- Daysi McGill, a retired Buffalo Public School teacher, will never forget why she was not at Tops Friendly Markets at precisely the time of the hate-filled, racist massacre on May 14 that killed 10 Black people and injured three.
- Victor Matthews was parked at the edge of the parking lot on Landon Street and Jefferson Avenue, across from Tops at 2:30 that afternoon when he heard gun shots that “sounded like a big caliber gun going off.”
- Willie Boyd is 82 years young and moved to Buffalo from Alabama when he was 11. He experienced years of hate towards him and others because of their skin color and Boyd believes the 19-year-old white supremacist, who used a Bushmaster XM-15 semi-automatic rifle in the massacre, never experienced real hate like he did but was taught to hate.
- Leona Harper, an M&T Bank executive, active in her church and East Buffalo neighborhood as a Steering Committee member of the African American Resource Group, said these past two months has made their organization stronger and more caring for the community and its residents.
- New York State Attorney General Letitia James may have said it best Thursday afternoon on the two-month anniversary of this horrific massacre when she spoke to an audience of 100 local and national media, political and community leaders and members of the victim’s families during a private ceremony under a tent on the newly paved Tops parking lot at 1275 Jefferson Avenue.
“This is the day we declare hate did not win. Today, family, we reclaim this space as our own,” she said with passion. “Hate was defeated. Hate has no place in East Buffalo or Buffalo or in the great state of New York. Hate will not win—not today, not tomorrow, not ever. This community drove out the darkness and I can now see it in the eyes of the residents.”
McGill, who lives in the Baptist Manor on Linwood, was actively involved in lobbying Tops to open this store 19 years ago. She usually has a friend drive her shopping and after a leisurely stroll through the store, meeting friends while selecting groceries, she would depart and talk with the store’s security guard, the late Aaron Salter. He would find a jitney to transport her home.
On May 14, she was on her way to Tops and would have arrived about the same time the attack occurred when her son called to say he needed her assistance with her newest grandchild. Her ride to Tops was suddenly detoured to her son’s home where a few hours later she learned of the shooting and death of 10 beautiful Black men and women and injuries to three others.
“I was flabbergasted,” she said Friday afternoon as she waited for a jitney outside the remodeled Tops on its opening day, 61 days after the Massacre. “I was distraught by the entire event. This young man was so misguided to plan it like he did and then come here to walk through the store and talk to people and then come back and do what he did. The memory will never leave me, and the security guard was so sweet to me and so many others who would shop here.”
She was happy Tops chose to re-open the store “because closing it would have meant they gave in to hate.” She arrived at 9:30 a.m. and did not know what to expect when she pushed the shopping cart into the store.
“I cried,” she said in a quiet voice. “It was quite emotional for me and for so many others. At one point a few of us went off to a corner, hugged and cried.”
McGill was extremely impressed with the work Tops put into the renovation of the store. “Everyone who works for Tops has been so kind,” she explained. “They maximized the space within the store (29,468 square feet) and they created more aisles. The store is brighter and it’s lovely. It is what the community needs, and Tops did a tasteful job in recognizing what occurred here on May 14.”
For more years than Tops has been on Jefferson, Victor Matthews, Hispanolia Bryant, Willie Boyd and several other elderly Black men and women would bring their folding chairs and adult beverages to a grassy area under a tree at the corner of Jefferson and Landon. Since May 14, they have had a front row seat to the memorials which have been set up across the street at the corner of the Tops parking lot and down Landon and the thousands who have visited with flowers, stuffed animals, photos and prayers.
Matthews is a jitney, who drives Tops customers home with his fee being whatever they can pay. When the shooting occurred, he was resting in his car, parked in the lot, a few yards from their evening gathering spot.
“When I first heard the pops, I thought it was a big caliber gun,” he recalls. “When I found out 10 people were dead and three were injured, my heart sank. I knew three personally.”
During an interview the night before Tops re-opened Matthews, and his pals were asked if Tops should re-open. They all agreed with the company’s decision to open its doors to the community again.
“We are proud of our East Side, and this is our community,” Matthews said. “I will be there tomorrow offering rides to those who need them. We are going to stay strong and united as a community.”
Bryant, who has lived in this community for more than 60 years, added: “Just because it happened at Tops, I do not believe Tops should be shut down. I am still going to shop there. This is my community, my neighborhood and all the people around me I know and speak to, will not stop shopping at Tops.”
When the shooting first occurred, Bryant “wanted retaliation.”
“I knew that was not right and I know better than that,” he explained. “But we were and are still hurting a lot by what occurred that afternoon two months ago. I am angry because this is my neighborhood and my community.”
Boyd, seated comfortably in the shade from the tree and wearing a black western hat and a bandage on his right hand, talked about coming to Buffalo from Alabama when he was 11.
“I grew up in the South seeing, experiencing, living with, and knowing all about hatred because I was Black,” he said frankly. “When this occurred at Tops, I was shocked, angry, and disappointed. Eight of the 10 were friends of mine and to tell you the truth, it but it brought back memories of what hatred really is.
“I never hated anyone,” Boyd said, adding, “I would like to see a lot of changes in this community. I just want to see the day when everyone can live equally. I want to see more improvements on Jefferson Avenue where it could be a street that would attract everyone, and they would all be treated equally. I would love to see a restaurant owned by whites, others owned by blacks and others owned by another nationality with customers of all color and race feeling comfortable. That’s all I want to see.
“That is not what Jefferson, and the surrounding area was like when Boyd arrived in the Queen City nearly 70 years ago. “We first lived on Woodlawn Avenue where only white folk lived, and then we moved to Dodge Street where, if you were Black, you could not go through the Fruit Belt,” he explained. “Buffalo has been prejudiced as long as I can remember. It is getting better, but it is not where it is supposed to be.”
Harper, wearing her green M&T Bank Volunteer t-shirt, was with fellow bank associates and members of the African American Resource Group, bright and early Friday morning with Tops opened for the first time since May 14.
“From Day One we have been here, helping out, giving away food and going everywhere for donations,” she said. Reflecting on what these past two months have been for them, she added, “We gave people who were hurting from this a shoulder to cry on, a hug, an ear to listen. We felt their pain because this is our community and it’s all about family. It’s all about loving and it’s all about caring.”
During the emotional Thursday afternoon memorial service, which was held before a controlled number of guests because of security measures, Buffalo Common Council member Ulysees O. Wingo Sr. slowly read the names of the 10 victims as a fire bell rang after each one—Celestine Chaney, Roberta Drury, Andre Mackneil, Katherine Massey, Margus Morrison, Heyward Patterson, Aaron Salter, Geraldine Talley, Ruth Whitfield, and Pearl Young.
Tops President and CEO John Persons, who has been conscious of the community’s feelings about the store re-opening and has been working closely with the families of the victims and the associates who worked in the store, said in his remarks, “We open this redesigned and completely renovated store with a sense of resilience and a renewed responsibility to ensure East Buffalo has direct access to a full-service grocer they can rely on.”
New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes was visibly chocked up when she spoke about the aftermath of the massacre. She said the neighborhood’s tragedy had the opposite effect of what was intended. “What is has done is create a new level of community activism,” she said with pride.
The ceremony on Thursday also included Tops Assistant Dairy Manager Pat Patterson reading a poem by Buffalo Poet Laureate Jillian Hanesworth that is tastefully displayed on a memorial wall inside the store. It ended with dancer Jacqueline Cherry presenting a moving performance on the newly paved parking lot of the renovated store to the worship song, “Total Praise.” When the sound system suddenly stopped, members of the audience jumped in to sing while Cherry continued to dance.
When the store opened early Friday morning, there was an abundance of Tops associates and security personal present to greet the many guests. Nearly 75 percent of the former workforce came back to work at the Jefferson Avenue Tops. There has been concern of the psychological effects of this store re-opening so to handle those with concerns, a red Community Counseling tent was set up near the entrance and staffed by Melissa Archer, program coordinator for the Buffalo Urban League’s New York Project Hope.
Tops has arranged for an urban street art exhibition, titled “An Offering,” to be on display from July 17 through September 9. It is a sincere response of care and concern by African American artists, arts organizations, and arts patrons to support, enable, and empower healing. The exterior of the store has been fully overhauled with a new storefront, new landscaping, and a repaved parking lot. An enclosed external area will give shoppers cover from the elements while the new Adinkra symbols representing peace, harmony, welcome and farewell have been installed in the windows and on walls to greet the community and store associates.
Casimiro D. Rodriquez Sr., founder, and former president of the Hispanic Heritage Counsel and now chair of a $10 million drive to build a Hispanic Heritage Cultural Institute on Niagara Street, was extremely pleased with what he saw after touring Tops on Thursday.
“These people are our neighbors, and they are hurting because of this senseless crime. We hurt with them, but this new store will help in their healing,” he said. “I have been so happy to see people from all walks of life come here to offer support. This is what Buffalo is all about and we hope and pray this continues and it continues to break down walls so everyone can treat all their neighbors equally.”
Pastor James Giles, founder of Back-to-Basics Outreach Ministries more than two decades ago, has been operating an outreach center at Ground Zero since hours after the shooting occurred. He was speaking at an anti-violence conference in Pittsburgh with Pastor Kenny Simmons of Mad Dads when they received the call about the shooting.
“I left immediately and, on the ride, back our team was already setting up our outreach operation in the parking lot next door because tents were being set up for the national media in the lot across from Tops,” he explained. “I was overwhelmed but not surprised by the number of calls from local business, foundation and political leaders offering us help because they knew we would be there.”
Pastor Giles was all smiles on Thursday and Friday when he walked through the new Tops on Jefferson.
“That was a healing moment in itself,” he said. “I saw joy on the faces of the associates who returned to their jobs at Tops. I saw a new energy among those associates. I saw smiles on people’s faces that I have not seen in a long time, and I saw a lot of people saying, ‘Welcome Back.’ What was most gratifying was so seeing so many people I know from the suburbs arrive to do their grocery shopping.
“It was an exciting, electric time.”
The hope of so many these past couple days is that this senseless tragedy of May 14, 2022, could result in true positive change in East Buffalo and throughout the City of Good Neighbors.
We can only hope and pray.
The hope of so many these past couple days is that this senseless tragedy of May 14, 2022, could result in true positive change in East Buffalo and throughout the City of Good Neighbors.