It’s been two years since the racist mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, NY, which claimed the lives of 10 Black people.
This week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown and the 5/14 Memorial Commission revealed the final approved design for the permanent memorial, which will include a monument and a new building featuring an elevated park on the roof.
The memorial, entitled “Seeing Us,” designed by Jin Young Song and Douglass Alligood, was selected by the 5/14 Memorial Commission among 20 other submissions. Rev. Mark Blue, chairman of the 5/14 Memorial Commission, says that the families of the victims were also consulted when selecting the final design.
“What happened on 5/14 was an act of senseless violence and it was an act of hate,” said Blue. “It’s my intent to make sure we have a memorial that the families and the communities can be proud of.”
The announcement and reveal took place one day before the second anniversary of the mass shooting when a self-proclaimed white supremacist opened gunfire at the neighborhood Tops supermarket, killing ten people and injuring several others.
At the press conference revealing the design, Gov. Hochul said, “As we approach the solemn two-year anniversary of when our neighbors were senselessly slaughtered solely because of the color of their skin, we rededicate ourselves in supporting the East Buffalo community, remembering those we lost, and supporting those who were injured.”
“New York state has committed $5 million to the $15 million project…Buffalo will contribute $1 million, and a yearlong fundraising campaign is expected to make up the difference,” NBC News reports.
Hochul said the project’s new building will function as a community hub for education and also where events and exhibits can be held. “The memorial will also feature an elevated, park-like ‘Memorial Walk’ on the roof of the new building, leading visitors to a vista point overlooking the monument.”
On Tuesday, the city of Buffalo also unveiled and dedicated a second memorial entitled “Unity” outside the Tops store. The sculpture “features purple metal pillars representing each person killed. Three gold pillars represent those who were wounded.”
Buffalo artist Valeria Cray worked with her son Hiram Cray to design the sculpture, which “is part of the newly constructed 5/14 Tops Honor Space, a small park-like area with benches, pillars and gardens.”
Per the Associated Press, “The Honor space also includes a pear tree gifted to Buffalo through the 9/11 Memorial & Museum’s Survivor Tree Seedling Program. Seedlings from a tree pulled from the World Trade Center rubble after 9/11 are sent to communities that embody the tree’s spirit.”