DOING ‘NOTHING’
Buffalo slay vic’s son: Act or step aside, pols
Step up, or step down.
That’s the message that the son of the oldest shooting victim in last month’s massacre in a Buffalo supermarket sent Tuesday to lawmakers as he testified on domestic terrorism before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“You expect us to continue to just forgive and forget over and over again. And what are you doing?” said Garnell Whitfield, whose 86-year-old mother, Ruth Whitfield, was among the 10 people killed by an 18-year-old gunman espousing racist views. “You’re elected to protect us, to protect our way of life.”
The teen charged in the deadly supermarket rampage May 14 was reportedly bent on killing Black people. Eleven of the 13 people shot, including all 10 who were killed, were Black.
“Is there nothing that you personally are willing to do to stop the cancer of white supremacy and the domestic terrorism it inspires?” Whitfield asked. “If there is nothing then, respectfully, senators … you should yield your positions of authority and influence to others that are willing to lead on this issue.”
It is the first of two hearings taking place this week centered around the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, where 19 fourthgrade students and two teachers were gunned down by another 18-year-old.
Wednesday will see testimony from families of victims of the latter massacre, as well as survivors such as 10-year-old Miah Cerrillo, who smeared herself in her friend’s blood so she’d look dead.
In both cities, shattered families exist in the wake of the carnage.
“My mother’s life mattered,” Whitfield said. “Your actions here will tell us if and how much it mattered to you.”
At a press conference after the hearing, Democratic lawmakers spoke of the need to quell racism and enact gun control legislation and promised to push through bills to make it happen.
“We all know that when racism is left to fester, it grows. Plain and simple,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), decrying the lack of Republican votes to even allow the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act to be discussed on the floor. “And we don’t really want thoughts and prayers. We need votes. We need action.”
He vowed to keep pushing against the deadly double scourge of racism and easy firearms access.
“I would just say we have a moral obligation to what we’re doing here and to continue what we’re going to do,” Schumer said.
Dominique Douglas, whose cousin Margus Morrison was killed in the store, spoke of how difficult it was to explain to her 9-yearold daughter why some people are so filled with hate and ignorance that they would gun someone down based on the color of their skin. And yet the gun violence epidemic goes beyond issues of race, she noted.
“I refuse to believe everyone’s narrative that this is some battle between Blacks and whites or between anyone,” she said. “We are not fighting anyone. We are asking for help. We are asking for support.”
She said skin color did not define the shooter’s actions.
“This is not just a Black thing,” Douglas said. “Our nation is so mixed up and so diverse. I promise you, if you’re just as dark as a brown paper bag, he would have still shot you, regardless of if you were Black or not. That is how ignorant that person — that thug — is. We are asking for support. That’s it.”
“I am asking the Senate for their support, not only for me and my family, but for all the families who are affected by mass shooters,” said Kimberly Salter, whose husband, Tops security guard Aaron Salter, lost his life trying to protect those in the store.
“I am asking, pleading that the Senate do all that they can, that Congress do all that they can. It’s not about Republicans, it’s not about Democrats, it’s about people, it’s about human life. It’s about our existence, it’s about our democracy.”