Buffalo: White Supremacy and Democracy's Demise
"Inspiring, Achieving, and Celebrating Inclusion"
“I tremble for my country,” Thomas Jefferson wrote, “when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events.” Jefferson, as G.J. Boris Allan writes, “was worried that at some point slaves [would] ‘replace’ their masters as the dominant group, and exact retribution.” His fear, and his refusal to sacrifice his own position and power, at the altar of Black freedom, equality, and safety, helped draw the blueprint for transgenerational, self-sustaining White supremacy, and enduring fear of Asian, Black, Indigenous, LatinX, and Jewish “replacement.”
The durability of White supremacy, and its ability to generate chaos, is precisely what led to the slaughter of 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday, May 14, 2022. Payton Gendron, 18, entered an area in Tops grocery store, in a predominantly Black neighborhood, opened fire, pausing only to apologize to a White customer for putting him in harm’s way. “By the time he surrendered,” writes Jemar Tisby, in Red Letter Christians, “he had shot a total of 13 people, 11 of whom were Black.” Gendron penned a 180-page manifesto that he posted online well before the attack. Curiously, and predictably, his manifesto illuded law enforcement. He was quite clear, however, that he was driven by hate to kill Black people. Gendron went so far as to paint antisemitic messages and symbols, “here’s your reparations,” and the word n***er on his assault rifle. He was hunting Black people that day with extreme prejudice.
This White supremacist, his peers, and apologist media members, such as Tucker Carlson, have trafficked in the “great replacement” theory that inspired his hate crimes—“the false idea that a cabal is attempting to replace [and punish] white Americans with nonwhite and nonChristian people, through immigration, interracial marriage and, eventually, violence.” Jefferson’s America introduced us to replacement theory. It has since evolved into a racist, antisemitic, and xenophobic, movement. At its core, however, replacement advances the notion that White Christians are under attack. Since goodness, freedom, and Americanness, are often believed to be inextricably linked to Whiteness and Christianity, enemies of White supremacy are increasingly branded un-American.
Carlson, and his more belligerent and violent acolytes like Gendron, believe that the nation’s demise is being orchestrated by “un-American” forces that are “destroying” our society. Indeed, do not let the murderous actions of people like Gendron “obscure the ways many others are complicit with White supremacy,” Allen writes. He continues: "Even if only a small number of people commit acts of violence in the name of racism, the ideas that lead to such acts are often co-signed by the masses. As I wrote in The Color of Compromise, ‘The most egregious acts of racism occur within a context of compromise. The failure of many Christians to decisively oppose the racism in their families, communities, and even in their own churches provided fertile soil for the seeds of hatred to grow.’ What was true in the past is true in the present—the most horrific violence done in the name of white supremacy happens within a context of compromise and complicity." It begins with Whitewashing our history, so that the grandchildren of those who were torchbearers of White supremacy, do not have to grapple with the evil or complicity of their elders, and it ends with economic exploitation, political disenfranchisement, trauma, and in the case of Buffalo, murder.
Thomas Jefferson was the Godfather of compromise that advanced White supremacy. Even as he espoused a more basic, singularly Black replacement theory, he knew that suppressing human freedom and equity was unsustainable. “We have the wolf by the ear,” he asserted on April 22, 1820, “and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other." The wolf was slavery and anti Blackness, and White America as a whole, has held onto the ear for dear life to preserve their collective dominance and privilege. Letting the wolf go, however, will not hasten the destruction of America. It will save it. America has never been, and should not be, solely about the thoughts, perspectives, and prerogatives of White people. More importantly, it is marginalized people of color and women who have compelled America to be its best self. One cannot get more patriotic than serving, nurturing, entertaining, teaching, and inspiring the very people, institutions, and processes that dehumanize you.
It is White supremacy, therefore, not people of color, that is the existential threat to America. We have loved America even as it has demonized us. We, with our White allies and accomplices, have animated Democracy and given it meaning. It is this Democracy that will kill White supremacy or White supremacy will kill Democracy. There is no in-between. If White people do not take the time to understand White supremacy, and make erasing it a top priority, the fear, anxiety, and anger inducing notion of replacement will continue to drive opposition to the truth about our racist past and present. This opposition will, in turn, inspire more hate crimes, and intensify attacks on institutions that we have historically turned to for protection, such as the assault on Congress on January 6, 2021.
Right now, someone, somewhere, is planning the next deadly attack, while people of color, Jews, and other alleged replacement advocates, are left to live in perpetual fear and cognitive dissonance. Many of our friends, coworkers, leaders, and elected officials, express empathy rhetorically, but rarely act. Others do not care and go about their day as if it was just another. In recent diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) townhalls, facilitators asked the predominantly White attendees how they felt about the Buffalo massacre. No one said a word. Not even “I’m so sorry” to the Black people on the call. There was no “White supremacy is awful,” “we stand with you,” or “are you okay?” Nearly two years after George Floyd’s martyrdom, 10 Floyd’s were murdered by a White racist in one day, and the White response in the townhalls was loud, alienating silence.
Black people, therefore, are bereft of trust and confidence in our White neighbors, co-workers, and employers. If after 20 months of intensive DEI discussions, assessments, and planning, White brothers or sisters are not moved, when prompted, to offer basic words of empathy and comfort to their Black “friends” and coworkers, after a White supremacist lays siege to our community, I too tremble for my country. Black people, and other targets of White supremacy, are arming themselves, founding gun and self-defense clubs, living on high alert, “throwing hands” after every racial insult, and saying “it ends with our generation.” Many no longer wait for White people to act, because we know that few will. This high tolerance for Black pain and suffering will be America’s undoing. Our White brothers and sisters who truly care, had better speak up and act, before things get worse. Ally is a verb, not a noun, and White supremacy will not destroy itself. In the words of the late Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, “Rattlesnakes don’t commit suicide, and ball players don’t strike themselves out. You gotta put’em out!”
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Images: Getty/Los Angeles Times/Kent Nishimura; Jason Miczek/Reuters; Uplash, Jodie Walton; Uplash, Calvin Lupiya.