This is a story created for the first edition of VillaVIBE, a resurrection of the Villa Maria College student newspaper. In Buffalo, the waterfront and harbor are great tourists attractions. A new monument was proposed to honor veterans of color, and I have written my news story below.
Buffalo’s monumental tribute to veterans of color
By Nina Cray, Vibe Reporter
As the city, its architecture and waterfront make a comeback and Buffalo lands on more and more travel lists—like the No. 37 spot on the NY Times’ “52 Places to go in 2018” – one county legislator would like the renaissance to include a new monument on the downtown shoreline and a reminder of more serious history:
If Crystal Peoples-Stokes can raise an estimated $1.2 million as she hopes, a monument honoring African- American veterans from the Revolution to modern times will join other sculptures that stretch along the walking path to the lookout tower and by the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park.
“This monument will honor those who are with us and those who are no longer with us,” Peoples-Stokes said in a phone interview after announcing her plan last year.
There’s no timeline yet, but she’s optimistic that everything will come together in the year ahead.
She proposed the idea almost two years ago after she saw a plaque listing the names of every local African- American veteran at a cultural African-American exhibit on the East Side’s Frank E. Merriweather Library.
It made her think everyone should be able to see those names in a prominent place alongside the other veteran tributes at the park by the USS Croaker—a submarine—and the USS Little Rock, a guided missile cruiser ship.
She hopes the monument will help heal some of the trauma and racism people in the military endured.
Alex Washington thinks the monument might help. The retired Buffalonian knows all too well the difficulties and prejudice servicemen and women of color faced in the military.
The monument won’t change his experience as an African-American in the Navy in the ‘60s, but it will make people more aware. He imagines what it might feel like to look at a sculptured tribute for veterans like him.
“I will be very pleased and proud to have served,” said Washington, 70.
As he reflected on his years of service from 1965 to 1969, one memory stood out: the time he let his natural hair get long.
“I let my hair grow out about three inches. It was still within regulation, but my captain didn’t like it. He ordered me to cut it, but I wouldn’t,” Washington said.
Then came the punishment: Nothing but bread and water for three days. After that, shipmates held him down and cut his hair.
“I felt abused,” he said. “It made me not stay in the Navy, even though I liked my job.”
As plans develop, Peoples-Stokes and her staff must figure out how to get the land and money.
Mark Boyd, Chief of Staff for Peoples-Stokes, expects construction of the Canalside monument could start in the fall of 2018, if state and federal funding come through.
“There is nothing of its kind in the country,” said Boyd.
He and Peoples-Stokes believe the carved stone will do more than pay tribute. It will teach.
“Not much African-American history is taught,” said Boyd. “This monument provides an opportunity for teaching.”
Recognition will also build empathy and smooth over the city’s history of racism and segregation. “If we understood each other better,” said Peoples-Stokes, “there wouldn’t be so much division between us.”
