The Buffalo Bills are Buffalo. No NFL team has a stronger bond with the community in which it plays.
To no surprise, the Bills are leading the way when it comes to the effort to help the Buffalo community past the racially-motivated killing of 10 citizens over the weekend by an 18-year-old who was motivated to murder by the racist and anti-Semitic “replacement theory” peddled with repercussion by mainstream news outlets.
The Bills announced on Wednesday that the Buffalo Bills Foundation and the NFL Foundation have combined to donate $400,000 to assist Buffalo’s East Side community in the aftermath of Saturday’s targeted attack on Black citizens.
Of the amount, $200,000 will go to the Buffalo Together Community Response Fund. The remainder will be given to various nonprofits working on emergency response efforts to address the immediate needs of the East Side residents.
“This is just the beginning of the efforts of the Buffalo Bills and we are committed to doing more for the community as the days and weeks go by,” the team said.
Players showed up in large numbers on Wednesday in the East Side community to support those impacted by the situation. Players including quarterback Josh Allen wore black T-shirts with the team’s logo and the message “Choose Love.”
“‘Choose love’ is a motto I think maybe that we should start adopting as a country,” quarterback Josh Allen told reporters at Wednesday’s event. “It’s the Golden Rule. Treating those as you want to be treated. What happened here was — it’s disgusting, despicable. There’s so many different words you can use and none of them are nice. Again, we’re here to brighten people’s days and try to help move past this and share the grief with our community, and let them know that we care and we want to hold that with them.”
Bills fans, or fans of any other team who want to help (as Bills fans often do with non-Buffalo causes), can get more information here regarding options for assisting.
Meanwhile, the NFL and its teams should also be using their voices to hold accountable those media outlets who essentially pull the cord that helps put hatred into the worst possible kind of action. The league and its teams aren’t bashful about objecting to far less important matters. The league lending its massive influence to problems like this could help contribute to a much-needed solution.