CINCINNATI — After two mass shootings over the weekend, one in a California church and another in a Buffalo supermarket, many are trying to come to terms with the killings in the nation.
What You Need To Know
- Ten people were shot and killed at a Buffalo, New York supermarket over the weekend in what police are calling a hate crime against the Black community
- One person was killed and several others injured in a shooting in a California church
- Woodrow Keown Jr., the president at the Freedom Center, said there’s a lot of work to be done to combat hateful acts like these in our communities
- Barb Dotson, the executive director at CitiLookoout., a counseling center and trauma recovery center, said compassion fatigue is evident after several shootings in a row
The scene in Buffalo was many people’s worst nightmare after 10 people died and three others injured while they were shopping for groceries.
Police said the shooting was a hate crime in the predominantly Black community, and in Ohio, many felt the tragedy.
Woodrow Keown Jr, the president at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in downtown Cincinnati, said not enough progress has been made.
“I feel like we’re still in the fight,” Keown said. “But it’s a long fight. I always remind people that this is a journey. It feels sometimes like you take one step forward, two steps back for the progress. I don’t think that we can deny that there’s been progress, but clearly, it’s not enough.”
The Freedom Center focuses on teaching visitors the history of slavery through the principles of the Underground Railroad. Keown said while the shootings happened across the country, there are things to do in Ohio communities to fight against extremist beliefs.
“We need to in this community come to understand that better,” Keown said. “Develop more empathy, not sympathy, to help people to get past these situations that continues to call people to drive three-and-a-half hours to kill people for no reason at all.”
For many, repeatedly hearing of countless shootings is upsetting and tiring.
Leaders at CitiLookout, a counseling center and trauma recovery center in Springfield, said compassion fatigue results from so many shootings.
“For people that are trying to help, you can feel overwhelmed but you keep having that mindset of I can help who I can help,” said Barb Dotson, the executive director at CitiLookout. “We can do what we can do here. We can’t change the world.”
But Keown said if the community can work together, he’s hopeful of seeing actual change in the world.
“It’s a vision,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do. We know it’s the best thing. It’s a promise that the country made to us for freedom to all. It’s our constitution. And until everyone lives up to that promise, then I think that that’s the vision that I have and that’s the vision that we try to teach here at the Freedom Center.”
