Exactly one year ago, on May 14, 2022, a young white man walked into a Buffalo, New York grocery store and shot thirteen people. The ten who died were all black. The shooter acknowledged that he was specifically targeting black people that day, trying to kill as many as possible.
The shooting happened a few blocks from a gym, where members of a black competitive cheer team were practicing. Some of the girls at the gym lost family and friends in the shooting. Some did not. But all felt fear and grief and the weight of racism, many for the first time. Today on the Sunday Story, we bring you the first episode of “Buffalo Extreme” from NPR’s Embedded podcast. In the series, the girls, their moms and coaches tell us their story of the past year and what it takes to try to recover from a brutal act of racial violence.
