The city of Buffalo, New York, is known for a lot of things: Its professional sports teams, chicken wings and beef on weck, the snow, the smell of Cheerios, its friendly neighbors and so much more. It’s not uncommon for Buffalo to be mentioned at a national level for various reasons. Unfortunately, Buffalo made national headlines on May 14, 2022, when a deadly mass shooting occurred at a Tops on the East Side of the city. Claiming 10 lives, it was the deadliest mass shooting in Buffalo’s history. All of its victims were Black. It was later revealed that the assailant, Payton Gendron, had selected this specific Tops, three hours away from his own home, because of the high population of African Americans in the area. The Tops that he chose is the only accessible supermarket on the East Side of Buffalo. How could this happen? The answer is decades of policies that have resulted in residential segregation in the City of Buffalo.Â
When people think of the term “segregation,” they think of Jim Crow laws in the South. Many people fail to acknowledge that just because the north might not have had signs that said, “whites only,” does not mean that we did not have our own inherently racist and discriminatory policies. And these policies and their impacts did not go away with Brown vs. Board of Education or the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While there have been court cases attempting to dismantle the systems put in place, the consequences of the past are still relevant and felt around the city of Buffalo. Even in the most recent census, 72% of the citizens of Buffalo that identify as Black live east of Main Street. This has resulted in negative social consequences such as lower life expectancy, poor education and poverty. It has also resulted in a food desert, which directly led to the Tops shooting in 2022. Â
After the Tops shooting, so many Buffalonians were devastated and left wondering how this could happen. It happened because people turned a blind eye to the problems that were right in front of them. Without education, we find ourselves stuck in a cycle. Areas that were previously found to be least financially stable because of the race occupying it were not invested in and fell into decline. Banks would not give out loans to people looking to buy or build in these areas because it was not seen as a sound financial decision. This redlining and disinvestment, that still occurs, perpetuates the decline in the East Side of Buffalo, and this cycle will not be stopped without proper education and investment in the area. This Black History Month, it is important to address and acknowledge these issues that plague so many communities. Staying educated is imperative to dismantle the discriminatory systems put in place.Â
For further reading and my sources, click HERE for a link to my senior thesis on the topic.
Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it
-George Santayana