US President Joe Biden on Friday condemned the mass shooting spree in and around the city of Atlanta, which left eight people, including six women of Asian descent, dead earlier in the week, saying “hate can have no safe harbor in America” during his Atlanta visit.

Biden along with Vice President Kamala Harris offered solace to Asian Americans and denounced the rise of racism at times hidden “in plain sight”.

Urging Americans to fight the “resurgence of xenophobia”, Biden said “Silence is complicity, we cannot be complicit. We have to speak out, we have to act,” during a speech at Emory University.

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Minutes earlier the president and the vice president met leaders of Georgia’s Asian-American community in the wake of the grisly killings.

“They’ve been attacked, blamed, scapegoated and harassed; they’ve been verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed,” Biden said of Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, AP reported.

Biden noted that attacks on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been “skyrocketing,” a trend confirmed by the group Stop AAPI Hate which says nearly 3,800 cases have been reported since last year, including verbal and physical assaults, discrimination and civil rights abuses.

Harris, the first person of South Asian descent to hold national office, said that while the motive of the shooter remains under investigation, the facts are evident: Six of the eight killed were of Asian descent and seven of them were women.

“Racism is real in America. And it has always been. Xenophobia is real in America, and always has been. Sexism, too,” she opined.

“The president and I will not be silent. We will not stand by. We will always speak out against violence, hate crimes and discrimination, wherever and whenever it occurs.”

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She added that everyone has “the right to be recognized as an American. Not as the other, not as them. But as us.”

Without taking names, Biden and Harris both criticised former President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus.”

“For the last year we’ve had people in positions of incredible power scapegoating Asian Americans,” said Harris, “people with the biggest pulpits, spreading this kind of hate.”

“We’ve always known words have consequences,” Biden said. “It is the ‘coronavirus.’ Full stop.”

Biden’s pre-scheduled trip to the southern metropolis was originally intended to focus on his COVID-19 battle plan. The president began with a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he received a briefing and declared “science is back.”

But this week’s carnage around Georgia’s largest city prompted Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris, to add a meeting with Asian-Americans.

It was framed by the White House as “an opportunity to hear about the impact on their community of Tuesday’s heartbreaking senseless acts of violence as well as their perspectives on increased anti-Asian incidents.”

A 21-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with the incidents. Robert Aaron Long faces eight counts of murder and one charge of aggravated assault.

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Biden said it was “heart-wrenching” to listen to the grieving community members.

“I know they feel that like there’s a black hole in their chest they’re being sucked into, and things will never get better,” he said.

“But our prayers are with you. I assure you the one you lost will always be with you.”

Long has admitted carrying out the attacks, according to law enforcement, but claims he was not motivated by racial hatred.