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The University of Notre Dame issued a statement saying it is appalled that the suspect in the Buffalo grocery store shooting cited an article written by one of its professors in his diatribe before he killed 10 people.

Payton Gendron, 18, has been charged with murder and is being held without bail.

In 2013, John Gaski, associate professor at Notre Dame, wrote a commentary titled A Discussion on Race, Crime and the Inconvenient Facts, where he makes claims of race-based rape and crime statistics but fails to cite where he got his information.

A group prays at the site of a memorial for the victims of the Buffalo supermarket shooting outside the Tops Friendly Market on May 21, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. (Joshua Bessex/AP)

A 180-page diatribe allegedly written by Gendron refers to one of the claims in Gaskis article and links to it. The diatribe, which officials are working on to verify its authenticity, repeatedly cites the great replacement theory, a conspiracy theory that falsely claims white people are being replaced.

On May 14, Gendron allegedly went to a supermarket in a majority Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, and opened fire, killing 10 and injuring three, most of them Black. The mass shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.

The Notre Dame connection came to light after comedian Liz Hynes, a writer on the Last Week Tonight show, posted on Instagram and Twitter about the article.

In the article, Gaski wrote, Because the number of white-on-black rape is so low nationally in any given year, the ratio ranges from 100-to-1 to infinity. This is the part cited in the diatribe.

Gaski does not mention that rape and sexual violence are difficult to measure because the crime is underreported. He also provides only one citation throughout the article.

The article was written after George Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012, and it accuses prominent leaders, including Al Sharpton and Barack Obama, of race-baiting.

This petty, intellectually dishonest piece, dripping in racial animus, has forever linked the University of Notre Dame to a white supremacist murderer, Hynes wrote on her social media platforms three days after the mass shooting. No marketing on earth can undo that. But an acknowledgment would be a start.

On Thursday, Joel Curran, the universitys top spokesperson, issued the following statement from the university: We are appalled that a 2013 article by John Gaski, an associate professor at Notre Dame, was cited by the perpetrator of the heinous murders of innocent people in Buffalo. Whatever professor Gaskis intentions, we deeply regret that his words were used to support a doctrine of racial hatred. We urge all, at Notre Dame or elsewhere, to speak and act in ways that never give harbor to hatred and violence.

On Friday, Gaski issued his own statement, published on the universitys news webpage.

It is sobering that a portion of an article I wrote in August 2013 was cited in the document composed by the Buffalo shooting suspect, Gaski wrote. It was, of course, never my intent to in any way incite violence in fact, just the opposite. I also am appalled and deeply distressed that the information I provided is associated in any way with this young mans horrific actions.

An attempt to reach Gaski by phone was unsuccessful. He is listed as an associate professor of marketing in Notre Dames Mendoza College of Business directory. In response to a request for comment, a Mendoza college spokesperson referred the Tribune to the schools published statement.

scasanova@chicagotribune.com

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Notre Dame says it is 'appalled' the Buffalo shooting suspect cited an article by one of its professors - Chicago Tribune

Today, a group of right-wingers are gathering to fetishize guns. The cast of characters includes a former president, multiple sitting congresspeople, and the senator of a state which just saw the fourth deadliest school shooting in American history. There also will be members of the far-right group the Oath Keepers, people who attempted to overturn the results of the last election, weapons manufacturers, people who call queer people degenerates, and an actor who once played Superman. And thats just the board members.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) hosts their annual convention this weekend just a few days after a school shooting in Uvalde left 19 children and two adults dead and a few weeks after a white supremacist fatally shot 10 peoplein a supermarket in Buffalo. Yet, the convention the Associations first since the pandemic began is proceeding as normal, complete with a keynote speech from Donald Trump. The event will also feature speeches from multiple members of the military and police.

While the NRA has the audacity to tout itself as Americas longest-standing civil rights organization, in actuality its a devoutly right-wing organization which works to protect the profits of the gun manufacturers who fund them. Indeed, the NRA functions as the primary lobbying arm of the entire gun industry and donates in huge numbers to politicians and not just far-right Trumpist politicians. In fact, the NRA has donated millions to North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, who voted to convict Trump in the impeachment trial, Senate Majority Leader and Trump opponent Mitch McConnell, and even a handful of Democrats.

Indeed, the NRA spent $250 million in 2020, largely on lobbying and donations to stop even attempts at discussing gun policy. This is indicative of the way that lobbying works under the current system: corporations give off-shoot lobby organizations huge swaths of cash which they then use to influence policy by passing that money on to politicians. Politicians of both parties are happy to accept this money and, in return, do the bidding of whichever industry has bankrolled them. This is such a bipartisan phenomenon that in 2022, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is currently the top recipient of lobbying money, by a pretty wide margin.

Yet, for all of their blustering about protecting gun rights, the NRA has consistently failed to even make a statement when the most policed group of gun owners is targeted by the state. Theres a reason for this, of course, and its that the gun owners who face the most repression are Black. But the NRA isnt interested in them. Not when the police killed Philando Castile in front of his child for having a legal and licensed gun in his glove compartment which he informed the police he had a license to carry. Not when Tamir Rice was killed for having a toy gun. Not when Kenneth Walker, Breonna Taylors partner, fired his legal and licensed gun to protect himself from a home invasion and was then arrested. Not even when Gaige Grosskreutz, a white gun owner and BLM protester, was shot while attempting to be a good guy with a gun against active shooter Kyle Rittenhouse. Instead, the NRA tweeted text of the 2nd amendment in support of Rittenhouse immediately after his acquittal and never spoke of Grosskreutz at all. The list of the NRAs refusal to support Black gun owners goes on and on and on.

In fact, rather than show any support for the Black Lives Matter Movement a movement which featured the actualization of the famous NRA hypothetical of jack-booted government thugs [taking] away our constitutional rights and even injur[ing] or kill[ing] us, leaders of the NRA spoke against the movement. One board member called BLM a rancid evil, a former NRATV host called Castile a gun-toting thug, and another NRA board member wrote multiple op-eds against the movement. Indeed, the NRA is so pro-cop and that they even have a special division for law enforcement.

But the NRAs racism isnt anything new. They supported George Zimmerman and, most damningly, even supported gun control laws when it was aimed at disarming the Black Panther Party. The 1967 Mulford Act was a California state law (pushed through by then-governor Ronald Reagan) which was a direct reaction to the Black Panthers policy of arming themselves. The law banned open carry of loaded firearms and banned all loaded firearms inside the state capital. This was a direct response to, amongst other things, a 1967 occupation of the state capitol by 30 armed Black Panthers. Compare the NRAs response to this to their response to the January 6 riots and it is clear who the NRA is interested in advocating for.

This weekends convention will feature many grand speeches about freedom, liberty, civil rights, and the Constitution. But the NRA is little more than a front group for the gun industry which has cunningly used the rhetoric of freedom and resisting state repression to work in tandem with the state to ensure that guns are kept in the hands of a privileged minority specifically middle- and upper-class white people. For all their talk about jackbooted thugs, the NRA has not only welcomed those thugs but given them their own special division within the organization and multiple speaking slots at their convention.

The NRA isnt interested in protecting gun rights for the oppressed, theyre interested in protecting gun rights for right-wingers and ensuring that the state keeps its monopoly on violence. Its not a civil rights group its a group of heavily armed bigots.

Ezra is a NYC based theatre artist and teacher.

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The NRA Exists to Keep Weapons Profits Booming and Guns in the Hands of the State and Right Wing - Left Voice

When George Floyd was in high school, his teacher Bertha Dinkins prophetically told the teen: I want to read about you in the newspaper that you have made history and done something to change society. She could never have foretold that Floyd would become a household name because the world watched a video of police officer Derek Chauvin slowly choke him to death with his knee on his neck in 2020.

The killing sparked the largest protests ever against racial injustice, prompting society to discuss racism in ways it has not done for more than a generation. His Name Is George Floyd (written by two Washington Post reporters) attempts to use the life and death of Floyd as a vehicle to examine the bigotry that lies at the heart of the present-day US.

Figures that spark protests are often barely drawn in two dimensions: we have a name, an image and little else. We know Emmett Till whose lynching in 1955 is credited with sparking the civil rights movement after his mother displayed his disfigured body in an open casket as a 14-year-old killed for supposedly whistling at a white woman. Trayvon Martin whose killing by George Zimmerman in 2012 ignited the Black Lives Matter movement is the teenager in a hoodie who died for going to a shop to buy Skittles.

In this age of misinformation, where the victims of police killings are made out to be the problem, this humanising of Floyd is necessary. The book does not paint him as a saint but explains his flaws in the context of his experiences. Yes, he was an addict, a convict, and even made a porn movie. But these are not separate from his role as a father, friend and the backbone of his family and community. It is welcome that Floyd is no longer an anonymous Black man and you can feel the devastation of his family, friends and community in the interviews that pepper the book.

Samuels and Olorunnipas greatest triumph is placing Floyds life in the context of white supremacy. Before we get to Floyd, we learn about his ancestors struggles as tenant farmers in the period after slavery was abolished, known as reconstruction. Rather than abolition marking an end to racism, we grasp how the logic of racism continued. Racist laws and segregation became the tools for keeping the Black population oppressed. Floyds great-grandfather was stripped of the land and money he had managed to accumulate in tobacco farming, leaving the family in the poverty that was passed down through the generations.

The authors reflect on the irony of Floyd being killed after allegedly buying cigarettes with a fake $20 bill, given his familys history with tobacco. Throughout, Floyds life is used to discuss issues such as racial terrorism, housing segregation, mass incarceration and racism in schooling. The point is driven home that his life and death were a result of the racism built into American society. David Smith was killed by Minneapolis police in 2010, in an almost identical manner to Floyd, but there was no public outcry.

There is a way in which all the attention on Floyds death has in some way limited the conversation: we all agree that his murder was indefensible, Derek Chauvin went to prison, minimal policing reforms occurred and now we can move on. His Name Is George Floyd adds to this narrative by focusing on this one event and its aftermath. The lack of any global context severely limits our understanding of racism, which, as Malcolm X explained, is not just an American problem, but a world problem.

The focus on Floyd also follows the unfortunate pattern of highlighting the plight of Black men, reinforcing how we are drawn to the spectacle. The violence has tended to be public, from lashings on the plantation to lynchings leaving strange fruit hanging from southern trees. The oppression of Black women is more private sexual violence, evictions and deadly institutional inequalities, such as being four times more likely to die in childbirth and more difficult to capture on camera.

Activist and professor Kimberl Crenshaw started the #SayHerName campaign to draw attention to the Black women who were far more likely to be killed by the police than their white counterparts. I couldnt read this book without thinking how Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her home by police in 2020, would have been a rich subject.

The horrific murders in Buffalo last weekend are a reminder of how a focus on racism can cloud larger issues. Killing sprees by White supremacist males are a symptom of structural racism but they are so violent and public that they, rather than the ways in which society kills Black people every day, become the basis of our discussions.

In defence of the authors, they make a valiant effort to use Floyds story to educate society about the ills of structural racism; for many readers this will be the first time they have encountered the history that shapes the present. But it is also a depressing reminder of how much work needs to be done, of the lessons that still need to be learned this deep into the 21st century.

Kehinde Andrews is professor of Black studies at Birmingham City University and the author of New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World

His Name Is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa is published by Transworld (20). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

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His Name is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa review the murder that shamed the US - The Guardian

West Virginia University has again extended its test optional admission policy for the ACT and SAT. The extension does not apply to all cases, as there are still some majors that require certain test scores for admission. But as WVU has decided now that there are cases for which ACT and SAT scores are not required for admission through the spring 2024 term it begs the question, should the requirement be eliminated permanently?

Providing students the flexibility to choose whether or not standardized tests are included in their college applications allows them to feel more in control of the process, said George Zimmerman, WVU assistant vice president for enrollment management.

It also saves them money, or perhaps opens doors to students who were not able to pay to take the tests more than once.

Though the change began as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems now as though the reasons for extending the policy have everything to do with better serving students in an evolving academic world.

The pandemic has changed the way many people live their daily lives, Zimmerman said. Higher education is not immune to these types of changes. Test optional admissions has allowed schools across the country to provide students with new choices when it comes to applying to college. The pandemic made this shift necessary and we have seen students embrace test optional admissions processes as part of their college search.

Attention does need to paid to ensure students who otherwise may not have been prepared for a four-year college do not take on massive amounts of debt, only to struggle and possibly drop out of college. The issue is more nuanced than just saying we dont need standardized tests for students, and WVU officials will need to scrutinize the data over the next few years.

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Florida attorney Benjamin Crump has been hired to represent the family of 86-year-old Ruth Elizabeth Whitfield, one of 10 people killed at a grocery store in a predominately Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York Saturday.

Yesterday, we witnessed the deadliest mass shooting of 2022, perpetrated by a self-proclaimed white supremacist who set out to do one thing: kill Black people, Crump said in a statement released Sunday.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said the gunman, identified as 18-year-old Payton Gendron, traveled to the area with the express purpose of taking as many Black lives as he could.

Officials say Gendron shot 13 people in Saturdays attack. Of the victims, 11 were Black. Gendron also streamed the violent rampage on gaming site Twitch. In the video, an anti-Black racial slur is seen scrawled across the barrel of his gun.

NO question of motive he wrote it on his assault rifle!! Crump wrote on Twitter sharing a screenshot of the weapon pulled from the live stream.

Investigators also found a 180-page manifesto believed to be written by Gendron that detailed the deadly plot, identified Gendron as the shooter and repeated a racist conspiracy theory that details a false belief that immigrants and minorities are plotting to replace white people.

Sharon Doyle gathers with others outside the scene of a shooting at a supermarket, in Buffalo, N.Y., Sunday, May 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke/AP)

Though investigators are still working to authenticate the document, they found that Gendron, who is white, had repeatedly visited websites that espoused white supremacist beliefs and had extensively researched the 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. The shooter who perpetrated that attack also believed the great replacement theory shared in the manifesto.

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Crump said Whitfield was the primary caretaker for her husband and had stopped by the grocery store on her way home after visiting him in a nursing home when she was killed. The Associated Press reported that Whitfield was the mother of retired Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield, who told The Buffalo News she was a mother to the motherless and a blessing to all of us.

Crump is working the case with New York attorneys Terry Connors of Connors LLP and Ken Abbarno of DiCello Levitt.

We are thoroughly investigating the shooting and the events leading up to it, Crump said. These grieving families deserve to know how a white supremacist, so vocal about his hatred, was able to carry out a premeditated and targeted act of terrorism against Black people all while armed with an assault rifle fitted with a high-capacity magazine. Its an all-too-familiar scenario, with the same tragic, but preventable ending. We will get answers for these families, and we will hold those responsible for this tragedy accountable.

Crump, arguably the nations most well-known civil rights attorney, became a household name after he was hired to represent the family of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old killed by George Zimmerman in a 2012 shooting in a Sanford condo complex.

Since then, he has been a fixture in nearly every nationally-known, anti-black civil rights case, most of them related to police killings of unarmed Black men and women. He also represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

dstennett@orlandosentinel.com

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Attorney Ben Crump hired to represent family of Buffalo mass shooting victim - Orlando Sentinel