Commentary: American political leaders have a hard time condemning racist shootings like the one in Jacksonville. Why?

Last month, a terrorist inspired by white supremacy opened fire at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, killing three Black people. The 21-year-old gunman, who had initially intended to attack a nearby historically Black university, had written several manifestos detailing his racist ideology, and one of his two legally purchased firearms was marked with swastikas.

Acts of terrorism against minority communities are frequently directed at soft targets defined by their openness, like supermarkets. The perpetrator of an August 2019 attack at a Walmart