BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — On Tuesday afternoon, the Buffalo Common Council voted to rename Fillmore Avenue "Black Lives Matter Way."
The renaming was first proposed by Buffalo Common Council President Darius Pridgen back in June. Pridgen sponsored the resolution after receiving a letter from a 17-year-old Frederick Law Olmsted School student suggesting young people in Buffalo paint "Black Lives Matter" on a street. Mekhi Edwards wrote to Pridgen following protests at the end of May in Buffalo and across the country in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“We’re listening we’re reacting and we’re acting," Pridgen said.
As a result of this letter, Edwards was named Honorary Youth Chairperson of the project.
“If a 17-year-old boy can get a street name, a long street name, changed, it’s just up from there with other things that we deserve and other things that we want," Edwards said in an interview Tuesday evening.
The resolution to rename Fillmore passed unanimously and applies to the entirety of the avenue from Main Street to Seneca Street. Fillmore runs through three districts.
A date for the official dedication of Black Lives Matter Way has not been set.
