“Take a moment and honor these African American Lives” monument

This tragic and horrific event took place on May 14, 2022 at a Buffalo supermarket . This shooting has killed 10 black people and wounded 3 people. This is Buffalo’s worst shooting so far recorded in history. After the event took place, an investigation was conducted and officials discovered the motivation behind this shooting. The shooter has decided to take this action due to being racially motivated. A way to commemorate this sad event, I would like to propose  a monument located close to the center of the “Tops” supermarket parking lot  where the 10 innocent black people have lost their lives. The monument will consist of a tall 15 feet circular building going vertical. As you look up  from the bottom to the top each name of the victims would be presented. In the day time, the building wouldn’t be lit up but in the nighttime the color light that will be presented is like a white/ soft pink.  Why pink? Pink is the color to express remembrance. This monument would allow the community to interact and have an opportunity to take as many pictures as they wish.This unique monument wouldn’t only bring awareness to the community but bring attention to the government as we ask for a change with racism and gun violence.

19 year old Payton Gendron who was the gunman in the Buffalo shooting has decided to open fire at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14, 2022. He has opened fire to these innocent people with a Bushmaster XM rifle.  As investigations started to develop after he had proceeded his actions, Gendron’s motive behind this shooting was white supremacy. White supremacy is the idea of whites thinking that they are better than any other race. Many questions  have been raised after this shooting took place, many people wanted to know why Gendron chose a “Tops” supermarket, which was a 3 hour drive from his home. He has decided to choose this specific place due to the simple fact that this location was strictly a Black neighborhood. Police have investigated and discovered that this attack was planned back in November 2021 before May 2022. In his diary where he planned the attack,  he practiced shooting from a far distance from his car and how to learn the store daily. As he would go back and forth to the store he would keep a tally of the amount of black people he encountered within the store. As he came to the store he would also see the same security guard and knew he wanted to kill that one specific security guard due to him being black. The security guard was included in the 10 people that were killed. Understanding the plan of how these innocent black people’s lives were taken, creating a memorial in this specific place would gather the community and even Americans as whole. This monument would  create a bigger picture and even have an eye opener to many people that racism still exists and also how guns are still accessible. This event not having a monument at the moment just shows that people such as the government don’t really have care for these innocent lives. But this monument is created to help contribute to the steps to create a change with ongoing issues like racism and gun violence. Having the light included in this monument, is meant for  when it is nighttime people would see the brightest light shine in their neighborhood and would make them want to know more about what has happened within their community and how this specific event is something that can potentially have an impact on the African American racial group through the upcoming years and generations.

As mentioned this memorial will be created almost close to the center of “Tops” supermarket. Before I can take the actions of trying to create this monument, I will ask for permission from Buffalo’s government and have a license to let me proceed with this major project. To make this project more like a community monument, I will be also working with “Tops” supermarket for ideas or even contributions. The way the monument would be shaped in a circular form throughout the whole monument. Then inside this 10 ft monument  there will be 10 different layers to represent the 10 innocent victims that have lost their lives in this tragic shooting. As there are 10 levels the names will also be presented to, so that the community knows exactly who lost their lives. To bring this unique monument to life I will be working closely with Buffalo construction Inc. This company will make me and the community satisfied with the outcome of this wonderful project. Alongside this wonderful construction, I will be working with an electrician who will install the lights within the monument. The light color will be a white/soft pink. The light should be installed from the bottom like from the ground and facing up to the monument. In terms of the writing on the monument, the victims names will be like bolded and written in uniquely cursive. As a way for people to know why this monument was created there will be like a gravestone plague explaining the event that has happened in this strictly black neighborhood. This would increase the interaction with the people coming to pay their respect and even create awareness to the government for change with the racist country and gun violence. 

Memorials are meant to create remembrance and awareness of the things that have happened and impacted  America in many ways. The “Take a moment and honor our African American people” memorial was created to give respect to the people that have lost their lives  while shopping for their groceries. Many people that were in the supermarket didn’t think that their lives would come to an end on May 14, 2022. Throughout the years, America has a very few selected memorials that represent tragic events that have happened. Creating more monuments like this would grab more attention to the community and the problems we face today. Gun violence was an ongoing issue for many years and there were bare minimum actions taken to make guns less accessible to certain people. But the government’s light bulb still hasn’t turned on to make changes. Racism is a huge thing that also impacts the formation of America as a whole. If there isn’t enough awareness made such as making monuments to address the issue then there will little change and this will highly impact our future generations to come.

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