Compiled: F. R. Edwards
The ideology of ‘white supremacy’ has no place in America
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden traveled to Buffalo on Tuesday and laid flowers on the makeshift memorial near TOPS market. After visiting the area near Saturday’s mass shooting, in which 10 people died and three were injured, they met privately with relatives of the victims.
The Bidens then spoke emotionally to a large crowd, which included victims’ family members, lawmakers, and numerous media. President Biden offered words of comfort to the families and friends of the shooting victims.
President Biden also addressed the issue of hate, racism and gun violence that has become all too common in America. Biden condemned those who spread white supremacist lies “for power, political gain and for profit”. The US president was close to tears as he recalled the victims’ lives, then became angry as he described forces of hatred that have haunted his administration.
He called the buffalo shooting a murderous, racist rampage. America’s President then said “In America, evil will not win, I promise you.” “Hate will not prevail and white supremacy will not have the last word.”
While President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden were in Buffalo, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday blasted unnamed public figures for pushing the racist so-called “replacement theory,” saying they “should be ashamed of themselves.”
For a second consecutive day, Jean-Pierre refused to name names when reporters on Air Force One asked if anyone specific may have inspired the mass murder of 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket Saturday by suspected white supremacist Payton Gendron, 18.
“The people who spread this filth know who they are and they should be ashamed of themselves,” Jean-Pierre said. “But I’m not going to give them or their noxious ideas they’re pushing the attention that they desperately want.”
Of the 13 people in total who were shot, 11 were black and Gendron outlined his bigoted views in a 180-page manifesto.
Remembering and Honoring the lives of
Aaron Salter was a beloved community member and security guard who knew the shoppers of Tops Friendly Market by name. When they came under attack from a gunman with a rifle, he sprang into action.
Salter, a retired Buffalo police officer, fired multiple times at the attacker, who was wearing an armor-plated vest. The attacker was struck at least once but the bullet didn’t pierce his vest. Salter, 55, was shot and killed.
“He’s a true hero, and we don’t know what he prevented. There could have been more victims if not for his actions. He’s been retired for several years. He’s been a beloved member and employee of Tops here, working security and he went down fighting. We’re sure he saved lives yesterday.” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia
Andre Mackneil, 53, of Auburn, New York, was in town visiting relatives and was picking up a surprise birthday cake for his grandson.
“He never came out with the cake,” Clarissa Alston-McCutcheon said of her cousin. She said this sort of surprise was typical for him. He was “just a loving and caring guy. Loved family. Was always there for his family.”
Ruth Whitfield was the 86-year-old mother of retired Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield. The “beloved wife, mother and grandmother was the primary caretaker of her husband and was coming back visiting him at a nursing home when she was killed in the shooting.”
Garnell said, “It’s very difficult. This is just surreal. We are in a place that we never expected to be. My mother was the glue that held us together.”
Pearl Young, 77, was a member of Good Samaritan Church of God in Christ for over 50 years.James Pennington described her as someone who enjoyed being happy and enjoyed making other people happy.
AMANDA DRURY /Roberta Drury had recently returned home to live with her mother, Dezzelynn McDuffie, who told The Buffalo News that the 32-year-old woman — the youngest of the people slain — had walked to Tops to pick up some groceries Saturday afternoon. Soon, McDuffie saw horrifying videos circulating on social media that appeared to show the gunman shooting her daughter just outside the store.
She had recently been helping her brother recover from a bone marrow transplant.
Katherine Massey was 72. Her sister, Barbara Massey, called her “a beautiful soul.”
Heyward Patterson, 67, was a deacon at a nearby church. He’d gone by the church’s soup kitchen before heading to the supermarket, where he offered an informal taxi service driving people home with their bags.
“From what I understand, he was assisting somebody putting their groceries in their car when he was shot and killed,” said Pastor Russell Bell of State Tabernacle Church of God in Christ.
Celestine Chaney, 65, was a breast cancer survivor, prompting her family to ask people to wear pink ribbons in her honor. She shopped twice a month with her only son, Wayne Jones.
Margus Morrison was 52 and for the last four years worked as a bus aid for First Student.
“He loved kids and kids gravitated to him. He loved his job and would almost never call in,” recalled Regina Patterson, Morrison’s companion for 25 years and with whom he had three children.
Geraldine Talley was 62 years old and from Buffalo.