(Scott Olson via Getty Images)
It’s common to see this time of year as a time of opportunity and fun as spring fades and summer begins to rise. The majority of the population may agree, but the Black community may disagree.
Black bodies appear to be more vulnerable than ever during the summer months. A time of year when we might expect to see police killing unarmed Black people in the street, in cold blood.
This summer starts off with the intersection of two epidemics – Black bodies constantly being laid to rest and white domestic terrorism.
Ten people were gunned down May 14 at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store and three others were injured during the racist attack. Of the 13 victims, 11 were Black. A white 18-year-old man was charged with first-degree murder and is expected to appear in court June 9.
As a melanated person, you are acutely aware of the importance of keeping an eye out for these potential dangers. You learn early on that there is no such thing as a “safe space.” It’s hard to comprehend how someone could just go out and murder seniors, or anyone, without remorse. It’s incomprehensible why people with dark skin can’t go to bed at night in their own beds without being murdered. It’s puzzling how white domestic terrorists get away with such heinous crimes over and over again.
What isn’t hard to understand is the fact that what happened in Buffalo is just another reflection of the problems that America continues to ignore.