Stop Acting Surprised When Anti-Black Domestic Terrorism Happens in America
Yesterday, an 18-year-old white terrorist supremacist, Payton Gendron, drove hours from his home in Conklin, New York to Buffalo, New York. He targeted Buffalo because the city had a population that was 85% Black. He arrived at the Tops Friendly Market at around 2:30 pm, heavily armed and dressed in tactical gear, and began opening fire at shoppers in the parking lot. Nigger was written on the barrel of one of his guns, and he also yelled racial slurs as he murdered 10 people and wounded 3. Eleven of the victims were Black and two were white. When police arrived, he had a gun to his neck. The police officers did not shoot him. Instead, they talked him into putting the weapon down and surrendering.
In the aftermath, there was faux shock everywhere. Yes, I say “faux” because no one should be shocked at this point when white domestic terrorism happens in the United States.
It has been happening for 400 years.
We, Black people, have never been safe in this country. Never.
There was nothing new, or shocking, about Dylann Roof walking into a Black church and murdering nine people.
Nothing new, or shocking, about a white man, George Zimmerman, hunting down and murdering a Black child, Trayvon Martin, and getting away with…
