We continue the series on walking Buffalo, from the intrepid couple who walked every day—no matter the weather—in the first 30 months of Covid. They think (without being systematic) they walked every street in Buffalo, and many in other cities and towns, taking some 20,000 photos, some of which are shared in this series. While not itineraries, we hope to encourage others to “walk the walk,” to see, observe and appreciate Buffalo—and beyond. William Graebner and Dianne Bennett are also 5 Cent Cine’s film critics, here.
Today’s Photo-Essay: Remembering 9/11
It’s been over two decades since that horrific September 11th of 2001, when the twin towers of the World Trade Center came down in fire and smoke, killing thousands and ushering in contemporary America. One imagines that the walls of Buffalo, like those of every other city, were soon covered with representations of the towers, as well as signs of the patriotism that was an inevitable consequence of that moment in history.
Little remains of the on-the-street memorials to 9/11. In all our treks, we’ve come across only 4 such efforts, all on Buffalo’s East Side. They’re not without interest. Here’s what we found.
One of the memorials can be found under a bridge over the Kensington Expressway (between Peach and Grape), linking the Fruit Belt with the Willert Park neighborhood of the near East Side. As one approaches the bridge from Peach Street, the 9/11 iconography appears on the structure’s support column.
Approaching the bridge over the 33, from Peach Street
One side of the column features the twin towers, super-imposed on an American flag, and above, the word “NEVER.” On the left, the words FRUIT BELT, and on the right, “WEED-N-SEED,” a reference to a city program designed to reduce inner-city gun violence, dating to 1997. “Yo! Buffalo” has the ring of boosterism, but it is the branded name of a U.S. Department of Labor workforce development program (Youth Opportunity Program of Buffalo), created in 2000.
On the other side of the column, a solitary figure—apparently a Black man—with an abbreviated American flag on his back and a headband reading “New York,” faces away, looking at the towers, here rendered in simple outline. These two photos were taken in December 2020.
Less than a mile to the south and east, across the Expressway, is a second memorial, painted on the two sides of a handball court in Johnson Park (between Sherman Street on the east and Johnson Street on the west and south of Genesee). On the north side of the court, the twin towers are again set against the American flag, with the words NEVER FORGET above and below. This drawing has been damaged by graffiti and tagging, but it’s still there.
So, too, is the painting on the other side. Here, the words “Yo! Buffalo” and “Weed & Seed” suggest that this drawing may be by the same group as one of those on the Peach Street/Kensington bridge. The flag is Puerto Rican. These photos were taken in March 2021.
This one escaped our attention until we looked at the larger photo closely, and for another purpose. IAF refers to the International Firefighters Association. MOCHA refers to an Engine 23 organization, Members of Color Helping All.
We’ve saved the most complex and artful rendering for last. It’s not far away, at 582 Sycamore, once the home of S & G Mini Mart, with its “Full Line of Groceries” (the letters refer to the cross streets, Sycamore and Gray). During the 2022 East Side Garden Walk, an across-the-street resident estimated that the business had been closed for a decade.
The 9/11 painting is still remarkably intact, and rich with detail. Though 9/11 replaces the stars on the flag, the twin towers are less prominent here, appearing above the words “BE IT KNOWN (NY?) WE WILL NEVER FORGET.” The background features a Buffalo, with a NY lettering design on its side and, to the right, the Statue of Liberty. The muscular, thin-waisted figure, who appears to be Black, is not any clearly identifiable superhero. Among the comic book icons with a star on the chest are Captain America and Falcon (a Black superhero), though their costumes differ from the one in the painting. At the bottom, what looks like a single, long-stemmed rose.
It’s likely that the four memorials were created in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. That they remain, mostly intact, is testimony to the continuing power of the tragic events of that day.
Also see:
How to Take a Walk—in Buffalo, and Beyond (2nd in the Series)
How to Take a Walk—in Buffalo, and Beyond
©William Graebner