So American
There was yet another mass shooting over the weekend, this time in Buffalo, NY. It is the 198th mass shooting in our country this year. We’re not even halfway through 2022. There was a time when we would be shocked by this kind of incident. But now, it feels commonplace. In fact, it feels strange when there isn’t a mass execution.
In many ways, this shooting was the quintessential American thing. It featured a teenager who had access to a weapon of incredible power. He was radicalized online by reading disinformation about white replacement theory, a notion that many mainstream Republicans and conservatives push. He drove more than 200 miles from where he lived to specifically target Black people. He also live-streamed his brutality, inspired by other domestic terrorists that came before him. It combines all the elements of “American Greatness”. And yet, it is neither surprising nor original.
The question of who is responsible for this kind of thing has been asked many times since Saturday. Some people seek to blame people like Tucker Carlson who have ginned up racial hysteria about white people being replaced by non-whites. Others, point to the Republican party as a whole, noting that they have fundraised and advertised this replacement theory to get elected into office. Some folks blame the easy access to guns like the one the shooter used. Conservatives have a different approach, instead, bemoaning the shooter as a deranged lone wolf who is solely responsible for his actions. And then there is a take like this one:
As always with a certain strain of conservatives, the solution to gun violence is more guns. If only there could have been a shootout in the grocery store instead of just two people shooting at each other. One of the victims was a retired Buffalo police officer who was armed at the time of the shooting. He tried to stop the shooter but because the terrorist was heavily armored, his bullets had little effect on him. I’m not sure what adding more guns to this situation would solve, other than increasing the odds that more people get killed.
I do not want to live in a world where everyone must carry a gun in order to be safe. I don’t want my friends to live like that. I don’t want my nieces and nephews to live like that. And if I am ever blessed with children I don’t want them to live like that. Instead, I would rather focus on dampening the impacts of racism and restricting access to guns. But good luck getting the majority of white people on board with this, though.
There is A LOT more to unpack about this shooting. There are discussions about gun control that need to take place (and won’t). There are conversations white parents need to have with their white children about systemic racism, privilege, and the violence visited upon our fellow citizens of color that need to take place (and mostly won’t). If we want to stop shootings like this from happening, there is a lot we need to face about the founding of our country, how we got to where we are today, and what we can do going forward.
I watched the video of the shooting. As I mentioned before, the killer live-streamed the entire thing. I have no doubt that thousands and maybe even millions of other people around the world did the same thing. I was honestly conflicted about it. I wasn’t sure if watching it was giving the terrorist exactly what he wanted. It wasn’t hard to find. I think it took less than 5 mins to bring it up on Reddit. Ultimately, I decided that I should view it because too often we sanitize incidents like this. They follow a familiar script. People are murdered, politicians blame one another, and nothing changes. We have tributes to the dead and honor the police for their janitorial duties.
Part of what turned American sentiment against the Vietnam War was press coverage of the tremendous number of people who died fighting that war. Images of flag-draped coffins and intense firefights shocked the masses and made them reconsider why teenage men were dying half a world away. There were other reasons, of course, but the impact that footage from the front lines had was unmistakable. Americans were confronted with foreign violence in the comfort of their living rooms.
I must admit that I was also curious about the shooter’s video. I cannot fathom being so broken and brainwashed to perpetrate an act of violence like this. As I watched it, I felt the same pit in my stomach that I had whenever I watched other videos of violence. It was gross — not because of the gore but because this event was entirely preventable. It doesn’t seem real. We’ve become so desensitized to Hollywood violence that when something REALLY happens, it seems like the fake one. But this was entirely real.
I won’t get into too many details about the shooting. There is one aspect that struck me though. It takes place towards the end of the recording after the shooter has already shot/killed half a dozen people or so. He is walking along the front of the store, where the checkout lanes are. He turns down one of the lanes and sees a white man cowering in the fetal position. The man yells something. It is clear he is terrified. But instead of shooting him, the terrorist apologizes and moves on. He apologized! Not to the people who were dead or wounded, but to the white man he scared.
Within a few hours of the shooting, it was discovered that the killer had written and released a manifesto. It was full of nonsense about white supremacy, white replacement theory, and told the story of how he was radicalized online. He outlined his plan ahead of time and even made a few practice runs. He chose the place he did because he wanted to kill Black people. I read a good chunk of it and honestly, other than the explicit calls for violence, it didn’t sound that much different from what a lot of conservative TV shows, radio programs, and what Republican politicians speak about. The only thing that made him unique is that he expressly wanted violence, something most conservatives are wise enough to only hint at.
I am confident nothing will change. Conservatives are already pushing back on their responsibility for this massacre. Progressives, yet again, are advocating for more restrictive gun control and trying to highlight the racial motivations of this act of domestic terrorism with the majority of them afraid to say the truth. It’s the same story, again and again.
For my money, I put the blame on white Americans, myself included. We have collectively allowed white supremacy to exist for centuries now. From our founding to today, white men, in particular, have had a vested interest in ensuring their spot at the top of the food chain. We have to have the guts to call each other out when we behave in a racist way. If you need an example, here you go:
White people need to stop voting for Republicans. I don’t care if you vote for Democrats or not. I mostly do because they’re the lesser of two evils. But either abstain from voting or pick a third-party candidate to support. Giving your vote to a party that does nothing about incidents like this only perpetuates them. Without the GOP Hate Group in power, we might actually be able to make meaningful changes.
Unless, of course, you support them. Which would be so American of you.