Mercedes Wilson is at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Servicemen’s Park. Twelve pillars will be unveiled along Marie Drive. Those pillars are the African American Veterans Monument. She is joined by Van Taylor, public relations, African American Veterans Monument and Robin Hodge, vice chairwoman, board of directors.
Tomorrow, something is going to happen that is history-making and monumental. Robin Hodge shows us the monument and explains the meaning. She says there are brick pavers with the names of African American veterans who have served in the war since the Revolutionary War. The brick pavers represent African Americans who are either living or deceased and served during war or in peace time. There are twelve pillars to represent each of the twelve wars and the placement is meaningful. Robin says, “The placement of the pillars are positioned according to the longitude and latitude coordinates of when and where each war took place.” The space between each pillar represents peacetime.
Mercedes spoke with Van Tylor about security. He tells us that they have the best of the best, Buffalo police, state troopers, sheriffs, all working together to watch over us and make sure nothing happens and everything is protected and secured. He says, “We always know that there is a threat that somewhere, somehow, somebody can sneak up and do something, well we are maximizing our efforts to make sure that everyone who comes to this event is safe, secure and that this monument is protected.”
Robin tells us this monument is the first of its kind in the nation that honors all African American veterans who have served this country since the Revolutionary War. She goes on to say it will be established as a national monument that will be located right here in Buffalo, New York.
Van says, “Here at the Navel Park we honor, not only all veterans, we have Polish American veterans, Italian, German Hispanic, right here and we hope to add more. Maybe one day, a Native American to go along with it, so it is a monumental achievement, and we hope to expand and grow and grow and we are in the perfect location. It is the largest in the Navel Park in the United States”
The unveiling is tomorrow. The ceremony starts at 11am with a lot of dignitaries and people coming in and doing speeches. Then at noon it will be the unveiling of the monument followed by more speeches from dignitaries and then it will be opened for everyone to enjoy.
