BUFFALO, N.Y. – City of Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown is announcing several events taking place to mark the two-year remembrance of the 5/14 Racially Motivated Mass Shooting at Tops on Jefferson Avenue.
Remembrance activities begin with the 5/14 Blue Flag initiative at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday (tomorrow), outside the Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Sports Pavilion. Flags are currently hanging outside JB Wiley, Merriweather Library on Jefferson Avenue, and other locations along the Jefferson Avenue corridor.
A moment of silence accompanied by the ringing of church bells by the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo will take place at 2:28 p.m. Tuesday.
“It has been two years since a white supremacist drove to our city with the expressed intent to kill as many black people as possible. Our city is still mourning,” said Mayor Brown. “So, on Tuesday at 2:28 p.m., I’m asking everyone in the City of Buffalo and across the region to stop what you are doing, bow your heads, and reflect on the lives that were taken on that day. Reflect on how you can be the change we all want to see in this world and how you can lessen the impact of racism and hate.”
In addition, at the direction of Mayor Brown, the top of Buffalo City Hall will be lit up orange, on Monday, May 13th and Tuesday, May 14th, from dusk to dawn, in memory of those who died, as well as in support of those impacted by the tragic shooting. He asked members of the Buffalo Landmarks Illumination Team (BuffaloLIT) to do the same with their iconic buildings and structures. Orange is the color of gun violence prevention.
BACKGROUND ON BLUE FLAG: The 5/14 Blue Flag Initiative is taking place to honor the lives taken and the lives impacted by the 5/14 Racially Motivated Mass Shooting at Tops on Jefferson Avenue. The flags were made during recent therapeutic workshops that took place throughout the community. Flag-making workshops will continue to take place at various Buffalo Public Schools.
The 5/14 Blue Flag Initiative is sponsored by the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. It is also a collaboration between the Mayor Byron W. Brown, the City of Buffalo Common Council, the Buffalo Public Schools, the CEPA Gallery, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and local artists Brandon Watson and Brendan Bannon.
