24 • June 2, 2022 - June 8, 2022
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
IN
THE
CLASSROOM
Katherine Massey, a relentless voice for the voiceless By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews
Last week one of the fatalities in the Buffalo massacre, Heyward Patterson, reminded us of Haywood Patterson. He was one of the Scottsboro Boys who were falsely accused and imprisoned for raping two white women. Our focus was on Patterson’s mother, Janie, and her tireless advocacy for the innocence of her son and the other eight Black youths. This week we return to Buffalo to profile the remarkable life of Katherine Massey, 72, another one of ten killed in the mass shooting at Tops Market on May 14; several others were wounded. The world learned much more about her selfless dedication to civil rights during her funeral services and the eulogy delivered by Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) on May 23 at Pilgrim Baptist Church. “I am here to celebrate the life of a freedom fighting sister, a courageous Black woman,“ Chavis began. “The question now is what are we going to do in our anger, in our pain? We should learn from Katherine Massey … this African queen. It’s in our tradition that when one is taken from us to pay our respects. But the greatest way we can pay our respects to Katherine Massey is to keep her spirit alive, keep her journalism alive.” That Chavis was there was in a couple of ways fitting— Massey,
Massey’s commitment to racial justice, most notably through her writing. “Kat took her God-given creative writing ability, and she coupled that with a quiet spirit that, paired together, wound up exhibiting in an extremely powerful way without shouting or menacing,” said Sherry Sherrill, 56, of Buffalo. Sherrill is the oldest daughter of Betty Jean Grant, a former Erie County legislator, and a close friend of Massey’s for decades. Grant added, in a comment to WKBW, “She's in a true sense of the word, a warrior. She loved working and she loved helping people.” Sharon Belton-Cottman, a Buffalo school board member and a community activist who worked with Massey in the community group We are Women Warriors, told ABC News that she is dedicated to renaming Massey's street after her late friend. Photo of Katherine Massey in the lower left-hand corner Mayor Brown, during called Kat—worked as a journal- of Massey that, “She was profi- his remarks, noted that Massey ist for the Challenger Communi- cient in her history, proficient was a determined activist in her ty News, a Black-owned paper, in her culture, and a lover of all neighborhood. “She was called and in a letter posted in the Buf- people,” he declared. “She was a the mayor of Cherry Street,” where falo News nearly a year ago, she constant presence in our commu- she lived, he said. “Before that, she voiced her concern about the nity. A warm and welcoming spirit was like a governor. And more than prevalence of gun violence in who had a beautiful and brilliant that, she was a queen mother of the community, noting another smile that could light up the at- this community. She was a leader, shooting that was a “gut-wrench- mosphere, cut through every con- leading with warmth and intelliing account of the escalating gun flict, and warm your heart.” gence and the power of her violence in Buffalo and major Several associates and close pen.” U.S. cities,” she wrote. friends told the press At the services, Buffalo Mayor about Byron Brown said
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ACTIVITIES FIND OUT MORE We were not able to find actual stories published by Kat before going to press but we will continue this pursuit. An obit can be found in the edition posted here. DISCUSSION More vital statistics may come in the future since we’ve reached out to family members and friends. PLACE IN CONTEXT Kat gave us the power of her commitment and insight for more than a half century of activism
THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY May 29, 1973: Thomas Bradley was elected the first African American mayor of Los Angeles. June 1, 1942: Alfred Masters of Oklahoma City became the first African American U.S. Marine. June 2, 1863: Abolitionist Harriet Tubman led Union Troops as they attacked plantations on the Combahee River in S.C.
