Guns are traumatizing Black America. Advocates demand investment, support

By Tat Bellamy-Walker, NBC News

A report from the CDC shows that the Black community, especially young men and boys, accounts for the largest number of gun deaths compared to other racial groups.

Black Americans are facing a crisis of gun-related homicides, from personal disputes to mass shootings, according to figures released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Gun deaths have reached their highest level in 25 years, and an outsize proportion of victims are Black, according to the report. Gun deaths were especially high among young Black men and boys ages 10 to 24, compared to white men and boys of similar ages. 

The CDC’s figures were released days before a gunman killed 10 and injured three at a grocery store on Saturday in a Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. Eleven of the 13 victims were Black. An 18-year-old white man was arrested at the scene.

Anti-gun violence advocates and community groups said several factors are at play in this disparity in gun deaths, including racial hatred, lack of funding for gun violence prevention programs and disinvestment in Black communities — all of which were exacerbated by the pandemic. But that’s why these groups also say their work is more crucial than ever. 

Organizers at LIFE Camp, an anti-violence and wellness organization in New York, are among the many advocates calling on officials to allocate more resources toward tackling gun violence and its aftermath on Black communities. 

From New York to Minneapolis to Washington, activists want to stop the gun violence that disproportionately impacts Black Americans.

For over a decade, the politics of gun violence have prevented meaningful reform, which is why some argue that the Buffalo shooting was ‘centuries in the making.’

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