~ Special to The Bedford Citizen
More than two dozen people gathered for Friday evening’s candlelight vigil organized by Side with Black Lives Bedford in solidarity with those impacted by the Buffalo shooting.
Residents of all ages, some of whom were from Buffalo or otherwise had strong connections to the Buffalo area, gathered along the Great Road with signs and candles, then formed a circle in front of First Parish.
Organizers led the group in saying the names of the 11 Black people who were shot, and read New Day’s Lyric, a 2021 poem by Amanda Gorman. Read Gorman’s poem on Poetry.com.
The group stood in silence as the First Parish bell tolled once for each of the 11 victims.
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I’m glad this vigil happened, Buffalo’s Black community needs & deserves so much support in this unbelievably painful time.
I wonder if anyone at the vigil was able to say a prayer for or mention the Taiwanese community of Laguna Hills? They lived through a hate-fueled mass shooting (6 shot, 1 killed) the day after Buffalo. Maybe the vigil organizers didn’t hear about that?
So many are hurting right now, and scared, even more so after the horrific Texas school shooting yesterday. None of us like to think about these heinous acts, but Bedford has a big enough heart to hold candles for and say the names of all victims of mass shootings in this country. They were all terrorized and taken from us too soon.