Dr. Wes here everyone, I know my social media is thin on current events (can’t follow news much), but even given recent events and ongoing pandemic, I've been shaken by the mass shooting at the Buffalo Tops Market on Saturday. It’s partly the sheer injustice -- targeting innocents in a grocery store minding their business, never posing hurt or harm, alongside brazenness of the hate crime and collective shock with some tearful old friends from Erie County. Our reactions feel distressingly inadequate amid such psychopathy and evil. This post is my response, some karmic jujitsu to make the crime backfire. In the image is Aaron Salter, Jr., the ex-cop and security guard who died confronting the shooter, Payton Gendron, slowing him enough to save countless lives. Gendron had posted a rambling, 180-page screed where, in his own twisted way, he cast himself as a warrior, self-styled like heroic figures immortalized in ancient Greek chronicles. And he researched county demographics to target working-class African-Americans, too busy working to pay bills and support their families to lobby or even tell their stories--to have social and historical agency. The perp had mocking contempt for his victims, amplifying the massacre’s cruelty. That’s why Mr. Salter’s picture and personal story are such a potent rejoinder, an antidote to the atrocity. They’re a defiant assertion of agency and power, circumventing the perp's intentions to, instead, shine light on a true American hero, braving great danger to save dozens. So forward this post and tell this man’s story, honor his valor so millions of Americans know who he is, his courage and character, and the meaning of true heroism. #AaronSalter #AaronSalterJr #aaronsalter #aaronsalterjr #trueheroism #truehero #trueamericanhero #realamericanhero #sayhisname #rememberhisname #thisisarealhero #karmicjujitsu #agencyproject #theagencyproject #honorhisname #buffalo #buffaloshooting #paytongendron #buffalomassshooting #massshooting #buffalomassacre #honorahero #massmurder #shootinginbuffalo #buffaloterroristattack #hatecrime #topsmarket #supermarket (at Buffalo, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdmnyJhM-UU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
