Another Hate Crime: Buffalo, NY.

Essays | Frank Yang | May 14th, 2022.

Today, May 14th, 2022, another extremist walked into a public facility, opened fire on mainly minorities, and ended the lives of civilians merely shopping for their dinner ingredients. But this story also happened on May 13th. And May 12th. And four times on May 11th. And six times on May 10th. These 13 separate incidents across 5 days occurred in 10 different states, killing 16 and wounding 62 others.

Today, as a nation, we add at least 10 more — among them an 86 year old mother, a father of three, four employees — descriptions of more people to add to another list of victims, killed. My heart goes out to the victims and their families, but thoughts and prayers are certainly not enough. In a time when the world is changing faster than ever, when landmark moments are being engraved into history inviting a future of positive change into the world, some terrible constants still never seem to fade.

It has many names, from gun violence, to extremism, to a display of mental illnesses. Regardless of what it's called, it doesn’t change the fact that nothing is being done about it. A situation that you could never even possibly dream of, a moment that no one would ever wish to happen anywhere close to them. Even so, the rate of deaths coming from guns is rising, while America collectively still twiddles its thumbs at the issue.

Everyone, as an entire nation combined into one, must move together more. We must collectively understand what’s gripping all of us as citizens. Currently, we must take precautions to ensure we’re safe if this happens to us. As a student, I’ve learned to understand procedures during lockdown drills. As a citizen, I’ve learned to take actions against anything I think is unsafe, whether it's reporting a wheelbarrow in the middle of the highway, or a Tweet that threatens violence or death. But this is not enough.

How it gets resolved is not in my realm of abilities, but it seems that those in power to do so are also powerless — when we know they’re not. How many more innocent lives must die before actions are taken? When the 18 year-old white supremacist was able to carry out his planned attack with weapons and armor more capable than the security guard’s, what will the resolutions be? Or will there once again be none?