Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "All of your opinions are valid, and we need your input to help us move forward in what we're doing."
Those were the words of Rev. Mark Blue, as Tuesday marked the first of three public input meetings held by the 5/14 Memorial Commission on the future of a permanent memorial site to honor the 10 people who were killed in the racially motivated mass shooting at the Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue.
"We know this is a tough topic. We're just a year and some days out, and emotions are still raw," said Rev. Blue, who serves as the Chair of the 5/14 Memorial Commission. "I do know trauma is real, and it doesn't go away in a day. But we want to hear from you as we develop what you would like to see, and what we're able to capture and do for our community."
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Tuesday's meeting was the first chance for members of the public to provide input on the permanent 5/14 Memorial at the Stanley Makowski School on Jefferson Avenue. The meeting lasted a little more than an hour with around 20-30 members of the community attending.
Many of the questions asked during Tuesday's public hearing are also part of the 5/14 Memorial Commission survey that is officially live and active for everyone to participate.
Among the notable discussion points touched upon during Tuesday's meeting with the East Buffalo community included:
- What would you like featured as part of the 5/14 Memorial?
- Where should the 5/14 Memorial be located?
- What should be the main message(s) of the 5/14 Memorial?
- Who should the 5/14 Memorial speak to?
- Should the 5/14 Memorial feature inside or outside viewing?
- To what extent should the 5/14 Memorial cover of the event itself?
"What stuck out to me today for this first public meeting of the 5/14 Memorial Commission was how passionate people are, how often people spoke, how expansive they were in terms of what they would like to see in a memorial to what happened to this community, and some of our community members on 5/14," said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, who also sits on the 5/14 Memorial Commission. "We will be working hard to get information out about the next two meetings that are coming up so we can hear as much input from the community as possible."
Also sitting on the 5/14 Memorial Commission is Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire Goodman was one of the three victims of the May 14 shooting who survived the attack. She made it a point to write down every talking point that was discussed during Tuesday's meeting, but she knows how significant this memorial is to not just the victims' families, but also the East Buffalo community.
"This is their home, this is their community. Everything we do in our communities has to be people-led," said Everhart following Tuesday's meeting. "We can't build a memorial on Jefferson without the input of the residents. They have to be a part of the process from the beginning. Yes, the Commission is here, we are here to guide this process through, but it's their input that is going to determine what it looks like. That's just the way we should be doing everything in our communities."
On a personal note, it meant a lot for Everhart to see the amount of people attend Tuesday's community meeting. She says it's just another signing that Buffalo will always be the "City of Good Neighbors".
"Yes, it's been over a year since 5/14 happened, Zaire is healing still. But one thing that has been constant is the community," Everhart said. "They have not stopped leaving packages on my doorstep for Zaire, and it really, really has just been beautiful how the community continues to come together. This is an example of that."
Mayor Brown understands just how deeply the May 14 shooting at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue affected not just the East Buffalo community, but the rest of Buffalo and Western New York. However, the impacts of the racially motivated mass shooting were also felt across New York State, as well as the rest of the country in the days, weeks and months following the attack.
"Because of the impact on people, we know how important it is to listen to the community, to hear the voices of the community, and stare forward a process of designing a memorial that will be inspired by the feelings, the pain and the passion of the community," Mayor Brown said of the importance of hearing from the community.
Heading into Tuesday's public meeting, Mayor Brown admits he had a strong feeling the public input was going to be a dynamic process. There were going to be plenty of ideas put out on the table, which is exactly what the Commission wants to hear.
"We want as much input as possible," Mayor Brown said. "I don't know if we can do everything, of course, that we are hearing. But we want to zero-in on what the main themes are coming out of the community, and use that to inform what this memorial will ultimately be."
As Everhart was writing down the suggestions and ideas from the public, she quickly started to pick up that many thoughts from different people were quite similar across the board.
"They really want to see something that was a symbol, but they wanted something that was living and breathing," she said. "They want to see something that's indoor/outdoor, they want to have a space where people can come and contemplate, but they also want a space where people can come and learn. People said that too. That's what hits my heart the most, it's always going to be the education piece. That just means the community is synchronized. We all see this as an opportunity to educate our community. I think just getting this information from people in the community and being able to go through all of this, I think we're going to be able to build something truly, truly magical for this community. It deserves it, at this point."
Many of the people in attendance for Tuesday's public hearing spoke and agreed with Everhart that this memorial needs to be a learning experience for not just people in the now, but for the generations to come in order to try and better educate the youth that we must choose love and fight hate. For Everhart, it's about making sure that African American history is not erased or forgotten in the history books in the United States.
"I want to make sure that 5/14 is told as 5/14 happened, but why it happened, and how we got to this point. We have to stop whitewashing American history. We have to tell the truth about Black people in this country, and it starts with moments like this," Everhart said. "This is a unique moment we have to honor the lives of those that were taken from us, but also to tell the history of their lives, and the history of this country and how we got here."
And with the prospect of the 5/14 Memorial providing education and a learning moment for people of all ages, it is also promoting change across all communities.
"People definitely want to see change. They want to see an end to these mass shootings. We here in Buffalo know how painful this was. This was something that could have broken our community. It brought us together in many incredible ways. But to see this continue to happen again-and-again-and-again all over this country is very traumatizing," Mayor Brown said. "So yes, we want change. That's part of what we hope this memorial will be able to bring to our country by telling the story of what happened here in Buffalo on May 14, 2022."
The 5/14 Memorial Commission will hold two more meetings public meetings regarding a permanent memorial site for the May 14 shooting. Both meetings will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 18 and Tuesday, Aug. 15 at the Stanley Makowski School. From here, Mayor Brown and other Commission members will continue to listen to input and gather ideas to properly honor the lives list 13 months ago.
"I don't want to make any early conclusions about what the theme is or what the memorial should be. We want to continue to listen to the community, which is why we have another couple of major community meetings," Mayor Brown said. "We suspect as we continue to move forward in this process, we will hear more-and-more from the public."
Complete audio from Tuesday's 5/14 Memorial Commission public hearing is available in the player below:
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