On Saturday, May 14th in the Tops Friendly Market, a supermarket located in east downtown Buffalo, 13 people were shot. Among them, 11 were Black and 10 were killed. They were shot by an 18-year-old man; a white supremacist who methodically planned his hate crime as his online manifesto revealed that his target was a selected area with a larger percentage of Black residents.

As orchestrated, this horrible attack on Black bodies inspired by white supremacist ideology cannot be considered as an isolated act that happens only abroad in the United States. It brings to light the systemic anti-Black racism that Black people encounter across the world and a denial of their humanity.

At this time of mourning, the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and its Diasporas (HTI) would like to express its deep connection to the Black community in Buffalo. As members of the Black community, wherever we are, this kind of hate crime reminds us of our fragility and brings about a constant feeling of insecurity. This terrible killing brought back the memory of the murder of G. Floyd by a policeman that was captured on camera in the moment.

Above all else, the HTI is determined to fight for social justice and equity and to combat all forms of anti-Black injustice against Black people.

To eradicate systemic anti-Black racism, it is imperative that we name it in order to build strong and concrete strategies that will lead to extirpate it from where it is rooted. The HTI recognizes that York University has made steps toward removing all kind of racial discrimination, but this recent killing of Black people reminds us that more still needs to be done for Black people to be considered with dignity and humanity. 

HTI would like to seize this opportunity to call upon York University’s administration to continue its commitment to dismantle anti-Black racism by not shying away from identifying and naming systemic anti-Black racism in our institution.

Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and its Diasporas