'We owe it to the people': Kamala Harris demands immediate hearings on white supremacy

At his rally in Phoenix Tuesday night, Donald Trump spent a seemingly interminable amount of time loudly insisting that he definitely does not in any way support or condone white supremacy — something his own past words clearly contradict.

In the wake of the hate-filled neo-Nazi riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Trump’s horrifying comments in the days since, it clear that an investigation of white supremacist domestic terrorism is sorely needed.

Fortunately, the adults in the Democratic Party are ready to have a serious conversation on the matter, and to let the public know that they are willing to do whatever it takes to combat this growing threat.

California Sen. Kamala Harris and her Democratic colleagues on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are calling for a hearing on violent white supremacism.

In a letter to the committee chairman, Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson, Harris and six of her fellow Democrats pressed the urgent need to “examine the root causes that fuel terrorism in order to understand the threats that we face … [which includes] investigating the root causes behind violent white supremacy in the United States.”

In a Facebook post, Harris expanded on the motivation behind the request, noting that it is her duty to the American people that lends such urgency to the matter.

“I believe we owe it to the people we represent to be having those conversations in a public setting,” she stated.

With a president who only reluctantly and tepidly denounces white supremacy when he is forced to do so — and cut funding for a program to monitor right-wing and white supremacist extremism in America — it is absolutely crucial that Congress take up the task of fighting dangerous and violent bigotry and protecting the country.

The hearing called for by Harris and her colleagues is an important first step toward defeating a homegrown menace.

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