On May 14, 2022 a hideous, despicable act was committed in Buffalo New York’s East Side neighborhood, a premeditated mass murder of innocent Americans at a cheerful community grocery store.
We condemn this cowardly act of pure evil. And we grieve for the United States of America, an imperfect political experiment, which has been torn and tarnished again.
Like the Charleston church shooting of 2015, this is an unspeakable loss of life and a catastrophic loss of trust. It is a macabre omen of fear and hatred.
Like Charleston, this will damage trust between Black and white Americans for many years. It will impose a disproportionate psychic and emotional burden on Black Americans that will interfere with their endeavors, their ambitions, and their peace of mind. It will be impossible for them to forget, even while other groups of Americans will wish to forget it.
Like Charleston, it should not be forgotten. It should gnaw at us until we make these vicious attacks stop happening.
Time and time again, Black Americans have articulated their terrible grief and frustration. If you don’t know who said the following, please look it up.
“If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out that’s not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made. And they haven’t even pulled the knife out much less heal the wound. They won’t even admit the knife is there. […] No matter how much respect, no matter how much recognition, whites show towards me, as far as I am concerned, as long as it is not shown to everyone of our people in this country, it doesn’t exist for me.”
There’s a particularly raw, piercing and roaring pain that Black Americans feel.
