Threat of Evil Exists in Many Forms for Black Americans
Payton Gendron has been charged with murdering 10 people in Buffalo in what police describe as a racially-motivated attack.
“Why did I choose firearms? Because they work, there are very few weapons that are easier to use and more effective at killing than firearms, especially the Bushmaster XM-15 I will be using. The effect it would have on social discourse, the extra media coverage they would provide, and the changes to gun laws that will be pushed will all help my case. Buffalo has the highest black population percentage (zip code *****) and isn’t that far away. Plus NY has heavy gun laws so it would ease me if I knew that any legally armed civilian was limited to 10 round magazines or cucked firearms." -Buffalo murder suspect Payton Gendron
It was a cold, calculated and tactically strong plan with its PURE EVIL intentions. This is the part of evil too many don’t want to admit exists. It is the evil we must be willing to confront and committed to defeat. When Payton Gendron, 18, chose to murder innocent civilians, targeting Black Americans in particular on May 14, he became the latest Dylan Roof-style killer America has produced. Not a surprise with all the vitriol in American politics, the continued racial divisions in society, a struggling economy and a severe lack of mental health services.
America is a cocktail right now of social, political and economic ills that its leaders have failed to address and we are seeing the results of their inaction. However, American citizens must also have their feet held to the fire. They are the same group of citizens where too many denied COVID-19 existed at all and others declined the medicine that was created to fight the life threatening virus. Their denial of when a problem exists and refusal to implement easy solutions is as American as apple pie. All this from the richest country in the world that allegedly has one of the most educated populations, as citizens in other countries look at us in disbelief of how we can be so ungrateful about having so much. Gendron’s manifesto is a must read because it not just goes inside his warped mind, but it also gives you insight into a philosophy practiced by many about Black Americans and other people of color who live in the United States. It is the threat that too often is overlooked with deadly consequences in the United States, WHITE MALE DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.
This is the gun allegedly used by Payton Gendron to murder 10 people in Buffalo on May 14th. Written on the semiautomatic rifle were the names of Dylan Roof, who executed a similar attack in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015, the number 14 (not seen in photo) referring to the popular 14-words white supremacist slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." On the buttstock was written “Here’s your reparations!” in reference to African Americans asking for reparations from the government for its part in the transatlantic slave trade. Also written on the barrel of the gun were the names of some of the victims of the Christmas parade massacre that occurred in Wisconsin in December of 2021.
Hours before Gendron was terrorizing residents in Buffalo, multiple assailants of unknown races were doing the same in downtown Milwaukee at the conclusion of an exciting basketball game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics Friday night in the popular Deer District. At least 20 people were shot within a two-hour period in three separate incidents as police on foot, horseback and vehicles responded. All of those shot amazingly survived, but the effect was felt immediately. A two-night curfew was put in place and an even larger increase in police presence was instituted. Residents in the area were terrified and many expressed consideration of moving from one of the best neighborhoods in the city. Most of the victims were Black. Of those arrested thus far, many of them were also Black from what we know. Milwaukee’s violence in Black communities is often never reported on the national scale because Milwaukee is a smaller market city. In 2019 the Brookings Institute released a study that showed the Milwaukee metro area the most segregated area in the nation. Schools, health care, recreational activities, social services, affordable housing, public transportation all are lacking in Milwaukee’s Black community. the dearth of these services create a climate where violent crime thrives and Black people suffer.
Less than 24 hours after the shootings in Milwaukee, in Chicago, a 16 year-old was shot and killed at the popular “Cloud Gate” art exhibit (aka The Bean) in the heart of downtown. For the past few years, throngs of young people have been meeting in the area on weekends to hangout. With that has come some problems with flash mobs, fights, intimidation of citizens, stabbings and shootings. The city’s leaders seem at a loss on how to get a handle on the violent crime plaguing the city. One suggestion is to start putting the resources back into the communities that have been taken out for the past two decades. The Chicago Park District programs that were plentiful in the past have been whittled down to little or nothing. Movie theaters, roller skating rinks, e-sport stadiums, athletic programs and other outlets for young people have become either too expensive or removed from communities. So young people have descended to the downtown areas when the weather is nice to create their own playgrounds. With no real concrete plan of what to do when they arrive chaos ensues.
Black citizens who wanted to escape some of the violence in communities around the city, often considered downtown a relatively safe place to enjoy a summer night. Music festivals, operas, dining, art shows, fashion exhibits, movie theaters all can be had downtown during the warm months of May through September. Now with the rising violence downtown, many Black Americans in Chicago feel they have no where to escape evil and just enjoy life.
With so many examples of evil we are currently seeing, many are now considering leaving America all together. You can’t blame them, but based on Gendron’s manifesto, it’s exactly what he wants. African Americans can’t run from evil forever. Eventually it must be confronted head on and let the chips fall where they may.