May 18

May 18 White Supremacist Terrorist Killed 10 in Buffalo

White supremacist terrorism is more “American” than the stars and stripes. This assessment loses no credibility when interpreted literally or figuratively. In the literal sense, this country allowed for the centuries-long enslavement of human beings perceived as inferior. On the figurative end, the bloodiest war this country participated in was fought to preserve the institution of slavery, not to protect the flag. History dictates that no force more powerful than white supremacy shall exist. From the civil war of the nineteenth century to the political war of the twenty-first century, white supremacist sentiments have continued to pervade every institution operating within the United States. For this reason, it is incumbent upon educators to speak truth to power and unequivocally denounce racial hate.

Educators are best positioned to deliver messages of love and inclusion while providing sufficient historical context for events like the white supremacist terror attack in Buffalo. Absent necessary framing from teachers and intentional language from schools, vicious cycles of supremacist terror endure unregulated and without tools for combatting it.

While Black people might have been the target of the Buffalo terrorist, we were all victims. The education system’s failure to nationalize teaching standards regarding this country’s white supremacist foundation and the impact of its surviving legacy has victimized every student for generations. Educators have an obligation in this regard to state, without aforethought, the reasons for our current racial reality.

To have students graduate from high school without definitively knowing why we fought a Civil War, is criminal. To allow students to enter college not knowing how federally mandated redlining prevented Black home ownership, is criminal. To permit students to earn a diploma without discussing why George Wallace and his ilk were evil, is criminal. To complete a high school civics course but never studied why the two major political parties flipped, is criminal. To reach the conclusion of a U.S. History curriculum without being introduced to why the Civil Rights Act was needed despite the presence of the 14th Amendment, why we needed a Voting Rights Act despite the presence of the 15th Amendment, what the ‘War on Drugs’ was truly about, whose lives were impacted by Clinton’s Crime Bill, is criminal.

There is no Black person alive in the U.S. who was unaffected by Buffalo. News of the Buffalo terrorist triggered a re-traumatization of endless pain for Black people.

In nearby Conklin, the hometown of Payton Gendron (Buffalo white supremacist terrorist), neighbors shared their shock and disbelief at Gendron’s actions. The surprise of friends and family is unremarkable. White America has always ignored the ugly, brutal, racist truth connected to their close associations. It is easier to feign ignorance than to demand accountability or accept culpability. It is easier to deny the existence of white supremacist hate than to engage others in uncomfortable conversations denouncing hate-fueled rhetoric.

But change is impossible when the loudest voices calling for change derive from the oppressed. White people must own this. Sitting idly by and refusing to intervene when friends or relatives make hateful remarks is akin to personally engaging in that same detestable behavior. You are who you choose to keep company. While we don’t choose our biological family, we choose our friends and choose what we allow our family to do and say in our presence. The online grooming of white supremacist terror will persist so long as white America sits on its hands complicit. We all have a duty in this fight to end white supremacy, but none greater than the duty of white Americans.