To End Hate Crime, We Must All Commit to Action
On Saturday May 14, a white supremacist, clad in body armor, carrying a high-powered, AR-15-style assault rifle equipped with a high-capacity magazine, and wearing a head-mounted camera through which he livestreamed his attack, arrived at Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York and shot thirteen people, killing ten. This premeditated hate crime was the latest iteration of white supremacist violence targeting Black Americans. The killer’s motivation was laid out in stunning detail in a 180-page manifesto that he posted on social media.
Black Americans have always been the leading target for hate crimes in our country, even as we have witnessed increases in violence against the Latino, Asian, Muslim, Jewish, and LGBTQ+ communities. The level and the frequency of this violence is exacerbated by social media, which often provides an unchecked platform for hate speech, the encouragement of violent actions, and a built-in audience for hate. And it is no secret that cable television also propagates and feeds what were once thought of as extremist views. The “great replacement theory,” for example, which the Buffalo shooter espoused in his manifesto, has found a home on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program, and was previously cited by other mass shooters as they undertook their hate-fueled campaigns to wipe out communities of color.
Our hearts go out to the victims of Saturday’s attack—all beloved by their families, all stalwart members of Buffalo’s Black community. And while we recoil at the violence and the level of hate that fed it, let us also commit to action. We must all work to end gun violence, speak out against racist hate, and urge tech and media corporations to clamp down on hate groups that use their platforms. We must urge our elected officials in Illinois and elsewhere to take concrete steps, including essential governmental regulations on hate groups’ use of social media, and put forward serious legislation to end the scourge of gun violence that plagues our nation.