DES MOINES, Iowa — Several dozen Iowans gathered Sunday at the Iowa State Capitol to pay their respects to the Buffalo mass shooting victims and help prevent hate from growing here at home.
Connie Ryan, Executive Director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, led a solemn reading of the names of the 10 victims in Buffalo—killed in what President Joe Biden and many others have labeled an act of white supremacy. While the shooting was over 800 miles away, the pain of the lives lost still hits close to home for many.
"It doesn't matter whether it's one of us, or 10,000 of us. We're very clear that we would not be okay if that were to happen here," said Rev. Rob Johnson.
The memorial, organized by the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa and sponsored by 17 other local organizations, featured multiple speakers from the community, including Johnson and Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, D-Des Moines. They called attention to the fact that in some ways, Buffalo and Des Moines aren't so different: both were once stops on the Underground Railroad. And they worried that the same hate can be found here, as well.
"We share the pain and the heartache in Buffalo. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the citizens in Buffalo. Their pain is our pain. Their loss is our loss," said Al Parrish, an attorney who spoke at the memorial.
Abdul-Samad closed out the memorial by asking attendees to join hands with one another and call for a better future for all.
"We no longer are going to talk about hate. We're going to talk about peace, love, and understanding," he said.
The Buffalo police commissioner has said that the deaths the mass shooting victims are being investigated as a hate crime.