5/17/22

Dear community,

On Sunday, May 15, Black citizens and their communities in Buffalo, NY marched the streets following a public shooting on Saturday, May 14 at a local grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood, which saw the deaths of ten individuals: Roberta A. Drury, 32; Margus D. Morrison, 52; Andre Mackneil, 53; Aaron Slater, 55; Geraldine Talley, 62; Celestine Chaney, 65; Heyward Patterson, 67; Katherine Massey, 72; Pearl Young, 77; and Ruth Whitfield, 86. The shooter also injured three individuals: Zaire Goodman, 20; Jennifer Warrington, 50; and Christopher Braden, 55.

Dallas, TX also experienced what has been classified as the third in a recent pattern of ‘racially-motivated’ shootings at Asian American businesses in the Koreatown neighborhood. This most recent attack saw the shooting of three Korean women, whose names have not been released to the public.

Over the last few years, too many instances of violence against people and communities who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color have been classified as ‘racially-motivated,’ blamed on the offender’s mental health, or reduced to a gun control debate. Limiting our response to coded and politicized language to describe these attacks does a disservice to the individuals and communities continually harmed.

We must grow and demand collective clarity and responsiveness to the roots of these repeated atrocities. We must make clear the connections to bill after bill seeking to further marginalize and eradicate the rights of BIPOC individuals, trans, gender-expansive people, and those who can bear children. We must not be afraid to call out and organize against the violence of colonialism, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and heteropatriarchy which seek to impede our collective healing and liberation.

We extend our love and solidarity to our friends at PUSH Buffalo (our client partner since 2015). For information on where to send contributions to ensure they reach those who need support, please contact PUSH Buffalo for the most current and up-to-date list of organizations and efforts. For more information about support efforts against anti-AAPI violence, visit Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

Morten Group is steadfast in our commitment to collaborate with client partners seeking to understand, interrupt, and heal from white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and all other forms of oppression that live not only in individual thoughts and actions but in all institutions and structures until we uproot them in service of justice and liberation.

Yours in solidarity,
Morten Group, LLC