The little group Friday that admired some lines of blue flags, tossing gently in a July breeze along Jefferson Avenue, brought Brandon Watson back. Twenty-six months ago this weekend, he was watching some basketball at a buddy’s apartment when he received a text message from a friend:
“There’s been a shooting at Tops. Check your people.”
Watson had grown up within walking distance of the store. On May 14, 2022, he hurried there while trying to make sense of that message, only to discover his childhood community was faced with the unthinkable.
A racist gunman, who started shooting in the parking lot, had killed 10 people and wounded three others. Watson is a photojournalist, and he spent much of the next few weeks doing freelance work from Buffalo for many newspapers, even as he tried to process such an act of hate.
People are also reading…
![Blue flag initiative continues to offer emotional processing to community members two years after 5/14](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=150%2C100 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=225%2C150 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=640%2C426 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=990%2C659 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C689 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C799 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C888 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C983 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/b8/4b85c800-4099-11ef-8d8f-9f4845f05742/6691a60d4a2c2.image.jpg?resize=1764%2C1175 2008w)
Brandon Watson, a facilitator for the Blue Flag Initiative, gestures to cyanotype flags and describes the process behind their creation as part of a “Blues Memorial” to Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, center left.
He found himself working alongside fellow photographers Brendan Bannon and Joshua Thermidor, and they shared a sickening revelation about what was happening to the city all around them:
“The parking lot,” as Thermidor put it, “was getting a lot bigger.”
![Blue flag initiative continues to offer emotional processing to community members two years after 5/14](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=150%2C100 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=225%2C150 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=640%2C426 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=990%2C659 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C689 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C799 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C888 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C983 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/78/478f1544-4099-11ef-aacc-430f124ec839/6691a6069fa50.image.jpg?resize=1764%2C1175 2008w)
Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, said on her visit to Buffalo this week she was struck by “the strength of this community, its humanity, that comes through,” in the wake of a horrific tragedy.
In other words, the trauma was spreading, and fast. Watson kept thinking about the text message – “check your people” – and realized those first words equated to a responsibility also felt by his friends, this idea of seeking some means of widespread expression and release.
Wayne Jones tells a story that helps explain why he stood in front of a packed Erie County courtroom the other day, directly addressing the ma…
It was Bannon who offered a vehicle. He started contemplating the Tibetan prayer flags he had seen while working in the Himalayas about seven years ago, the way they represented aspiration – expressed in a constant and haunting snapping sound, in the wind.
He suggested a similar initiative for Buffalo, a citywide “Blues memorial.” The color would evoke the great Black musical tradition that expresses both heartbreak and endurance. The memorial itself would consist of small blue flags, imprinted with individual messages through a cyanotype process familiar to old-school photographers.
Friday, Maria Rosario Jackson – chair of the National Endowment for the Arts – journeyed to Buffalo to witness the results. The NEA provided a $40,000 matching grant for the project through the CEPA Gallery, which continues "to raise matching funds to ensure the project's successful completion," according to CEPA board president Luke Cusack.
The effort now involves several sites in Buffalo – including open lots, soon to be filled with sunflowers, directly across the street from the parking lot where the attack began.
![Blue flag](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=150%2C200 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=200%2C267 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=225%2C300 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=300%2C400 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=400%2C533 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=540%2C720 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=640%2C854 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=750%2C1000 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=990%2C1320 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C1380 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C1600 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/91/391aa1ec-4119-11ef-8559-670a5a31609a/66927cd59ab82.image.jpg 1333w)
On a blue-skies July morning, Jackson contemplated “the horror” of hatred that became mass murder. Yet she also found solace in her warm greeting from a group that included Buffalo Common Council Member Zeneta Everhart, whose son, Zaire Goodman, was wounded by the gunman, and Ebony White, whose uncle, Deacon Heyward Patterson, was one of the 10 people killed.
It is “the strength of this community, its humanity, that comes through,” Jackson said.
White said she learned of the “blues” project from Dennice Barr, one of the facilitators for the workshops in which the flags are made. Unsure of what to expect, White showed up for a session – and found immediate comfort in how it went.
![Blue flag initiative continues to offer emotional processing to community members two years after 5/14](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=150%2C100 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=225%2C150 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=640%2C426 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=990%2C659 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C689 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C799 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C888 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C983 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/39/439f197a-4099-11ef-a3d7-57e5b379c7ee/6691a6000bb00.image.jpg?resize=1764%2C1175 2008w)
Cyanotype flags wave in the wind at the site of a “Blues Memorial” from the Blue Flag Initiative project on Riley Street across from Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue.
The enormity of relentless grief, she said, is too often buried within the families of Cold Spring and surrounding neighborhoods, and the savagery of what happened at Tops created an imperative to “communicate our pain and our power.”
So the flags – often built around haiku – might carry a butterfly, drawn by a child. Or an outline of a dove, a popular theme. White was surprised and moved, during a workshop at Erie Community College, to come upon a detailed portrait of her uncle by Andy Muldoon, an arts student, “down to the stripes on his shirt, his do-rag, and the way he wore his glasses.”
Her response meant everything to Muldoon, who sketched several portraits and said the goal, for the families, was “to give them a sense of peace.”
The 10 lives stolen at Tops represent a deep heartbeat of Buffalo community, and many were devoted to the city's football team.
Bannon, whose suggestion ignited the Blues Memorial, is also the founder of Odyssey, which offers photographic training and an artistic canvas for combat veterans. Since January, creating the flags has involved dozens upon dozens of workshops at schools, community centers, churches and other gathering points, with one major focus.
The idea is individual reaction, thousands of times over, from people too rarely asked what they are feeling – and then to “put those intentions in the wind,” as Bannon said.
![Blue flag initiative continues to offer emotional processing to community members two years after 5/14](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=150%2C100 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=225%2C150 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=640%2C426 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=990%2C659 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C689 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C799 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C888 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C983 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/ac/5acef4e4-4099-11ef-b59c-57f4854a68e7/6691a626e7b47.image.jpg?resize=1764%2C1175 2008w)
The "Blues Memorial" site on Jefferson Avenue near Tops Markets in Buffalo.
Friday, Jackson sat in on a workshop for city teens, this one directed by Thermidor and Kaitlyn Lowe at the Downtown Bazaar. As the teens drew or wrote, Thermidor recalled what he witnessed with Watson and Bannon in the aftermath of May 14, and how these flags are meant to channel the torrent of raw emotion.
“Hope is a tenuous word,” Thermidor said, but it is present on so many of these flags, whether from children or civic elders in their 80s.
Eva Doyle does her shopping at the Jefferson Avenue Tops every Saturday afternoon – except for last weekend.
Watson said the reality for countless Black families – in Cold Spring, Hamlin Park and other Buffalo communities – is the knowledge that you were targeted by the attack even if “you may or may not have been in the store.”
The killer came to Buffalo with one specific goal: He wanted to murder African Americans. He went to a grocery always perceived as a safe space, a community square, and saw targets in everyday people, simply living out the rhythm of a quiet weekend day.
![Blue flag initiative continues to offer emotional processing to community members two years after 5/14](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=150%2C100 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=225%2C150 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=640%2C426 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=990%2C659 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C689 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C799 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C888 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C983 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/4d/84dc0ad8-4099-11ef-9df6-9313f7c3a69b/6691a66d79e93.image.jpg?resize=1764%2C1175 2008w)
Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, peers down to view cyanotypes under special lights during a workshop presented by the Blue Flag Initiative at the Downtown Bazaar in Buffalo, July 12, 2024.
The make-or-break threshold with the flags, Watson said, is creating “a true thing,” an authentic expression. One of the messages that stays with Watson came from a city teen at one workshop:
To be safe, she felt she must someday move far away from home – which to Watson turns upside-down the notion of bedrock security every child ought to take for granted, and is something he thinks about when he sees the flags.
Barr, a fellow facilitator, said too many children in Buffalo grow up believing they have little agency with the forces pressing hard against their lives, and that no one cares what they have to say.
Massey's siblings pay tribute to their sister in the simplicity of beautifying their neighborhood.
The flags – at multiple points – are intended to visibly prove the opposite. An ongoing chain of families throughout Buffalo was directly touched by the bloodshed on May 14. Thousands of other families have also been scarred by gun violence, Barr said – a truth emphasized in an unbearable way when a 3-year-old was shot and killed last month.
Barr knew Katherine Massey, a legendary activist from Cherry Street who died at Tops – and a woman whose faith and passion seemed to capture the best of Buffalo. Recalling her friend, Barr made a flag to lament so much lost:
“Buffalo gal can’t come out tonight.”
![Blue flag initiative continues to offer emotional processing to community members two years after 5/14](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=150%2C100 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=225%2C150 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=640%2C426 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=990%2C659 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C689 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C799 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C888 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C983 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a5/6a5bf3da-4099-11ef-81ea-c76b0d3925d1/6691a64109ace.image.jpg?resize=1764%2C1175 2008w)
A’nia Jackson, right, and Avery Williams count the syllables in a working haiku as they create designs for cyanotype flags during a workshop presented by the Blue Flag Initiative at the Downtown Bazaar in Buffalo, July 12, 2024.
Jackson, the NEA chair, quietly sat with the students during the workshop. In May, she visited Uvalde in Texas, a community staggered by a mass murder in school. The NEA also supported a project there, and the message she offered on her flag in Buffalo reflected what she hopes the arts can say, against despair:
“Do you see me here / There is an invincible soul here / strong and true.”
A few seats away, A’nia Jackson, 15, a student at City Honors, tried to boil the great worries of her life into a few words, followed by the only response she can envision to such a litany of violence:
“Again and again, overcoming tragedy, continue the fight!”
![Blue flag initiative continues to offer emotional processing to community members two years after 5/14](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=150%2C100 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=225%2C150 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=640%2C426 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=990%2C659 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C689 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C799 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C888 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C983 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/8b/88b962fe-4099-11ef-8c4e-23f59fbe8b7c/6691a673eff6a.image.jpg?resize=1764%2C1175 2008w)
Ja’Chai Hogue, 6, laughs as Brendan Bannon lifts him into the air during a workshop presented by the Blue Flag Initiative at the Downtown Bazaar in Buffalo, July 12, 2024.
Odyssey project provided photographic training and a canvas for almost 40 combat veterans, with the goal of using art to build a bridge, said photojournalist Brendan
Ada Hopson-Clemons and her daughter, Janine Webb – a longtime educator at School 92 – embraced roles months ago as “blues” facilitators. To Hopson-Clemons, who brought her 6-year-old great-grandson Ja’Chai to many forums, the flags manifest a dream of “new life and awareness in the city,” the idea that such aching emotion might bring down barriers afflicting this place all for too long.
Amid all these little flags rippling above city streets, she often thinks of one particular message. Her great-grandson made a flag that reads, “The sun is shining for Ja’Chai,” which to Hopson-Clemons summarizes the expectation of love, warmth and safety, for every child.
It is her prayer for Buffalo, lifted now into the wind.
![Blue flag initiative continues to offer emotional processing to community members two years after 5/14](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=150%2C100 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=225%2C150 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=640%2C426 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=990%2C659 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C689 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C799 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C888 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C983 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/3d/93d681b2-4099-11ef-8d5e-ebedbf45e129/6691a686998fd.image.jpg?resize=1764%2C1175 2008w)
Facilitator Kaitlyn Lowe displays a cyanotype created to process emotions stirred by the white supremacist attack at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue on May 14, 2022, during a workshop presented by the Blue Flag Initiative at the Downtown Bazaar in Buffalo, July 12, 2024.