Posted on December 30, 2022

Forecast Calls for Racism – And It’ll Outlast the Snow

Rod Watson, Buffalo News, December 28, 2022

The emails were as predictable as the blizzard itself.

“I suppose you would like to again, somehow blame the despicable act of looting in Buffalo on ‘poor education and upbringing’ … Lets stop wondering why the east side of Buffalo has such a hard time attracting businesses. We all know why,” wrote one apostrophe-challenged reader.

“What a shock. When times are tough, the blacks never disappoint. Did you loot anything? Amazing how there aren’t videos of Asians, Whites, Arabs or Latinos looting Buffalo. Just the usual suspects … It’s never going to change,” wrote another.

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At the same time, the looting highlighted one big difference, a difference that is critical when your entire existence in this country has been predicated on always having to take the high road. {snip} You did not hear any Black people talking about the vandals and the store owners and saying there were “very fine people on both sides.”

What you heard instead was Byron Brown, the city’s first Black mayor, going on TV and calling the looters “reprehensible” and “the lowest of the low.” {snip}

That is just one difference that emerges when a race is constantly under a microscope and held to – and holds itself to – a higher level of accountability because it knows that, even in 2022, the double standard remains.

And that, in the end, is what compounds the damage the looters have done. Beyond destroying what store owners have worked hard to build, and destroying goods and services neighborhood residents rely on, the vandals have handed more ammunition to the racists among us.

{snip}