Here are some things I am thinking about, here in Buffalo.
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The shooter drove 3.5 hours to kill people in the Jefferson Ave Tops because a Google search told him it was in one of the Blackest zip codes around. It was easy to pick a supermarket in that poverty stricken area, because there is only one. That Tops Supermarket was built in 2003 and it was a big deal that neighbors had to fight hard for. Before that, it was a food desert -- people would have to take multiple buses or pay corner store prices for food. Now this happened, in their one and only supermarket.
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One of my closest friends lives around the corner from the Tops where the shooting took place. She shops there. Last Saturday, she sent her kids there to buy candy to eat while they watched a movie. It is where she buys milk and diapers. When I called her to check on her safety (she and her family are safe) she lamented how unfair it is that mass shooting has come to her doorstep. Her neighbors live with poverty, drug abuse, and a neighborhood in crumbling and disrepair -- a neighborhood that is ignored by the surrounding area. And now this? The one thing they *didn't* have was mass shootings - a "white people problem." Now they have to worry about that too.
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There is no way to bring back those lives. There is no way to take away the terror. There is no way to go back to when the one thing that neighborhood didn’t have to worry about was mass shootings. Those things are gone. That monster saw to that.
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But he doesn’t have to win beyond that. The shooter said he did this to hasten the race war. He said he did this to tear people apart. What if instead we make sure he did the opposite? What if instead we do something to actually make the people who are a still alive live better lives?
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He attacked a neighborhood where many people live in poverty and most people are Black. If you are motivated to act, please consider donating to an organization that serves the East Side of Buffalo.
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We can show the monsters who consider these actions that their evil ways will backfire. Here are
some options.
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Black Love Resists in the Rust
In their own words: “Black Love Resists in Rust is the only intentional space for Black and Brown folks in Buffalo. We organize at the intersections of embodied leadership, healing justice, political education and transformational organizing. We envision a Buffalo where communities are sustainable and have what they need to thrive without external assistance. We know we cannot do this without a base who is engaged and without significantly shifting the material conditions for most of Buffalo’s residents, which is why our current work is focused on ending the oppression enforced by the state.”
Learn More | Donate Here
PUSH Buffalo
In their own words: “Aaron Bartley and Eric Walker founded PUSH in 2005. PUSH Buffalo (People United for Sustainable Housing) was established to: create strong neighborhoods with quality affordable housing; decrease the rate of housing abandonment by reclaiming empty houses from neglectful public and private owners and redeveloping them for occupancy by low-income residents; and develop neighborhood leaders capable of gaining community control over the development process and planning for the future of the neighborhood.”
Learn More | Donate Here
Feed Buffalo
In their own words: “Healthy and Halal, Buffalo Food Pantry. We aim to heal, educate, and transform food deserts into thriving communities. We work to provide access to free locally-sourced, healthy, and halal food in a loving, judgement-free community space.”
Learn More | Donate Here
African Heritage Food Co-op
In their own words: “Our vision is to create a world where inner city “neighborhoods” can become Communities. Where NO ONE goes without HEALTHY AFFORDABLE food options. Most importantly a world in which we can create Ownership and employment opportunities IN and FOR the COMMUNITY!”
Learn More | Donate Here
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Killing Black people as they shop. Killing Jews in their Temple. Killing Muslims as they gather. Killing Hispanic people as they shop. All of these actions done by white supremacists who espouse the Replacement Theory and left manifestos of their evil intents. This one, like all the other of these monsters, wrote that he hopes his action will further divide people and bring about the beginning of a race war. Let's prove him wrong. Let's show that these evil and unconscionable actions have the opposite effect. Let's show him, and every other monster considering doing something like this, that their actions are not only in vain, but backfire.
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Thanks for listening.
Goodie