New York Governor Kathy Hochul and members of the 5/14 Memorial Commission unveiled the final design for “Seeing Us,” the memorial honoring the victims of the racist mass shooting at the Jefferson Avenue Tops Friendly Markets on May 14th, 2022.
“I want all the families to know,” Hochul said. “We'll never leave you to carry this burden alone. We are at your side, and we'll also never be defeated by hate. We'll only rise up stronger in the face of it. That's who we are as Buffalonians. That's who we are as New Yorkers.”
Hochul said the memorial and its design, created by artists Jin Young Song and Douglass Alligood, was developed with the input of Buffalo’s Black community, including family and friends of the victims. Hochul envisions the memorial as an “appropriate place of reflection, a place to show love.”
A fund for the creation of the memorial was created as well, with the state is committing $4.1 million, on top of the $900,000 previously allocated. The City of Buffalo pitched in another $1 million for the project, estimated to cost at least $15 million.
There neither a timetable for completion or a site for the memorial.
Garnell Whitfield lost his mother, Ruth on May 14th. Though still grieving he said the memorial can provide a way to look back while also looking forward.
“The community grieves for all of us, and many of us, but not all of us grieve for justice,” he said. “Grieve for fairness, grieve for this community and others that like it, were intentionally created to stunt the growth and kill the hopes of our people. And yet here we are, brought together in our collective grief by the murderous and hateful events of 5/14 assembled together to announce that a step on this long and arduous journey has been taken in the choosing of a design and its team to build a permanent memorial.”
Whitfield said this is a step made up of many steps and hopes the memorial serves not only as bridge but a catalyst to a new tomorrow and keeps the memories of those lost on that day in the hearts and minds of future generations.
