Hate Crimes Targeting Black People Still On The Rise 2 Years After Racist Buffalo Shooting

Source: Kent Nishimura / Getty

It’s been two years since a white supremacist tragically killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket in one of New York state’s worst mass shootings. 

Unfortunately, this tragedy hasn’t been the catalyst for change as racially motivated killings and other hate crimes targeting Black people continue to rise in America. 

On May 14, 2022, Payton Gendron drove hours from his hometown in upstate New York before using an assault rifle to kill 10 Black people and injure several others at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo. Those killed ranged from 32 to 86 years old.

After his arrest, investigators found a manifesto left by Gendron that espoused a racist conspiracy theory that’s become increasingly popular among those holding far-right, ultra-conservative, and mainstream Republican views. The so-called “White Replacement Theory” was referenced in the manifesto.

Gendron pleaded guilty to 15 state charges, including 10 counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate, according to ABC News.

He was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Source: Kent Nishimura / Getty

The victims, who should never be forgotten, were Ruth Whitfield, 86; Roberta Drury, 32; retired Buffalo police officer Aaron Salter Jr., 55; Heyward Patterson, 67; Pearl Young, 77; Geraldine Talley, 62; Celestine Chaney, 65; Katherine “Kat” Massey, 72; Margus Morrison, 52; and Andre Mackniel, 53.

“I will always carry the scar of 5/14 and what happened to my mother. I’ll always miss her. So, I don’t expect to be healed,” said Garnell Whitfield Jr., the son of one of the victims. “I know that’s something everybody talks about. I think that’s kind of an unrealistic expectation.”

There has been positive action since the racist Buffalo shooting took the lives of 10 innocent Black people.

Two months after the racist killings, President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Antilynching law.

The law criminalizes lynching, thus making the act a hate crime under federal law. The legislature, which is in honor of Till, the 14-year-old Black boy who was kidnapped, tortured and lynched in 1955 after being accused of whistling at a white woman, was successfully voted on by the House of Representatives after attempting to pass the bill for more than a 100 years.

As of yet, no one has been charged under the law.

Unfortunately, even with the law, hate crimes targeting Black people are still on the rise. 

Source: Kent Nishimura / Getty

According to ABC News, of the more than 8,500 hate crimes reported nationwide between 2020 and 2022, Black people were targeted in 52.3% of the offenses. Between 2021 and 2022, the numbers rose from 2,217 to 3,421, making Black people four times more likely to be targeted than the overall U.S. non-Hispanic Black population.

Hate crimes targeting Black people under the age of 18 rose 10% in 2020, 12% in 2021 and 14.6% in 2022, according to ABC News.

There is no doubt that legislation like the Emmett Till Antilynching law are small pieces to fixing a larger issue, but it just isn’t enough. It’s obvious that Black people are still a target and Black folks don’t need statistics to know that.

“Honestly, we shouldn’t even have to look at the FBI statistics to know that Black people in America are still victims of subjugation, of discrimination, of racism, of hate,” Whitfield told ABC News. “The fact that’s still the case all these years later tells you a lot about this country and what its intent is for us.”

SEE ALSO:

Charged With Hate Crime, Payton Gendron Facing Life Without Parole For Racist Buffalo Shooting

Emmett Till Bill: Black Leaders React To The Anti-Lynching Law Being Passed

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