Condolences to the Family Members and the Community of Buffalo, New York

The members of the NAACP Santa Cruz County extend our heartfelt condolences to the family members and the community of Buffalo, New York, who lost loved ones in the violent and racist attack on May 14, 2022.

As NAACP President Derrick Johnson recently said, “America cannot be a fair and equal democracy until we root out the threat of white supremacy and the racist violence that terrorizes communities across our nation.” Once again, we are left with profound grief and horror in response to a calculated attack of domestic terror by a white supremacist, an attack perpetuated to undermine the very fabric of our democracy.

There has been a terrible rise in racist hate crimes and corresponding blatant bigotry from television pundits and some politicians. Black Americans are the leading targets for hate crimes in our country, but we also continue to witness increases in anti-Semitic attacks, as well as violence against the Latino, Asian, Muslim, and LGBTQ+ communities. This violence has been spurred in part by social media, which provides easy access to hate speech and the encouragement to act on it. Our nation’s leaders must immediately address on-line racism and radicalization, or we will continue to experience these heinous and horrific attacks. White supremacy and democracy cannot coexist.

If we are to take this horrific violence seriously, we must stand up. We must ensure that all citizens in the United States have easy access to exercise their Constitutional right to the vote and are able to elect local, state, and national officials who will hear our voices as we decry the violent racism of white supremacy. No one is free until the rights and safety of all Americans are fully guaranteed, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or religion.

In his recent visit to Buffalo, President Biden said, "Any act of domestic terrorism, including an act perpetrated in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology, is antithetical to everything we stand for in America. Hate must have no safe harbor. We must do everything in our power to end hate-fueled domestic terrorism.”

The U.S. House of Representatives just passed H.R. 350, the Democratic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022 with a vote mostly along party lines. We need bipartisan support to end racist terror in America. Instead, we see Republicans make excuses, protect white supremacist idealogues, and institutionalize barriers to voting.

In an interview after the attack, Reverend George Nicholas of the United Methodist Church in Buffalo challenged Americans to, “Care! Be courageous! Take an honest reckoning of history and make an earnest commitment to creating the Beloved Community.”

We must address the quality-of-life factors for many Black citizens in communities across America to ensure that people live in neighborhoods that are free of environmental hazards, have easy access to elections, good medical care, healthy food and clean water, and that young people feel safe in attending schools and colleges without fear of violence or discrimination.

White supremacy and its virulent ideology can rightfully cause anger, hatred, fear, and cynicism that nothing will ever change in America. We cannot allow hate to win. In a democracy, we must work together for the common good. We must stand up and protect each other. We must vote to ensure that our elected officials share our democratic principles. And we must encourage our young people to participate in local, state, and national politics.

The Black community of Santa Cruz has been in existence for as long as the town itself. We, the members of the NAACP Santa Cruz County, desire to co-exist with our neighbors to build meaningful alliances that will strengthen our democracy both locally and nationally, and to stand up against all forms of destructive and debilitating hate, and to realize NAACP’s vision of an inclusive community rooted in liberation where all persons can exercise their civil and human rights without discrimination.