Yet Another Racially-Motivated Shooting Targets Black Community in Jacksonville

Photo credit: AP News

In a city already worn by violence, Saturday presented us with a horrific moment that is agonizingly familiar but still manages to shock the conscience. Three people were killed inside a Dollar General store in a predominately Black Jacksonville neighborhood in what authorities have unambiguously described as a racially-motivated attack. The gunman, a white man in his 20s, subsequently took his own life.

Sheriff T.K. Waters made no bones about it: “He hated black people,” he said in a news conference. And lest anyone try to question the racial motivations, the shooter’s use of firearms— one of which was painted with a swastika — underscores the hateful ideology behind this act. According to Waters, the shooter acted alone and was not part of any larger group. Investigators found writings left by the shooter that suggest the attack was timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of a previous shooting in Jacksonville. In that earlier incident, a gunman targeted a video game tournament, killing two individuals before taking his own life.

The chilling incident took place just blocks away from Edward Waters University, a small historically Black university. Following the attack, the school put forth a statement confirming that students were being kept in their dorms for safety and that no faculty or students were involved. But safety, it appears, is a relative term for Black people in America, whether you’re in a dormitory or in a store.

The backdrop to this tragic event extends far beyond Jacksonville. The deadly shooting unfolded within mere hours of the conclusion of a commemorative March on Washington. Thousands gathered in the nation’s capital, calling for justice and equality, and raising awareness of the escalating threat of hate-fueled violence against people of color.

The shooter drove to the store from neighboring Clay County and started his rampage shortly after texting his father to check his computer, where he left behind writings further substantiating the racial motive. Law enforcement was notified, but by then, the violence had already erupted.

In the wake of this horror, community members like Penny Jones, a former Dollar General employee, are left grappling with a terrible new reality. “I don’t want to leave my house,” Jones said according to the Associated Press. “I’m thinking, do I want to go back to the store? Is this going to start happening more frequently? It’s a lot of different feelings going on right now.”

This is not an isolated event. Earlier in 2022, a Buffalo, New York, supermarket was the scene of another deadly shooting, in which a white gunman killed ten Black people. That gunman was convicted and sentenced to life without parole. The 2015 Charleston church shooting, in which nine African Americans were gunned down during a Bible study session, is yet another grim chapter in this American narrative.

America must reckon with the dire implications of these recurring, racially motivated attacks. They are not mere statistical anomalies; they are signs of an affliction of the soul, of unresolved national tensions, of a hatred that must be faced and rooted out. The ultimate question remains: How many more lives have to be lost, how many more communities traumatized, before we can move past simple acknowledgment to concrete action?

Because, let’s be clear, acknowledgment without action is nothing but empty air. And the time for empty talk has long passed. America has a deep-rooted issue with racially-motivated violence, and the alarms are sounding. Now, more than ever, they must be heard.