Statement on the Buffalo, NY Mass Shooting from the Reverend Lewis W. Stewart, UCLM President

We are shocked and horrified by the shooting of 13 people and the killings of 10 African Americans in Buffalo, NY this weekend. We grieve for the victims and their families. This was an act of domestic terrorism.

The shooter, a young white male, was motivated by the sickness of white racism. White supremacist ideology is the cancer at the core of this nation’s existence.

However, he did not act alone. This killer bought into the false notion of Replacement Theory; and was motivated by the hateful and racist rhetoric of former president Donald Trump, and the racist speech and policies of Republican governors and congressional leaders: the suppression of Voter Rights and elimination of teaching Critical Race Theory in schools. There is much to confront and change: the use of social media to engage racist attacks, the lies of rightwing media, the need to eliminate the threat from armed white militia groups and treat them as domestic terrorists, having gun laws changed and ensuring the public safety and civil rights not only of African Americans, but all Americans labeled as “minorities”.

The problem of white racism and white supremacy is not a Black problem. It is a white problem and a national disease, which must be confronted and eliminated. We are all impacted by the insanity of racism and guns.

Either we learn to live together in peace, and respect each other as persons or end up destroying each other and our nation.