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CityAndStateNY.com
May 23, 2022
“That’s pure and simple racism” A Q&A with Assembly Majority Leader Crystal PeoplesStokes on how Buffalo recovers from a horrific mass shooting. By Justin Sondel Several people have described the Jefferson Avenue Tops as a safe place in the neighborhood that offered a sense of community. What do you feel it will mean for the neighborhood and the rest of the East Side going forward that this space has been taken from them, at least temporarily, and will certainly never be the same? It’s a community gathering spot. Some people go there every day, not because they want to buy something, but because they know they’re going to see somebody that they know and they get to chitchat. It’s a community gathering spot that’s needed for dialogue to go back and forth in the community. Everybody doesn’t go to the barbershop. Everybody doesn’t go to the hair salon. This store actually served as a similar respite, like hair salons and barbershops, where you could go and catch up on all the latest information in the community and around the state, with the federal, national government. People talk about these issues. I just think that it’s going to take some time. We do know it’s still a crime scene. But at some point, it’s my priority that Tops pulls us back together and they continue to do business there. Now, does that mean that there should not be an additional opportunity for fresh fruit and vegetables in and around this neighborhood? No, it doesn’t
Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, left, comforts a resident near the Tops supermarket where a mass shooter killed 10 people on May 14.
mean that. It means that maybe there should be something else as well. I won’t discard that as an opportunity for additional growth in this community because it is needed. But that Tops is needed as well. Do you think people will want to return to shop at that location? I’ve talked to some people who have said they will never go in there again. Then I’ve talked to a lot of people like myself, who will be the first one to walk in there on the first day, because you are not going to frighten me out of my community with your ignorant, racist actions. I’m angry about that. I’m disappointed in how America allows racism to continue. But you are not going to scare me away from my community. The alleged killer described scoping out potential targets across the state in online posts. He chose this Tops because of the high concentration of Black people in the area. What do you think that says about the high levels of segregation in Buffalo? He decided that he wanted to kill Black people because he’s been radicalized on social media or he’s been raised that
“This store actually served as a similar respite, like hair salons and barbershops, where you could go and catch up on all the latest information in the community and around the state.” – Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes
way by his family or his community. I love the way people try to say it’s all because of segregation. No, some of it is because your grandmother lived on the street, you live down the street and now you live down the street. It’s about
