering sores of racism as it spurs an unforgiving culture of violence."
Maurice Mitchell of Movement for Black Lives--a national coalition of groups including Ferguson Action, Black Lives Matter, and Black Youth Project 100--told Common Dreams that others in the city and state are echoing this call. "We reached out to our folks on the ground in South Carolina and asked what we could do," explained Mitchell, who is a national organizer based in New York. "We spoke with folks from Black Lives Matter and Southerners on New Ground and family members of people killed. They asked if we would organize parallel actions."
Mitchell said that, since the Movement for Black Lives put out the call to "Stand With Charleston," the response has been overwhelming, with actions now planned in at least 27 cities and towns from Durham, North Carolina to Chicago, Illinois to Galloway, New Jersey.
"It is important we come together and act," said Mitchell. "We've been working against anti-black violence in the form of police killings, but it has always been our contention that anti-black violence has many forms. The root of it is white supremacy. The root of it is the inability to see the full humanity of black people and communities. We draw a direct connection between anti-black violence at the hands of law enforcement, vigilantes, and organized white terrorists."
"We call on all people, public officials, faith leaders and Americans from all walks of life to help address the festering sores of racism as it spurs an unforgiving culture of violence."
--Rev. Waltrina Middleton, Charleston
Sunday's coordinated actions come amid other nationwide responses to the white supremacist massacre in Charleston this week that killed nine people, all of them black: Depayne Middletown Doctor, 49; Cynthia Hurd, 54; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70; Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Rev. Dr. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; and Myra Thompson, 59.
Queer liberation organization, Southerners on New Ground, is organizing members, especially those who are white, to "act up and act out by calling into conservative radio talk shows and sharing your opinions." The group explains: "Too often, in our news feeds and in our communities, we only talk to people who already agree with us, the other liberals or other radicals. When we do this we miss the conversations we need to be having in order to confront this legacy of white violence at its source: the rightwing fear of Black people that fuels this hatred."
Social media users, in addition, are staging a Twitter action under the hashtag #PropheticGrief on Sunday "to stand in solidarity with the Emanuel AME Church of Charleston, South Carolina."
And over the weekend, large crowds in Charleston and Columbia protested to demand the immediate removal of the Confederate flag, a symbol of white supremacy that still flies at full mast over the capitol building. They are joined by people across the country signing petitions and voicing outrage.
"There is an overwhelming mainstream narrative right now around reflexive forgiveness without a conversation about reconciliation and complicity," said Mitchell. "We think anger and rage are appropriate emotions." Mitchell emphasized that it is important to contextualized what happened in Charleston in a broader "history of white terrorism" that extends nationwide.
Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, elaborated on this context in a recent article:
We were never meant to survive. We were stolen from our families and our land, brought to this country in the bottoms of boats, chained together like animals. We were forced to work for, nurture and nourish, and build a country that never truly considered us human and still refuses to honor our humanity. The founding documents of this country designate us as only three-fifths of a human being. When we dared (and dare) to reclaim our humanity, we were (and are) beaten, lashed, hung from trees, limbs cut off, set on fire, shot and raped. This isn't something that happened in the past. This is still happening to Black people in 2015. In fact, just a few months ago, Otis Byrd was found lynched, hanging from a tree outside of Jackson, Mississippi.
And indeed, there are already fresh signs of backlash against racial justice protesters. The president of a police union in Louisville, Kentucky, released an open letter on Thursday in which he unleashed threats against "sensationalists, liars and race baiters" and put them "on notice." The missive came in response to community anger over a white police officer's recent killing of a black man.
"When we dared (and dare) to reclaim our humanity, we were (and are) beaten, lashed, hung from trees, limbs cut off, set on fire, shot and raped."
--Alicia Garza, Black Lives Matter
But, Mitchell emphasized, there are many reasons to feel hopeful. "This moment has inspired black people to act in new ways, at least for this era, and lean in to risk and self-organizing and to develop a sophisticated analysis and develop a growing network nationally. We are very encouraged by the organizing and the heart and resilience we are seeing on the ground, and we are hopeful that it will continue--that we might be able to precipitate a meaningful, transformative political and cultural shift in this country."
"People asked is this a movement or a moment," Mitchell added. "We are more than 10 months into this wave, and we have answered that question. The new question is, How long will this movement sustain, and what will come of it? I am hopeful."
Updates and reports on nationwide actions are being posted to Twitter:
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