The racist attack in East Buffalo is a horrific reminder of the threats facing people of color and the communities where they live. As community developers, we must continue to design solutions that tackle systemic racism and, at the same time, address the violence that is so often its byproduct. LISC CEO Lisa Glover has more.
14208. That is the zip code stalked by a racist who massacred 10 people and wounded three others in East Buffalo this weekend. His specific target: Black people.
There are no words to describe the visceral anger and grief that all of us at LISC are feeling. What happened in Buffalo was utterly horrific. It was a premeditated plan designed to kill and menace people of color, leaving a sense that they are never completely safe from violent white supremacy, even on a mundane trip to the grocery store.
For LISC, this attack hits close to home. 14208 is one of the focal points for our Buffalo-based LISC Western New York program, and our staff has long collaborated with local residents to create new opportunities for families and business owners—including a neighborhood-led investment plan that is lifting up Jefferson Avenue as a center of Black commerce, where Tops Friendly Market is located.
In fact, Tops is the only full-service grocery store on the East Side of Buffalo, and it has been a beacon for the kind of development that is taking root in this majority-Black community. For this symbol of opportunity to become the site of so much pain is an added profanity. Even beyond the lives lost and families shattered, the shooting will leave a deep scar, and only time will tell the true cost.
But this much is true as well: No one in East Buffalo is going to let a terrorist derail their aspirations, no matter how much grief he has caused. The work of community development is not just about the traditional metrics of housing, businesses, and jobs. It is also about lifting the overall quality of our civic life, and we must continue to demand answers to the actions that threaten it.
We should not, for instance, have to live in a world where dangerous people can access a firearm to carry and use at will; to shoot up a church, synagogue or mosque; or to attack innocent people in schools, on public transit, in neighborhood parks or even in their own homes.
We should not have to live in a world that tolerates dangerous conspiracy theories that promote violence against targeted groups.
And we should not have to live in a society where people who are poor, or immigrants, or Indigenous, or Black or Brown feel unsafe, marginalized and disenfranchised.
These issues may be more fraught than discussions about housing affordability or interest rates, but they are imperative to the communities where we work. They affect the well-being of every zip code in the country.
And so, we must continue to focus our efforts on solutions that not only specifically address systemic racism, but also the violence that is so often its byproduct. Equity must be central to our purpose—even if hate-filled white supremacists see that purpose as a threat. If we want to fuel strong, healthy communities and growing, vibrant local economies, there is no alternative. Equity and opportunity are part of the same whole.
We will continue to lead on critical community issues, as we stand with friends, neighbors and partners in East Buffalo, in their heartbreak and in their resilience.