5.14 | “We claim victory over hatred”

Unit. Hope. Pray. Love.

“We claim victory over hatred”

Those were the common themes Monday afternoon as hundreds of people, including political and business leaders, media, community activists and neighbors, poured into the Tops Market parking lot at Jefferson and Landon Street to amaze as the supermarket unveiled “Home Space” to the market. second anniversary of the racist massacres of 10 handsome black men and women and the wounding of three others.

In the wake of the horrific 5/14/2020 killings in Tops perpetrated by a white supremacist, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Buffalo Mayor Byron B. Brown announced the creation of a committee to work with the families of victims to create a memorial so the community will never forget. these victims or this horrible event. On Monday, the governor was in town to announce the selection of the architect and present renderings of his work. Millions of dollars are needed and a location, just blocks from the tragic site, will be announced soon.

Meanwhile, Tops Friendly Markets management, led by John Persons, CEO of Northeast Grocery, its parent company, completely renovated the Jefferson Street store while creating an impressive stunt tribute to the ten victims inside.

To ensure that the memories of these ten beautiful victims are never forgotten, Tops commissioned renowned local sculptor, artist, activist, businessman and educator, Valeria Annette Cray, and her equally talented son, Hiron, a painting teacher , drawing and digital. art at the State University of New York at Corning.

On the morning of the second anniversary of 5.14 Tops and the artists unveiled “Honor Space” as a dedication to the victims. Located on the corner of Jefferson and Langdon, every inch of Honor Space has special meaning, said its landscape architect, Joy Kuebler. Group 34, led by former Buffalo Bill and Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas and his wife, Patti, were the entrepreneurs.

“It’s remarkable and absolutely beautiful,” Persons told a packed audience Tuesday afternoon as the ten victims were remembered with Mayor Brown reading their names, followed by a Buffalo firefighter ringing the bell ten times. . “This is our humble way of being able to express to families that we are honoring their loved ones and doing something positive on their behalf.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James visited Honor Space before speaking to the audience, which included members of the victims’ families as well as the three injured victims and their families.

“Tops is really great at creating this space,” she said. “After this racist massacre two years ago, they could have left this community, but they did not, and they continued to demonstrate corporate leadership. I wish they would come to Brooklyn.

“Hate has no place in New York State,” she added. “We now have 10 beautiful dark angels watching over us.”

The Rev. Rachelle Robinson, who delivered the invocation, said: “Grant us this day as we claim victory over hatred, to remember those whose lives were taken from their families, their friends and to their families.

The ten victims were:

• Aaron Salter
• Celestine Chaney
• Roberta Drury
• Andrew Mackniel
• Catherine Massey
• Heyward Patterson
• Geraldine Talley
• Ruth Whitfield
• Pearl Young

Kubler said that 15 months ago, the artist, Tops managers, victims’ family members and others began meeting, grieving and creating a space “where everyone could sit on a bench, resting and reflecting among the flowers that had all been selected for gifting. peace and hope. »

She described local artist, Valeria Cray, saying, “She has been involved in the East Side community her whole life” and “This work is the food of her heart.”

Cray’s son then read a very deep and heartfelt story about his mother’s vision for the monument, a stainless steel structure adorned in purple for royalty and gold for power. It will be illuminated at night.

Cray, in an interview before the media event, explained with heartfelt passion: “This has been a very spiritual experience for us. I give everything to God. He chose all the right people to put it all together and our manufacturer did a fantastic job of making it identical to the model we created.

“We are so fortunate that Tops commissioned and funded all of us to do this for our community. I am immensely proud of them,” she added. “The whole spirit of God surrounds us, and it is truly holy and sacred ground on which we stand, for I have blessed it three times before the installation of the sculpture.”

Cray calls the sculpture “Unity” and sincerely hopes that is what it will bring to those who visit it. The space includes ten granite posts, which will light up, and on which the name of each victim is engraved. Each flower garden has a significant meaning and there is a pear tree, which symbolizes resilience and hope. The tree came from a seedling presented to Buffalo as part of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum’s Survivor Tree Seedling program.

Cray, the only modern African-American artist to own a sculpture, Adam and Eve, part of the permanent collection of the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, is an extraordinary artist and community activist who truly believes in her adopted hometown of Buffalo. She has proven in the past that with a vision and a team of equally motivated people, anything is possible.

Thirty years ago, Cray founded 50 Women with a Purpose and worked tirelessly to get the city to open the Apollo Media Center on Jefferson and the Frank E. Merriweather Jr. Library next door at Jefferson and East streets Utica. They also led the effort to convince Tops to open a much-needed supermarket on Jefferson Avenue. They also sponsored a Jefferson Avenue arts festival for 10 years.

His public art projects include a painted tile mural inside the Apollo Media Center and the exterior doors of Merriweather Library. In 2011, his sculpture “Spirit of Life Tree” was commissioned by the Buffalo Renaissance Foundation for the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus at Ellicott and High Streets. In 2019, she designed the African American Heritage Corridor Arch on Michigan Avenue. As a businessman, she owns East Wind, a salon specializing in hair loss and hair ties.

Many people in attendance Tuesday were talking about what has happened in this neighborhood over the past two years and what they would like to see.

The Honorable Charley H. Fisher III, former member of the Buffalo Common Council, knew many of the victims and, reflecting on that day two years ago, said, “It was heartbreaking, a deep wound and a lot of pain. I see some progress at Jefferson and it’s a start, but we need more. »

The Honorable Betty Jean Grant, a community activist who served as an Erie County legislator for 10 years, was asked about the multi-million dollar study she was going to do on Jefferson Avenue. “No more studying,” she said boldly. “We need to see action. We have been studied to death.

With all the local media present and numerous reporters for their television news throughout the day, many residents were asked about the changes they had seen in the neighborhood since the massacre two years ago. Many responded by asking, “Look around you, do you see any changes? » They asked where all the money raised was going and what was going to happen in Jefferson.

Someone asked a Tops official about a vacant, abandoned house on Riley, adjacent to Tops, that had been an eyesore since before the massacre. “Work was recently carried out on this house. They put new plywood on the windows,” he said.

Many older men and women began talking about what the street was like before the first major front-page story about a Jefferson Avenue tragedy occurred during the long, sweltering summer of 1967. At that time, Buffalo was one of the many cities in the country. nation facing race riots. For several nights, gangs of black youths marched through Jefferson from the firebomb shops north of William Street and eventually drove out almost every local business. Fans who attended Buffalo Bisons baseball games at War Memorial Stadium stopped attending the games, forcing the team to play its evening games in Niagara Falls. Less than three years later, the franchise moved midway through the 1970 season to Winnipeg, leaving Buffalo without professional baseball for nine years.

Someone mentioned that $20 million was now available for a study on what should be done to improve and modernize Jefferson Avenue and its streetscape.

After hearing and seeing her latest piece of public art today, it seems to me that the city might want to ask Valeria Cray to put on her East Buffalo activist hat and recruit 50 more women with a purpose , to do the study itself and present their findings to the city. . Something tells me their work will begin and end with prayer and I believe the city would be impressed with what they present.