A few Augusts ago, the day after a hurricane passed through the area, I drove through lush, green Tallahassee, past Florida State University. I had been interviewing local students and residents, mostly at Florida A&M University, the historically Black college nearby. Local classes were cancelled because of the storm, and as I rolled by FSU buildings saw the porches were filled with students that could’ve been pulled from a Bama Rush TikTok, the portrait of a stereotypical white college experience.
Following yet another school shooting, this time at FSU on April 17, a 20-year-old junior who witnessed Phoenix Ikner open fire told NBC News that the shooter was a “normal college dude.” Two people were killed and six injured.
To that student’s point, the alleged gunman is a quintessentially American school shooter: a radicalized, young white male who, classmates told NBC News, espoused white supremacist rhetoric. The son of a…