Where Were You May 14th? Blog Post
On May 14th, thankfully I was home all day. I honestly had no idea what had happened until my cousin from Staten Island called me multiple times in a row. That day I had just finished my last exam for the semester for Nutrition that morning and was getting ready for the Justin Bieber concert to go to that night while also packing up my belongings to bring home. May 14th was the last day I was staying at Buffalo so I had to make sure I had everything and wanted to get as much done before I left for the concert. It was honestly such a hectic day I was not on my phone at all. In the middle of everything I had received multiple calls from my older cousin asking if I was okay and I was confused why she seemed so concerned. I had then looked up what happened and saw so many other messages I had missed from my friend and family group chats. I told my cousin I was okay and called my mom right after to let her know. My mom also had no idea wha had happened. I saw the news and read articles and his notes about his heinous plan. It broke my heart and scared me that there are people like this out there. The TOPs incident happened 12 minutes away from my house. It was really an awakening moment for me as I have never been so close to such a tragic event. It really is true that you never think something like this could happen to or near you until it does. I am not from Buffalo but since I have been here I really feel a sense of a tight knit community and I feel like everyone was extra affected by it. I was debating on going to the concert that night because of what happened but I wound up going with my friends. We were extra cautious. I'm super lucky that I wound up leaving the next morning because I heard rumors that following week there may be another incident.
We are all lucky to still be here and I am sorry for anyone who was affected or knows anyone who was.
I too got those kinds of calls and texts. That Tops is just a few minutes from where I live, but this city is so segregated, it might as well have been a million miles away.
ReplyDeleteMay 14th really opened my eyes and showed me hoe segregated the city is
DeleteI remember reading up on the buffalo shooting the next day and it was said that the shooter also had plans to shoot other places as well. It's disturbing to know that he sought out the most segregated community to commit this horrific act. In a low income community like this, Tops is where most community members rely on for food source so closing down has severely affected people.This massacre shines light on the issue of lack of accessibility for healthy and affordable food. This is a Tops that the community was fighting to establish in their neighborhood.
ReplyDelete