BUFFALO (N.Y. aEUR] Mourners laid to repose the 10 Black victims of a racist attack on a Buffalo supermarket. The service was held Saturday and became a call for action as well as an emotional appeal to end the violence and hatred that have ravaged the country.
Ruth Whitfield, 86 years old, was the last of the 10 victims in the attack on Buffalo two weeks ago. The funeral also featured an impromptu speech from Vice President Kamala Harris. With Doug Emhoff, second gentleman, she attended the Mount Olive Baptist Church service in Buffalo.
Harris said to the mourners that this was a time for “all the good people” to speak out against the injustice at Tops Friendly Market, May 14, and Robb Elementary School, Uvalde, Texas.
“This moment requires all good people, God-loving people, to speak up and declare that they will not tolerate this. Harris said enough was enough. He wasn’t supposed to speak but he came to the microphone at Rev. Al Sharpton. “We will unite based on the things we all share in common. We will not allow hate-motivated people to separate us or cause fear.
Harris and Emhoff paid respects to the memorial located outside the supermarket after the funeral. The vice president left a large bouquet with white flowers at the memorial. After that, the couple paused for a few minutes to pray. Jill Biden, first lady of the United States, had visited the families of the victims and placed flowers at the memorial May 17. Biden will be visiting Texas this weekend to visit the families of those who were killed in Tuesday’s school shooting.
Harris later stated to reporters that the administration isn’t “waiting around” for the right solution to the nation’s gun violence crisis.
She said that “we know what works on this,” and reiterated her support for background checks as well as a ban on assault weapon use. Harris stated that the nation must also come together.
She stated, “We must agree that, if we want to be strong as nations, we must stand firm, identifying our differences as our unity.”
A week of sad goodbyes has been experienced by the family and friends who lost loved ones in the Buffalo shooting. This includes a restaurant worker who bought his 3-year old a birthday cake at the market; a father who was a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan and worked as a school bus aide; as well as a sister of 32 who moved to Buffalo to care for her brother who is battling leukemia.
Whitfield, a grandmother, and mother of four was in the supermarket after visiting her husband, of 68 years, at a nursing home. When a gunman, identified as Payton Gendron (18), opened fire, Whitfield was inside.
According to authorities, Gendron, a white man, attacked the store three hours away from Conklin, because it was located in a predominantly Black area.
Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer, delivered a fiery tribute at Whitfield’s funeral service. He called for all “accomplices,” from gun distributors and gun manufacturers, to be held responsible.
Crump stated that those who “instructed, radicalized this young, unsecure individual” should be held accountable for Whitfield’s disappearance from her family, Buffalo community, and the rest of the world. Crump called Whitfield “one of our most angelic characters that we have ever seen.”
Crump stated, in reference to the victims, “It’s a sin that this young depraved male, not a boy went and killed Ruth Whitfield”
Sharpton said he was shocked to see the shooter live-stream his attack on Twitch. Sharpton also noted that his mother grew up in Alabama where Ku Klux Klan hooded members once killed Black people.
He said that white supremacists today “are proud to practise racism.”
Sharpton called for gun control measures in his eulogy. He said that all communities must come together to “disarm the haters.”
He said, “There is an epidemic in racial violence which is accommodated through gun laws that permit people to kill us.” “You don’t have to love us but you shouldn’t be able to easily access military weapons to kill our bodies.”
The attack, which federal authorities are currently investigating as a hate crime, saw 13 people being shot. Three people were able to survive.
Whitfield was the mother to Garnell Whitfield, former Buffalo Fire Commissioner.
Gendron has been charged with first-degree killing and is currently being held without bail. Gendron’s attorney entered a plea agreement of not guilty for his client.
