I have a grocery budget; a very strict one. Every week when I go to the grocery store I rehearse my shopping list in my mind so that I get the things I need and only the things I need and get out of the store. However, somehow I manage to back to the store at least two more times before the week is out. I live exactly .5 miles form Kroger. It's a 1 minute drive and a 10 minute walk. It's just so easy to go!
Yesterday, right here in Louisville at a Kroger in J.Town a man opened fire killing two people. The gunman entered the store and killed the first victim, and then he left the store where he killed the second person. I'm sure some of you might be wondering how he managed to kill someone in a store and make it all the way outside to kill another one. You might also be wondering what sort of motive or vendetta he had to kill those people.
"Whites don't kill whites" is what the suspect (Gregory Alan Bush) said to another white man who approached him with a gun.The man realized he was face to face with the shooter and asked Bush not to shoot him, and his response was "Whites don't kill whites". So the man who was going to intervene didn't shoot; instead, he put his gun down and let Bush leave the store where he would murder his next victim.
The motive? Race. Two African American people were killed yesterday simply because of their race.
This story is disturbing on so many levels... you can read more about it here on WAVE3 News.
There was one thing that really struck me about this story...
After the man who was once wiling to use his own gun to take down the shooter found out he was privileged enough to be considered a non-target, he put the gun a way, left the store, and allowed the shooter to leave as well. This is white privilege. Sure, I was not in the situation, so I can't say how I would have reacted had I been a white person with a gun in the store. Nevertheless, as an outsider I have to ask, how do you walk away knowing you have a weapon? The attitude this gentleman had in the store yesterday is the same attitude I see across the country. "If it doesn't affect me, then I don't care enough to do anything about it". This is the same attitude that got us the leadership we have in the White House. When will we be present and selfless enough to care about others when it doesn't affect us???
As I mentioned before, I visit Kroger often... so it makes me slightly nervous that another lunatic might have heard this story and wants to carry on the torch of killing black people in stores. But really, it could be ANYWHERE! The reality is the likelihood of me being killed because of my skin color is has greatly increased because of the growing divide in this country...
If you have privilege of any kind, acknowledge it, and use to hold others accountable.
Shop here!
