‘People are afraid.’ Buffalo supermarket reopens as fear and trauma still grip community

(CNN) — Garnell Whitfield is still suffering the trauma of losing his mother to racist violence at a Buffalo supermarket.

Whitfield said the mass shootings that followed and Republican lawmakers’ refusal to support stricter gun laws have made it even harder to cope. He also worries many elected officials and religious institutions have remained silent on the impact of White supremacy.

“You go from being sad and missing your loved one to being very angry,” Whitfield said. “It’s a lot to take in to know that other people are going through the same thing. It’s a lot to know that people are sitting in places of authority and basically giving the green light to this nonsense.”

On Friday, Tops Friendly Markets will reopen the doors of its Buffalo store two months after Whitfield’s 86-year-old mother Ruth E. Whitfield and nine others were killed when a White supremacist opened fire there. The supermarket has undergone a complete renovation, with additional safety and security measures in place, as well as the creation of a memorial for the shooting victims inside the store, Tops Friendly Markets said in a news release.

New security measures in the supermarket include enhanced video monitoring systems, an emergency evacuation audio/visual alarm system, the installation of additional emergency exits and increased professional security both in and outside of the store.

Community members say that while the Tops store is sorely needed in the neighborhood, many Buffalo residents are still traumatized by the massacre. Family members and survivors are still grieving. Residents are fearful of another attack. And there is still an uneasiness when neighbors see a White person walking through their majority Black neighborhood of Masten Park.

Local activists said they don’t expect many people will shop at the store in the first few weeks of it reopening but they hope that apprehension doesn’t last. The east side neighborhood is a food desert and residents fought hard to get a grocery store before Tops opened in 2003.

“I think there will be people who don’t want to go there and will never go there again,” said Garnell Whitfield, who is the former Buffalo fire commissioner. “But convenience and necessity take over and that store will be a viable part of that community.”

A dedication ceremony for the store’s reopening was held Thursday afternoon and included a community prayer and a moment of silence for the shooting victims.

“This is the day where we declare that hate did not win, that hate was defeated, that hate has no place in East Buffalo or Buffalo or in the great state of New York, and that this community … drove out the darkness,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said. “It is a bright day in Buffalo and I want the residents to know that everything is going to be all right.”

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said the outpouring of support for the store’s reopening is “proof positive that love beats hate.”

“We will take this place of tragedy and in the days, the weeks, the months, the years to come, it will be a national and worldwide example of a place of triumph,” Brown said.