BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Two years after the mass shooting at Tops — on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo — progress is being made at the site, with a new memorial unveiled.
Ten bollards sit in front of Tops on Jefferson Avenue, representing the ten Black people who were shot and killed on May 14, 2022. The hate-fueled attack caused much pain and trauma for many.
It's a sign of progress, moving forward from what was... into what will be.
But what else is missing from that east side community and what's happened to the money you donated?
Trinetta Alston is a community nurse with the Community Health Center of Buffalo. She's been on the ground, helping Tops associates move away from the pain and trauma, turning it into triumph.
"It's a long road that they travel," Alston said. "I mean, not to say that some of them are not still getting counseling, but they're working past the tragedy. I'm glad, you know, they don't look at me as a reminder of what happened, because that's how they met me. They look at me like I'm a friend."
Nurse T as she's known, has become a sounding board. She's connecting these Tops associates with community resources. Yet, two years after the shooting, Trinetta says more needs to be done in this community.
"So what's missing is still more grocery stores," Alston said. "It's still a desert, on the east side of Buffalo. I feel like this community is still being stifled."
"We understand the multifaceted issues but we need to understand how do we change this," said Thomas Beauford, Co-Chair of the Buffalo Together Community Response Fund.
That's a fund worth $6 million, to be spent in the east side community. There hasn't been a single spend since June 2022.
"What we didn't want to do is to start making decisions and spending based on a current construct and that current construct is really a result of the long-term discrimination that has happened here, discriminatory practices," Beauford said. "Just spending within that same structure is not going to give us the impact -- both immediate, intermediate, or long term -- that's we're looking for."
Beauford says, the steering committee will invest in the east side only after there is real, systemic change with:
- Investment in housing
- Creating and preserving generational wealth
- Bringing home value up to par with homes on the west side and beyond
- Development of community
- Breaking compounding discriminatory barriers
- Development without displacement
"When that change starts to happen, we want the residents of this community to have a stake in the equity in terms of the build-out, jobs, and wealth creation and want them to still live here after this new east side of Buffalo is created," Beauford said.
Garnell Whitfield is one of the members of the fund's steering committee.
"There's a lack of infrastructure," Whitfield said. "We're not just talking about buildings. We're talking about community organizations, community coming together. so I think the Buffalo together fund is...putting that together now."
"We're doing things differently than have been done in the past," Whitfield said. "We're being deliberate. We're taking our time... making sure that whatever we do is in the best interest of this community and that it's sustainable. We keep talking about constructs, we keep talking about discrimination. all of these things are rooted in white supremacy."
Whitfield's mother, 86-year-old Ruth, was murdered by a white supremacist in that supermarket shooting.
"I think I live with my pain. I accept that. That's not going to change. My mother's not coming back. But doing this work means she didn't die in vain," Whitfield said.
Back outside Tops, Nurse T echoes those sentiments, looking ahead to brighter days in this community.
"I'm not gonna let them go back," Alston said. "If I can help it, I'm going to always make sure they can go forward."
