Racism, hate fueled murderous rampage in Jacksonville. Can’t we at least control automatic weapons? | Opinion

On Saturday, Aug. 26 — just as thousands of people waited to gather in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech — a young white racist in Jacksonville, Florida, tried to kill “the dream.” And in his efforts, three Black people were shot down in cold blood. Then the killer, Ryan Christopher Palmeter, 21, turned the gun on himself.

When Palmeter walked into that Dollar General store in Jacksonville, he was on a mission, a mission of hate. He was purposely looking to kill not just one Black person, but many Black people.

We know this because Palmeter had first stopped by Edward Waters University a historically Black campus, where he was captured on a Tik Tok video putting on a bulletproof vest. According to news reports, he was refused entry to the campus because a student there flagged down security when they saw Palmeter because he “looked out of place.” When confronted by the security officer, Palmeter drove away. He could have started his rampage of murder there in the parking lot of the university. But for some reason, he didn’t.

It was at the Dollar General store, where he would have had easy access, that he calmly walked in and began his hateful rampage. Using his swastika-emblazoned AR-15 style rifle, he gunned down, in cold blood, Angela Michelle Carr, 52, Anolt “A.J.” Laguerre Jr., 19, and Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29. Then Palmeter took his own life.

Palmeter’s actions were like pouring salt on the still-unhealed wounds of recent mass killings of Blacks: in the Tops Friendly Markets supermarket in Buffalo, New York, only last year in May. And of the murders in a historically Black African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church in Charleston, South Carolina, back in 2015 — where the parishioners welcomed the murderer to join them in a prayer meeting service.

I will never get used to hearing about the shooting of innocent people — especially children. I know I am not alone.

But whenever I hear of a hate crime — the killing or maiming of people just because of the color of their skin — I wonder, what went wrong in the shooter’s life that makes him think that it is OK to kill someone just because you don’t like the way they look? I wonder what kind of stories he had heard about Blacks, and other people who don’t look like him, as he was growing up.

I don’t know Palmeter’s parents. Perhaps they are good people, I don’t know. But I do know that children are not born into this world with a hateful heart. They must be taught to hate.

Sad personal experience

I learned this early in life when, back in the days of blatant Jim Crow-ism, I worked as a maid.

I loved the children in the home where I served. And they loved me back — until they reached a certain age when they started being fed a diet of hate. And that diet of hate included hating even me, the Black person who loved them.

Seeing the child that I had fed his first solid food, potty-trained and taught little nursery rhymes and songs to, who suddenly is saying hateful things to me and does not want me to hug him anymore, was hurtful. I genuinely loved the children I cared for. I couldn’t be paid for the hugs and cuddles I gave to them when their mommies were too busy to care.

But that was the way of the world, or the world of Blacks back then. So we, who worked as maids and cared for the children of the house, learned to love with caution. We knew what was coming, but it didn’t stop us from loving and hoping that some of the love we gave would rub off on the children we cared for; that they would remember the love and pass it on.

We hoped that if we loved them enough that it would push out the hate that was growing like a weed and was being taught to them by their parents. It was both sad and hurtful.

I don’t know anything about Palmeter’s upbringing, so I can’t say that was the case with him. The news reports only said that he lived with his parents in nearby Orange Park in Clay County.

Still, I wonder: What did they teach their son about people of other races, especially about Blacks? Palmeter had learned to hate from somewhere.

According to news reports, Palmeter was detained 2017 under the state’s Baker Act, which allows people to be involuntarily detained and subject to an examination for up to 72 hours during a mental health crisis. His detention was a sign that something was not altogether right with Palmeter, who was only 15 at the time.

Assault rifles?

Yet, years later, law enforcement officers said the guns Palmeter murdered with were purchased legally.

Which brings us to another topic: easy access to assault weapons.

Why?

What will it take for America to wake up and do something about our gun problem?

We may not be able to wipe the hate from the hearts of racists. It is too deeply embedded in their hearts. And it seems that the only way for it to come out is by killing someone who doesn’t look like them.

So, while we can’t do anything about the deep-rooted hate carried around by racists, we can make it harder for them to get their hands on guns of mass destruction — like the AR-15 style weapon Palmeter used on his victims.

Meanwhile, I will keep on praying for God to touch racist hearts wherever they are — that no more lives will be lost because somebody hates another person because of his/her race, religion or gender.

And I will keep on believing in my heart that there is something that can be done about the easy access to assault weapons.

Can we at least try to find a solution?

Bea L. Hines can be reached at bea.hines@gmail.com