Rising trend: hate crimes against black individuals

As the nation commemorates the second anniversary of the heinous Buffalo mass shooting that claimed the lives of 10 Black individuals at a Tops supermarket, a painful reality emerges: hate crimes against Black communities continue unabated, casting a long shadow over efforts for justice and equality. “It was a modern-day lynching,” Garnell Whitfield Jr., son of victim Ruth Whitfield, solemnly remarked about the May 14, 2022, hate-fueled massacre. “I’ll always carry the scar of 5/14 and what happened to my mother. So, I don’t expect to& be healed,” Whitfield said during a televised interview. “I know that’s something everybody talks about. I think that’s& kind of& an unrealistic expectation.” In addition to Ruth Whitfield, 86, the other victims were Roberta Drury, 32; retired Buffalo police officer Aaron Salter Jr., 55; Heyward Patterson, 67; Pearl Young, 77; Geraldine Talley, 62; Celestine Chaney, 65; Black Press journalist Katherine “Kat” Massey, 72; Margus Morrison, 52; and Andre Mackniel, 53. “Katherine Massey was a leader who led with warmth and intelligence and the power of her pen,” said Mayor Byron Brown. Credit: NNPA Newswire The racist murders, which self-described white supremacist Payton Gendron carried out, shook the nation. Yet, despite pledges for change, the...