Tuesday was the first of two days of hearings on domestic terrorism in Washington, as the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony regarding the nation's scourge of white supremacy.
Among those testifying was former Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield, whose mother, Ruth Whitfield, was one of the 10 mostly Black people killed May 14 at an East Side Buffalo Tops supermarket.
A white teenager now faces 25 murder, hate and terror charges for what prosecutors say was a racially-motivated attack.
"He was radicalized by white supremacists. His anger and hatred were metastasized by like a cancer by people with big microphones in high places screaming that Black people were going to take away their jobs and opportunities," Garnell said. "Is there nothing that we can do? Is there nothing that you personally are willing to do to stop the cancer that is white supremacy and the domestic terrorism it inspires?"
Garnell Whitfield Jr., the son of Ruth Whitfield, an 86-year old woman killed when a gunman opened fire in a racist attack on Black shoppers in Buffalo, New York, challenged Congress Tuesday to act against the "cancer of white supremacy" and the nation's epidemic of gun violence. pic.twitter.com/oZyY2fGR4Z
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On Wednesday, the House Oversight and Reform Committee is expected to hear from Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia and Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire Goodman was wounded in the Tops shooting, as well as experts and others affected by gun violence across the country.
Watch the entire testimony here.
