The fatal mass shooting inside of a New York grocery store on May 14 has shaken the faith of national political leaders by echoing a tragic and familiar refrain across the country — another mass shooting that appears motivated by race and hate.
Payton Gendron, 18, traveled 200 miles from his home in Conklin, New York, to Buffalo, where he strapped on body armor, walked into the Tops Friendly Market and shot 13 people in the store. He streamed the attack online before the police subdued him. Eleven shot were Black, while two were White — 10 of the victims died.
Federal authorities found a racist 180-page document written by Gendron, who said the assault was intended to terrorize all non-White, non-Christian people to persuade them to leave the United States. A Washington Post analysis of more than 600 messages found that Gendron had planned to target the Tops grocery store since February because its customer base is mainly Black.
“The American experiment in democracy is in danger like it hasn’t been in my lifetime,” said President Joe Biden in a Buffalo speech May 17. “It’s in danger this hour. Hate and fear are being given too much oxygen by those who pretend to love America but who don’t understand America.”
Biden went on to say, “In America, evil will not win, I promise you. Hate will not prevail. White supremacy will not have the last word.”
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Law enforcement officials said that New York State police troopers were called to Gendron’s high school last June for a report that the then-17-year-old had made threatening statements.
From President Biden to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, political officials have offered many words in the wake of a shooting that has stoked fear and worry across the country while law enforcement officials search for answers.
The Sunday morning after the incident, Hochul spoke at True Bethel Baptist Church in Buffalo, where she said, “Our hearts are broken, and I’m going to say one thing: Lord, forgive the anger in my heart right now.
“Forgive me, Lord. I know it doesn’t belong there, Lord,” Hochul said. “I was raised to love and respect and care. Well, to hear these stories and the pain that’s out there in a community that I love so well — I’m angry.”
The governor went on to quote Psalm 34: “‘The Lord is near the broken-hearted and saves the crushed of spirit.’ Well, Lord, I know you’re here because we are so broken-hearted, and we are crushed in spirit at this moment. But this is temporary because with your love, Lord, we will rise up, and our crushed spirits will rise again.”
Bishop Vashti McKenzie, the interim president and general secretary of the National Council of Churches, said in a statement: “Our communities have not healed from the onslaught of violence from past White supremist attacks and now the scabs have been ripped off to bleed again.”
McKenzie stood with President Obama and other bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church after the young white supremacist Dylann Roof walked into Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 and opened fire, killing nine people during a midweek Bible study.
”This racial violence has to stop,” McKenzie said. “We must all increase our efforts to bring racism to an end and that will not happen by only making ceremonial or performative gestures that don’t get to the root causes of the problems. We have to do the deeper work. This is especially true for Christians.”
The Rev. Eric Manning, pastor of Mother Emanuel AME, said in a statement that he and members of his congregation could empathize with the suffering from the May 14 shooting in Buffalo.
“We can relate to your hurt, pain and anger,” Pastor Manning said, adding, “The congregation of Mother Emanuel was in the same place almost seven years ago.”
On May 17, New York City Mayor Eric Adams joined faith leaders who came to a Harlem vigil for the 10 victims of the racially fueled mass shooting.
During the vigil at Bethel Gospel Assembly Church, Adams placed one of the 10 pink roses on a table. But he also referred to a shooting closer to home — race and hate are not the only reasons why people of color are being killed.
“You are no less demonic,” said Adams to the drive-by shooter who killed an 11-year-old girl in the Bronx. Adams had just visited her parents, and he drew parallels between the Buffalo shooting and New York City gun violence.
Many communities around the country are hosting vigils for racial healing after the Buffalo shooting. In Rockville, Maryland, people from Jewish, Asian, Hispanic and other groups targeted by white supremacists gathered for a vigil at the Rockville Seventh-day Adventist Church.
“As a family of faith, we pray for healing for all who have been affected,” the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America said in a statement on May 19. “But as much as our prayers go up and our hearts go out to those who have been devastated by this horrific event, we cannot stop there.
“We denounce this mindless and premeditated act of hatred and violence. We call on all people of goodwill to use their voices and platforms to denounce hatred and racism in all of its forms. May we use this evil intention as a catalyst to propel us to action and demonstrate that love is stronger than hatred.”
This story was originally published by Religion Unplugged.
Hamil R. Harris is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland College Park and senior contributor at ReligionUnplugged. He is also minister at the Glenarden Church of Christ and a police chaplain. A longtime reporter, Harris contributes to outlets such as The Washington Post, USA Today, The Christian Chronicle and the Washington Informer.
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12 Responses
It’s time to get angry, brothers and sisters. Christians SHOULD have a righteous anger about someone desiring to murder and terrorize “non-white, non-Christians” to get them to leave the country. Perhaps that righteous anger would provoke us to do something other than blaming the media/left/Democrats/progressives and making excuses for both the overt and covert language of Christian nationalism, fear, and hatred that is permeating our country – and yes – our congregations.
I’m watching Christians get more fired up about CRT, “woke”ism, and “Don’t Say Gay” than about outright murder rooted in racial and religious bigotry. Even looking at this site – note the silence on this thread, but the HUNDREDS of comments when “CRT”, “woke”, inclusion, or sexual orientation comes up.
That is why we are losing our relevance and becoming little more than a punchline among the circles that we SHOULD be inspiring and saving.
We are spending our energy on the wrong things.
I don’t know what to say, Marin. The strong reaction to one and the lack of reaction to the other wasn’t unnoticed. It’s shameful and I’m sorry I don’t have something helpful to offer.
Marin, you are so correct… and I too am angry and except for a hope in the real Jesus, I’m despairing too… the selective outrage (partisan driven imo) is very baked in… I chip away at in little ways, but it is like Mt Everest. A lot of american christians have made some things into high places of their ‘faith’ and they fight you tooth & nail if you dare question those high places. They literally think you’re trying to turn them away from their christian faith, because they’ve made some of these things part of their ‘faith’. The only thing that worked in my life and what seems to work for others is to have a series of circumstances that disillusions you to that ‘faith’ (with its immaturies, idols and high places) and with God’s help you reconstruct again to a real faith that prioritizes the heart of Jesus/God and not the high places anymore… and then one can look at things more clearly and get outraged by real sins, the real horrors of hell, the real powers & principalities and injustices, and not the fake grievances hyped by the extremes from either poles…
But this happens to a small % of people… and they’re voices in the wilderness of american evangelicalism where the high places have many vocal and zealous worshippers…
Marin:
Mr. Gendron was and is mentally ill. Did you know he beheaded a cat in his family’s garage with a knife?
Please, please, please try to learn more about mental disease before passing judgment on this young man. He is very ill indeed. Multiple signs were ignored. We as a society need to do much better with those who suffer from mental illness.
This was NOT about racism at all. It was about a very sick young man who nearly killed himself.
>> This was NOT about racism at all.
Cynthia, this is an exceedingly ignorant take, and dangerous, too, because it fails to hold accountable the Satanic white supremacist ideology that motivated this shooter. Are you aware that as he went on a shooting rampage, he approached a cowering *white* man, realized he was white, said, “Sorry!”, let him live, and then kept on shooting black people?
Abram:
When one is mentally ill, particularly schizophrenic, reality does not exist. For Payton, ideology of any sort would be attractive. Again, if you do not understand what mental illness does to the human mind, you need to do some research. Satan obviously takes advantage of those who cannot think for themselves. This act was clearly directed by Satan. Stated differently, the real Payton Gendron left as soon as mental illness took over. You can view this as racism if you need to, but it was an act committed by a mentally ill young man who should have received help at the first sign of mental disease.
In future, be very careful when condemning someone who, quite literally, was not even there. And, please, for the sake of our nation, try harder when it comes to analysis. Not every act committed against people of color is motivated by racism.
Wow… “quite literally, was not even there” is an astounding length to go to to deny racist motivations. He was literally there and he literally killed people. There’s video footage of it. Cut it out.
Your analysis is shallow, disingenuous, lacks curiosity, and is ultimately dangerous. It makes me sad and it makes me angry. I’m calling on you to do better.
Was mental illness at play, too? Clearly. Was racism? Also clearly.
Why are you so intent on denying the racist motivation this shooter had? What do you have to lose, or–better yet–what are you trying to protect?
Dr. Norbeck:
You did not mention the age when schizophrenia usually shows up. I have heard 17-25..
Evangelicals should loudly back requiring you to be 25, to buy an AR-15, etc.
GOP Legislators will not listen to you or me.
Why was he writing HUNDREDS of pages of a manifesto against non-whites and non-Christians? You know what? Let me stop and go pray. I KNEW this would happen. I KNEW Christians would downplay this element of it and make this ok. And as a Black evangelical (which is hard for me to openly claim in this climate) I am SO SO tired of my white “brothers and sisters” making constant deflections and excuses for the blatant outright murder of Black people.
Marin, I am so sorry you’re having to put up with the deceived and deceitful comments like the one that Cynthia is posting. Not cool. Praying with you.
In College, we had a short debate or whether Hitler was crazy or evil. Consensus, he was both.
Mr. Gendron was and is mentally ill. His pages-long screed makes that crystal clear, as does his attempt to kill himself when the police arrived.
Unfortunately, people taught to see racism in every single act of violence against people of color will fail to analyze, gather facts, and discern the truth. In this case, Mr. Gendron was clearly out of his mind when he began shooting. He gave multiple warning signs and nobody took notice. It has also been revealed that he slashed and ultimately beheaded a cat in his family’s garage.
Please, one and all, try to look at the facts before passing judgment. This was about a young man out of his mind.