You know, Buffalo has been on my mind as it has been on the minds of many people, hopefully your mind across the, the country. And they’re literally across the globe. And there’s so much to unpack as it relates to what happened in Buffalo, but really at the end of the day, what Buffalo is for all of us is, is another reminder. It’s a call to action of the importance of being an upstander, not a bystander. And so many of us have expressed our frustration about it, but on a regular basis, on a daily basis, many of us are doing nothing to combat evil and, and white supremacy and ignorance and intolerance. We are maybe sharing a couple of tweets or hitting like on Instagram here and there. Maybe making something, our story, but on a daily basis, we have to make sure that we’re actively working to fight this ignorance as hate in this racism.
Because those 13 people who were shot, those, those 10 people who lost their lives, those 10 beautiful souls, they did not have to go out like that. And there were so many opportunities for this to be stopped. And the question becomes, what are we doing to stop the next one? What are we doing in the spaces? And places that we occupy, are you being an upstander, not a bystander and it, and it’s and it’s, and it’s upsetting because I’m watching the Tucker cautions of the world, the Marjorie Taylor greens of the world. These people already have their defenses lined up about how they’re going to defend white supremacy. They already have their excuses lined up about how they’re going to blame mental health. Even though factually in this country, people who suffer from mental health are more likely to be the victims of violence than commit violence themselves.
So we know the argument is, is nonsensical, but we also know they’re gonna bring up other killers. Other shooters, the black Dallas shooter in, in, in Texas who shot the police officers, they’re going to bring up violence on the streets of Chicago. It’s amazing. I hear these guys in lockstep. They don’t even need to communicate with each other on their talk points, but they already know what they’re going to do to coddle and support and promote white supremacy and make sure that they coddle every single actor who commits to act like this in some way, shape or form and give them cover. And when they want to throw out things like lone Wolf and all that other type of nonsense, no, you shoot in Buffalo to not act alone. He was not a lone Wolf. He has a network of politicians, Republican politicians who don’t, who, who are in favor of this.
And it’s one thing to say that these guys are cowards. No, they support this. There’s a good percentage of these Republican leaders. So-called leaders who have attended white supremacist rallies. This is factual. We have a leader, former president, Donald Trump, who admitted to being a racist. This racism was his policy. So this is their party. This is not, they’re scared. This is who they are showing themselves to be. When you go back to the insurrection, only Republican who suffered seriously from the insurrection is, is, is Liz Channey. So this is who they are. They already got their talking points. They already got their action plan. And of course you got the NRA. And even though they’re weakened, they’re still powerful. What’s our action plan. Upstandards what is our plan? Where, where are we fighting? Where’s the pressure being put on? What corporations are we targeting?
Who are out there giving money to both Republicans and Democrats companies out there like Toyota, like what are we doing to challenge them? It was our efforts that got major league baseball to move the all star game from, from Georgia, because of issues relating to racism and voting rights. They’re coming for everything, right? And if you don’t fight, we’re going to lose it. So this issue, when we talk about happen with a Buffalo, there’s the racism there. There’s the white supremacy. There there’s issues of gun control there. And many of us are not really committed to saying anything. This is how they get over. Samuel Jackson said a few years ago that it’s hunting season for many of us and many of our communities. And so all of us who come from a community, black, Asian, Jewish, whoever, uh, Hispanic, where we’ve seen rises in, in, in hate crimes, we gotta come together.
They say, if the people lead, the leaders will follow. We gotta do more to demand change. We gotta do more to put pressure on our school systems to make sure that we’re teaching true history. So maybe we can, when we teach the right history, we can prevent young kids from becoming white supremacists, which means that we gotta fight these fake battles against critical race theory, because we know what it’s really about. It’s not teaching anything that doesn’t celebrate rich heterosexual, white males, or at least ones who are not poor. Cause everyone’s not poor may not be rich, but you understand what I’m saying? That’s what they’re fighting on. The educational side of things. Are you fighting your school boards? Are you challenging your schools to make sure that they’re not getting rid of books that you may have read as a child or things that you discovered later that you wish you, you read as a child and maybe you want your children to have access to at every single level where people are fighting to comm create a community where everybody can be celebrated and not tolerated.
There are, there are groups who are actively fighting against it. And you need to understand if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Get out of there with all this talk about, oh, I’m not racist if you’re not racist, but you’re not doing anything to combat this stuff. Then what are you really? Because I don’t believe in the middle ground. I don’t believe in the idea that people can find some type of middle ground and kind of just stay on the sides. Your silence is compliance. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. And as Reverend Sharpton said, with the killing in a Buffalo store, it wasn’t a political rally. It wasn’t, you know, targeting a political office or an individual. This is a grocery store. Meaning these things can happen anywhere and everywhere.
And really at the end of the day, if we don’t up our, if we don’t do the work now to challenge racism and ignorance, this man is 18. And yes, I said, man, because people, another part of the talking point is to say, this guy is just a teenager. But Mike Brown was a man. People were even calling Tamir Rice, a young man. And he was 12 years old and he was gunned down. So even the language that you’re using might be problematic as well. At the end of the day, if, if it’s meant to be, it is up to you. It is up to me. Nobody’s coming to save us.
Our actions are going to save us. Our inaction is gonna continue to be part of the problem. So every single day, when you wake up, commit to doing something, that’s gonna make this country a little less hateful, commit to doing something that’s gonna work to bring people together, commit to doing something that’s gonna further educate you and your community on issues relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion. So we can create fewer hatemongers and get rid of this, this climate it’s literally now or never, we’re losing in many ways, but if we stay together, if we fight the good fight, we can win with your inaction as part of the problem. And you’re basically one of the people we’re fighting too. So you gonna be an upstander or are you gonna be a bystander? Are you gonna get out there and fight? Are you gonna get out there and stay silenced? Cuz your silence is compliance. If it is meant to be, it is up to you. It is up to me. It is up to us let’s get out there and make it happen.
Peace.