The People of Buffalo Remember Those Lost in the Buffalo Blizzard of 2022
On December 9, 2023, Our City Buffalo, a non profit organization dedicated to building a more just and equitable Buffalo through championing a policy platform that addresses our city’s most pressing issues, including affordable housing, public education, transportation, policing and impacts of climate change, hosted the 5th Annual Anti-Displacement Summit. Our City Buffalo set out to educate, inspire, collaborate, build community, and promote awareness about a wide array of community issues with the support of Coop Buffalo, Justice for Migrant Families, Cornell ILR Buffalo, New York Civil Liberties Union, CEJ Buffalo, BPTO, PUSH Buffalo, Frontline Arts Buffalo, and Partnership for the Public Good. The Anti Displacement Summit featured 11 workshops and finished with a community discussion about the traumatizing Buffalo Blizzard of 2022.
One major theme brought up at many workshops and the discussion was the collective trauma that has facest the citizens of Buffalo throughout its history and the importance of holding space to talk about collective trauma, pay tribute and promote social justice against similar events happening in the future. Citizens have been waiting all year for a memorial to remember those who died during the worst blizzard Buffalo has ever experienced. Instead of waiting for the one year anniversary, the people organized their own memorial instead of waiting for officials like Mayor Byron Brown or Erie County Executive Mark Polocarz to pay any tribute to our fellow community members and share their snow plans to ensure events like this would never happen again.
Attendees of the Anti-Displacement Summit closed the event by silently walking across downtown to Niagara Square holding the names of those who died in the blizzard. More than 47 people who died in the blizzard, many remain unknown. Those who participated in the memorial carried signs with the names of those who died during the blizzard.
The blizzard disproportionately killed people of color, including members of refugee and immigrant communities. Many people froze to death in their cars like Polish immigrant, Stasia Syta. Her daughter resiliently spoke in sorrow and frustration with the city of Buffalo for not expressing their failures during the storm or plans for mitigating tragedies like this in the future. Her tragic story is shared on WGRZ’s report from the Memorial walk.
To make it clear that the people will not be forgotten, attendees placed their signs with the names of those who died on Buffalo's majestic city hall steps. As Buffalo endures their first storms of the season, they continuously remember those who lost and think of ways they can ensure this never happens again to our people.
Photos by Patrick Sone Lin Htoo @patrick_htoo.
