Buffalo market reopens to debate over healing, sensitivity

Source: Associated Press

Buffalo market reopens to debate over healing, sensitivity

By AARON MORRISON
July 15, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Cariol Horne started her morning outside the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, placing white roses at a colorful memorial to the 10 Black people slain there two months ago by a white gunman.

Across the fenced-off parking lot, the supermarket chain’s president and employees were preparing to lead media on a preview of the refurbished store, a day ahead of its Friday reopening to the public.

Count Horne, a 54-year-old activist and retired Buffalo police officer, was among those in the neighborhood who say it’s too soon.

“We’re pretty much shopping on people’s blood,” she said. “I think that this is more about putting people to work rather than letting them heal. … Just two months ago, these people were running for their lives.”

Yet even Horne carries the mixed emotions of seemingly everyone in the community, where the store has doubled as a gathering spot for two decades.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/buffalo-tops-reopening-after-shooting-058d987f7465e1d4245e211410e4ae01


Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia hugs Leah Holton-Pope, senior advisor to New York Assembly Majority Leader Peoples-Stokes prior to a ceremony to honor the victims on the two-month anniversary of the attack by a racist gunman at a memorial outside the store in Buffalo, N.Y., Thursday, July 14, 2022. (Derek Gee/The Buffalo News via AP)


Cariol Horne, 54, places a rose on the fence outside the Tops Friendly Market on Thursday, July 14, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. The Buffalo supermarket where 10 Black people were killed by a white gunman is set to reopen its doors, two months after the racist attack. (AP Photo/Joshua Bessex)


A painting titled "Hope" by Senia Che is on display as dignitaries and members of the media take a tour of the newly renovated Tops Friendly Markets on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, N.Y., which reopens tomorrow, two months after the racist attack, Thursday, July 14, 2022. (Derek Gee/The Buffalo News via AP)