EMBRACING BUFFALO / HEALING MOMENTS

It has been almost a year since the horrific racist massacre on May 14, 2022, and the community is still reeling from the vicious, hate-infused murders by a white supremacist. At the Pursuit of Truth Conference and Launch organized by Ruth Whitfield’s family (oldest victim of the attack, at 86), leaders in the struggle made the same point that Dolores Huerta makes in the above quote. 

National/international luminaries included Jelani Cobb, Dean of Columbia University School of Journalism; civil rights attorney Ben Crump; and Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Special Advisor to the UN Undersecretary for the Prevention of Genocide. Local leaders included Dr. Henry-Louis Taylor, UB Center for Urban Studies; John Washington, People’s Action Lead Housing organizer; Franchelle Parker, Executive Director Open Buffalo. And many more.

Racism and bigotry are used to separate us. Trauma, with its fear and anger, creates and/or amplifies those separations. The brutal trauma at the (especially Southern) borders, the economic hardships, and the deep injustices to BIPOC (Black Brown Indigenous People of Color) have taken a terrible toll on all, and healing together is deeply needed. 

We know we are stronger and better together, as our progressive leaders, activists, and organizers stress, and as our hearts tell us.

That is why we’re Embracing Buffalo. Embracing Buffalo is a collaboration between the WNY Peace Center, faculty at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, and the UB School of Social Work. We know how deep the trauma goes and can offer some tools both for coping and for change. Onward! 

Join us in Embracing Buffalo – Healing Moments, with Music and the Arts, on Saturday, May 13, 7 pm-9 pm, at 1272 Delaware Ave. Carriage House, Buffalo 14209, the WNY Peace Center’s own mini-community center. 

We will have Dr. Sabrina N’Diaye, social worker, storyteller, peacebuilder, and activist, who splits her time between Baltimore, Maryland, and Senegal, West Africa. She has responded to multiple communities that have suffered brutal massacres, violence, and injustice including Houston, South Bronx, Parkland, Washington DC, and the prison system. (She will come in spite of the fact that her new book, Big Mama Speaks, about her grandmother, is coming out that very weekend). 

Dr. Carol Penn, MD, GP, dancer/choreographer (formerly with Alvin Ailey Dance Theater), of Movement is My Medicine, may also come. Dena Adler, Art Therapist, will bring art materials for expressive works to – again – work toward individual and collective healing.

All are faculty at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), a worldwide center for helping communities (and individuals) develop the tools they need to heal from population-wide trauma and build resilience. Deidra EmEl, WNYPC Executive Director, and I (VBR, WNYPC Board Chair), will have completed CMBM’s Advanced Training by that time.  

Come enjoy healing moments to talk, laugh, groove, move, dance, make art, make music, and make our community and our world a better place. 

#SiSePuede #Juntos!