Buffalo residents seek healing, systemic solutions for future

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Shenaya Ann Washington and a close friend cleared a small patch of grass at the base of a utility pole on Riley Street. They dug a hole there and planted a red rose bush seedling. Next to it, they leaned 10 prayer candles against the pole.

Washington said she chose that spot to memorialize the victims of the May 14 massacre at Tops Friendly Market because it is closest to the store entrance she always used as a parttime worker for Instacart.

Sometimes when she would exit the store, Aaron Salter Jr., the slain retired police officer who worked security at Tops, would help Washington back to her car with the grocery orders, she said.

The shooter, whose alleged racially motivated attack deeply wounded east Buffalo’s

Black community, has stolen much more than the neighborhood’s only grocery store and the sense of peace many residents felt in the cherished community gathering spot.

“He took away people who did for the community, just because of the color of their skin. It’s an eye-opener. It’s a reality check,” Washington said.

Buffalo’s Black neighborhoods, like many across the nation, had been dealing with wounds that are generations old. The attack has scraped off the scab hiding Black trauma and neglect that sit just below the surface in what’s called the City of Good Neighbors, residents, business owners and faith leaders said.

Healing will require not only an immediate flood of charity, but also systemic solutions, economic investments and mental health counseling that are long-lasting, they said.

Mental health and grief counseling are why several community service organizations have been camped out around the supermarket for several days. With the Tops fenced off, organizations such as Feed Buffalo, Ramp Global Missions and LIFE Camp Inc., lined the surrounding streets with food trucks, mobile food pantries and barbecue grills serving chicken, burgers and hot dogs.

The supermarket shooting has also drawn support for the activists from across the nation. On Saturday, organizers with Black Lives Matter Grassroots, a national collective of chapters, held a vigil for Buffalo. Organizers from Boston, Detroit, Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Minneapolis attended and vowed to be with Buffalo’s residents as they continued to heal from the attack.

“We cannot have a world that steals the lives of our grandmothers,” said Melina Abdullah, who directs the BLM group and founded its Los Angeles chapter. “We are dutybound to shut that down.”