It happened again.
Charleston. Buffalo. And, on Saturday, Jacksonville.
A white man with hate in his heart and a weapon of war at his fingertips went on the hunt for Black people to kill. He killed three Black people at a Dollar Store before killing himself.
His carnage could have been apocalyptic if he had been allowed onto the HBCU he tried to enter.
We’re past the point of wondering if such killings were “racially motivated.” Now, the white men who hunt Black people lay out their aims in rambling manifestos. They announce themselves on social media or proudly embrace symbols of hatred.
They aren’t shy. They aren’t scared, and they aren’t ashamed.
And why should they be? After all, they are answering a call.
Those Black people aren’t real Americans. They are lazy, naturally violent and prone to crime. They expect things to be handed to them, and they think we need to be reminded of every historical slight they’ve suffered.
Powerful politicians lay down the beat, and these white men don’t just dance in the dark. They dare to shout where others whisper. They don’t dog whistle; they grab a gun and some Kevlar.
Black people are forever being told to take personal responsibility for the challenges they face. If only more white people would follow the advice some so eagerly dish out.
Didn’t get into that college you’ve been dreaming of attending? Maybe it’s because your academic record and your extracurriculars didn’t match up with what that school sought. Rather than face that painful possibility, it’s easier to blame someone Black.
That job you thought you were going to get went to your Black colleague instead. It can’t possibly be that your colleague is better qualified, harder-working, a better fit. Nah, it’s gotta be affirmative action, reverse racism.
Somehow, despite literally centuries of enslavement, segregation and discrimination, Black Americans have not decided that targeted violence against white Americans is the way to go.
Of course, there have been instances of Black-on-white violence where the crime was motivated by race. But the scales aren’t even close to balance.
There is no white equivalent to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the Alabama facility that somberly notes the more than 800 counties in the United States where a lynching took place.
Who are the white equivalents to Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker, the two Mississippi Black men tortured by six white law enforcement officials who claimed membership in a self-described “Goon squad?”
Those six law enforcement officials have pleaded guilty to 16 felonies. They will face a reckoning.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the bigot who pulled the trigger in Jacksonville. He killed himself before he could be arrested, charged and prosecuted.
But in his dying moments, if he had even a second to think before hell claimed him, he might have comforted himself with the certainty that others will follow in his footsteps.
That’s where we are now.
Others like him feel the beat, and they, too, will perform that dance of death.
Wayne Washington is a journalist in Florida