The WNY Peace Center had a great 55th Annual Dinner — A follow-up:

Algunas personas preguntan, “Como estaba, la Cena Annual?” The WNY Peace Center 55th Annual Dinner uplifted us all. We were enlightened and inspired by the speaker, the renowned Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm, and her keynote, “Planting Seeds of Justice, Harvesting Peace.” Leah was humble and wise, telling her story, delving into our histories and actualities, and exploring ways to work for social change. She shared four solidarity strategies for pursuing such change, all of which are used by WNYPC, as follows:

RESIST: Protest, marches, civil disobedience/civil resistance, litigation, boycotts, etc. The WNYPC is often known for our work in this area, including many marches and protests, especially recent Women’s Marches, which were the best-attended protests in Buffalo/WNY in memory, with ~4K and ~5K respectively in 2017/18.  

REFORM: Public education/awareness, lobbying, petitions, speeches, teach-ins, etc. The WNYPC holds panels and shares info to increase the public’s political education and awareness, lobbies our elected officials, and petitions our government for the redress of grievances (re war, criminal (in)justice, economic oppression, environmental destruction, and more). 

BUILD: People’s assemblies, freedom schools, creating just institutions, etc. The WNYPC offers PeaceJam and Camp Peaceprints to foster our youth and works to build the Beloved Community by amplifying the voices of those most heavily affected, and supporting alternatives (e.g., restorative justice). 

HEAL: Ceremony, ritual, prayer, vigil, art, story, therapy, community building. Embracing Buffalo is a project of the WNYPC with the Center for Mind-Body Medicine and UB School of Social Work for supporting Buffalo’s Black community and those who serve them, and frank discussions for communities’ reciprocity/solidarity. The 2022 Women’s March was all about healing as the community was reeling from the trauma of 5/14 the previous day.

The Dinner’s Awards were timely. Yanenowi Logan, Seneca, Emerging Leader Awardee, subsequently was elected Co-President of the National Congress of American Indians’ Youth Commission; and was a guest at the White House three days after the dinner! Charley Bowman, Lifetime Achievement Awardee, emphasized the importance of Civil Disobedience (e.g., We Are Seneca Lake). The Phoenix Award to the Families of Victims, and Survivors, of the May 14 Massacre, was presented by our renowned Jim Anderson. It was received by Ebony White, Heyward Patterson’s niece; Garnell Whitfield, Ruth Whitfield’s son; and Fragrance “of Yah” Harris Stanfield, Tops employee survivor of the massacre.  John Spear, Director of Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System, accepted the award for the May 14 Community Collecting Initiative. Ebony and Fragrance will distribute to the other 11 Families and 29 Tops employee survivors respectively. Fragrance “of Yah” Harris Stanfield’s song expressed with heart-wrenching beauty her traumatic experience and unconditional love.

Queenia AsheeMa’at represented Latino Village beautifully. The room was packed, the crowd large (170-180) and diverse by every measure. The food was terrific, from Sunshine Vegan. Niagara University and UB’s Food Lab (co-sponsor) came out, with more collaboration to follow!

We’ll pursue economic, racial, and environmental justice in food systems, land, usage, and more! Si, se puede – juntos!!