Can you even go grocery shopping while colored? How can we even feel safe getting our needs anymore? On May 14, 2022, a mass shooting occurred in Buffalo, New York in a supermarket. Ten African Americans were shot and killed and 3 others were injured. Eighteen-year-old Payton Gendron live-streamed the tragic shooting on an app called twitch. That Friday before the tragic shooting Gendron was in the Buffalo supermarket and got asked to leave because he was bothering customers. Payton Gendron wore the same camouflage clothing he was wearing the Friday before, the same day of the shooting.

This isn’t Payton’s first time in trouble with the law. Last June he made a threat saying he would commit suicide murder. Gendron was taken by authorities and released two days later because they said he was just making jokes about the threats. CNN interviewed Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia. Gramaglia says that Gendron did a school project about murder-suicides when he was in school. CNN stated that Joseph Gramaglia said, Gendron was planning to continue his shootings. There was documentation of Gendron saying that he wanted to target another grocery store. Gendron’s social media shows that he spent months before planning his attack. Gendron posted his digital footprint a couple of months. The plan of the shooting was posted 30 minutes before the actual shooting to a small group of people who he let read. On Gendron’s social media posts he cited that he chose Buffalo because the black population was higher there than in any other place he was considering.

Payton Gendron’s cousin had claimed he has mental issues and he killed 1o black people because of covid.  Covid was exposed to the US on December 31, 2019. Gendron had plenty of time to react to the pandemic but he chose to do it on May 14, 2022. That’s 2 and a half years later. Is that not questionable? She also claimed he has isolation issues and covid made him have no contact with humans.  This is offensive to people who actually have mental issues. I think them saying it was a mental health issue is a cover-up for what the issue really is.

The family of Payton Gendron also stated how they didn’t know that Payton was a part of the white supremacist. The White supremacist is a group of white people that believe that white people should have power over colored or other races. White supremacists also feel as if they can do certain things (as in violence) and get away with it because of the past. This is not the first time a white person has shot at black people and has gotten little to no consequences. Payton was charged with 1st-degree murder. Honestly, he should suffer.

We asked two students how they felt about the shooting this is how they felt:

”I really don’t know how to feel because this is going to continue to happen and they get off with less than a year or something. I just kind of adapted to this happening because some things are never going to change.”- Kayshawn Farrington-9

“I think he should get life in prison because that was planned and he knew who to shoot at. He only got one count of murder when he killed 10 people.” Bryce Jones-9

If an African American shot and killed a white person, we wonder if they would feel how we feel, being targeted just because of our skin color. We have seen this for many years and it’s tiring. Wondering will this ever stops. 10 African American lives were taken and multiple people were traumatized, while Payton is only worried about getting less time in prison and his sentence.