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Letters From The Race War
You probably haven’t seen footage of the mass shooting that took place in Buffalo two weeks ago.
Honestly, I’m not sure why I’ve seen it.
Maybe I wanted to understand why Peyton Gendron, the 18-year-old who carried out the shooting, would do something so unforgivable. Maybe I hoped to catch some insight that was missing from the news coverage. Or maybe I just needed my anger to be fresh when I wrote this.
The video lasts for just under seven minutes, but I’m only going to talk about the final 6 seconds. As Gendron carries out the massacre, after shooting numerous black people without hesitation, he passes a row of checkouts and spots a man huddled on the floor. He aims his rifle, the man raises his hands in a futile gesture of self-defence, and Gendron, noticing that the man is white, lowers his gun and apologises.
In his manifesto, Gendron explains what was going through his mind:
…people and their cultures are great, but it’s important to note that they can only stay great if they are separated from each other. […]
To ensure that the peoples of the world remain true to their traditions and faiths and do not become watered down and corrupted by the influence of outsiders, they must be…
