Ruivet Townsend leaned against a student’s desk early last week, trying not to cry.
Ms. Townsend, a staff member who monitors attendance at Buffalo’s Leonardo da Vinci High School, looked at the rows of students sitting in front of her: Some bowed their heads, others were tense with anger, and many shook their heads.
“Who would drive so far to kill people?” Mrs. Townsend, 60, recalls a student asking. “Didn’t anyone see him coming?”
Some of the students were shopping with their families at the Tops supermarket, where 10 blacks were killed on May 14 in a racist mass shooting. Others knew several of the victims, and one student was there when the bodies were collected.
Some saw the footage of the massacre live and could not get it out of their heads.
The mass shooting was the deadliest in the United States so far this year and one of the deadliest racist massacres in recent American history. Federal figures show a recent jump in hate crimes against black Americans.
Many black families in Buffalo are cowards.
“I think the concern is because the schools are mostly black around this area,” said Denise Sweet, 48, a mother of two. “Who can say that another shooter, when everything is dead, may not start all over again and go to school?”
School staff want black families to believe that if such a threat arises on school buses or in classrooms, their children will be protected. Dr Tonya Williams, the interim head of schools, said it increased security in schools and boosted support for students’ mental health.
She grew up on the East Side of Buffalo and knew several of the victims.
“This is a challenging time for all of us,” said Dr. Williams. “What we do know is that in our city, our schools are a safe haven.”
But parents and students do not feel so trusting. And some wonder how a school system that has neglected its black children for so long can be expected to help them cope with the tragedy.
Buffalo’s public school system is racially diverse, but schools are still segregated. Many black students are concentrated in high-poverty schools, which tend to perform less, in part because they often have less experienced teachers and less rigorous courses.
“This area is not for the success of African-American children,” said Colleen Dove, a 67-year-old retired principal who has worked in the school system for 30 years.
“It could just happen to me”
The day after the shooting, a preacher knelt in the street, praying, urging the community to remember that God is ultimately a good God.
Black children and their parents gathered around him, watching a gloomy tree with red balloons tied to its branches, tall prayer candles with images of Jesus Christ at its roots, and many, many flowers.
Simier Sweet, 13, Jaden Sweet, 12, and their mother, Mrs. Sweet, were among the onlookers. Simier, who attends a local charter school, said he was nervous about walking alone to the bus stop.
“I’m there alone, as if it could happen to me,” Simier said. “It can happen on the bus, anywhere I go to school.”
His worries were not unfounded. The suspect planned to go to school as part of his villa and identified a primary school in Buffalo as a target, according to his Discord chat logs. On Wednesday, officials said they would increase police presence in Buffalo schools due to threats on social media.
Teraya Harris, a 15-year-old high school student, said she had heard of the threats and asked her mother to pick her up early.
“This should be a training institution where they need to feel comfortable and safe,” said her mother, Tamara Martin, 43, who is a nurse.
Some parents just keep their children at home; others choose to drive them to school instead of letting them take the bus. Some children seek advice at school and find it terribly inadequate.
Three of those killed in the shooting were or were school district employees: Pearl Young, 77, was a substitute teacher; Margus D. Morrison, 52, was an assistant on the bus; and Aaron Salter Jr., 55, was a former substitute teacher.
“It affects these children,” said George Wilson, 35, who said one of his daughters was close to Catherine Messi, 72, their neighbor, who was also killed.
“It will be a long time before any of us really feel safe.”
Standing in front of a monument near the store’s parking lot, Jose Esquilin, 43, and Alice Castricone, 46, discussed whether to send their 7-year-old daughter, Avalin Esquilin, to school last Monday.
Avalin stood nearby with a piece of chalk in her hand, staring at the message she had written with her heart beneath it: “RIP, we love you, all of us.”
“I just don’t know what’s going to happen because a lot of people are shooting and killing,” she said. Her parents decided to leave her at home on Monday and Tuesday.
Dr Williams sent a letter to staff and parents after the shooting, asking principals to start the school day last Monday, giving students and staff time to share what was on their minds. Counselors, psychologists and social workers were also available.
“It will be a long time before any of us really feel safe,” said Dr. Williams. When something so disgusting happens there, you ask yourself: am I safe somewhere?
Alicia Nortington, 45, said her 7-year-old daughter, Sole Watson, who attends a local charter school, recently found her crying and asked what was wrong.
“I really haven’t been into racism because I think the biggest part is that she knows people are grieving,” said Northington, who is leaving her daughter instead of letting her take the bus.
But she said Soleil had repeatedly asked her what the “white man” she had heard about at school had to do with the shooting.
“She knows it’s white and black,” Ms Northington said, adding: “I want to make sure she knows it’s not just white and black. Something happened, someone individually did something. “
She said it was imperative that her daughter stay in school. “I also want her to know that you have to keep going through this, you can’t be afraid,” she said.
Older children are much more aware of the factors that led to the shooting, and some are willing to talk about it.
Teraya, a high school student, said she was looking forward to discussing the massacre, thinking it would help her understand what happened.
But when she spoke to a teacher and classmates, she said the teacher told her to visit a “attention room” that existed at the school before the shooting.
That was not helpful, Teraya said, adding that the message seemed to be, “Live life and don’t be afraid.”
14-year-old Maya Durham was also disappointed with the advice provided at her charter school.
“It didn’t work for me,” she said, adding that she was told, “It’ll be okay, nothing happened to Buffalo, just pray and be careful when you walk, without headphones in your ears, be aware of your surroundings.” . “
Maya said she looked at white people differently after the shooting, unsure who was the racist, whom she could trust. She had trouble focusing in the classroom.
Hayward Patterson, 67, another victim of the shooting, was a deacon at her church. She remembered how he always greeted her with a hug.
Her mother, Lekandis Durham, encourages her to keep her head up.
“We will change the story, this is the plan,” said 36-year-old Durham as she stood near a monument near the supermarket Tuesday night while her other three children drew with chalk and chased each other. “I do not want Buffalo to be known as the site of the mass shooting.
She added: “Will we still be the City of Good Neighbors? I believe we will do it. “
As she spoke, Mia stared into the distance. Asked if she also felt reliable, she shrugged, “I have no answer,” she said.
An already burdened system of public schools
What made the East Side a target for the suspects – a high percentage of black people living close together – made it a community for the people who live here. Many residents have lived in the area for decades. They greet each other by name.
At the same time, living conditions for Black Buffalo residents, in terms of health, housing, income and education, have improved slightly and in some cases have declined over the past 30 years, according to a 2021 report from the University of Buffalo.
“The school doesn’t know how to handle all this,” said Dr. Henry Louis Taylor Jr., a professor of urban studies at the University of Buffalo.
Public schools in Buffalo are already struggling to serve black students, education experts said. The district stops them at particularly high levels compared to other cities in New York.
The Federal Ministry of Education’s Civil Rights Office found substantial evidence of racial inequality, including in employment and in new school locations, and asked the city to address it. However, experts say little progress has been made.
Dr Williams, the interim head, said there was no denying that there was some segregation in the schools. But she said allowing parents to decide where to go to school kept their children from doing worse.
“Do we have things we can certainly improve?” Absolutely, “she said, adding that she would continue to listen.
East Community High School students reacted to the mass shootings in a variety of ways last week, said Leah Rush, a family support specialist at Say Yes to Education Buffalo, a non-profit organization that serves schools in Buffalo as she sat in her school office. health clinic on friday.
Some were withdrawn; others were angry or crying.
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