The East Side supermarket shooter apparently subscribes to a right-wing theory called "White Replacement," which argues the idea that immigrants are coming here to replace white presence and control.
That may reflect all kinds of value judgements, but it might reflect acceptance of misinformation.
Yotam Ophir, an assistant professor of Communications at the University at Buffalo, studies misinformation and its sources. Ophir said the Tops Markets shooting reflects online misinformation.
"The event that happened over the weekend in Buffalo was directly and explicitly connected to online conspiracy theories and misinformation," he said. "That's also prevalent these days on conservative mainstream media, like Fox News."
There is a push on to put more controls on social media, although that raises First Amendment issues about government limiting free speech.
Ophir said there is a delicate balance of rights.
"It's a delicate matter of balance, and one of the things that really influenced me when I was a kid and we did have civics classes in Israel, is just understanding how fragile democracies and how our different rights are often in conflict with one another," he said.
Leslie Logan, a founding member of Mothers of the Seneca Nation. looks at it differently.
Western New York not only has a series of Indian reservations, but much of the geography reflects who lived here long before Europeans arrived, like Cheektowaga or West Seneca. That's frequently forgotten when discussing issues like immigration.
Logan said Native people were here first and got "wiped out." She argued that schools and classes don't reflect Native Americans were here long ago, but over time, their land shrank to a tiny fraction of the continent.
"Completely swept aside and our history, ignored. And so, when you have an 18-year-old who is supposed to be almost fresh out of high school to either never have learned of that or for some sort of ugly, evil, racist ideology to have been planted and germinated and expanded and then developed and festered," she said. "And, now, suddenly, we're supposed to make way for in fear of white replacement? Hold on."
Logan said all people of color are at risk when a man with a gun starts shooting people who don't look like him.
"When the East Side of Buffalo, the Black community, gets attacked, who's next? We're all vulnerable," she said. "All Black, Brown, Indigenous communities are vulnerable to this type of attack when racist white supremacist views are allowed to run wild in this country."
