“Can We Talk ?”

By Tisha Burgos

I wanted to share the following piece from Dr. Silvia Lloyd’s book:

“Resilience On the East Side”

By Dr. Silvia Lloyd

Dr. Silvia Lloyd

Perhaps the most untold story of all time: resilience on Buffalo’s East side. How do they do it, they wonder? How do they remain dynamic and full of joy?

When city planners abandonment and disinvestment programs proved to be nothing but a cunning ploy, business strategically redirected to more affluent neighbor hoods enacting white flight all because we were misunderstood. But we just continue doing our thing, minding our business up in Cold Springs.

Further down the road, still on the East side, neighbor hoods long abandoned by the weary blue-eyed, my grandfather purchased several properties in the Fruit Belt when success everywhere else was denied. All different classes of the Black community living side by side. Professionals and blue collar workers, all black, all red line. Teachers, lawyers, doctors, and Bethlehem still workers, don’t you be surprised! Oh, we thrived! We owned our own homes, cars, boats, RVs, we were more than satisfied. Church every Sunday. Peeps up and down the block. Neighbors so friendly, they nod and smile every time our eyes would lock. Just a beautiful display of humanity. Because nine times out of 10, they knew your whole fam ily. Yet, every weekday, bright and early, the white faces would drive into our community, and look down on us like we were the enemy.

Dr. Silva Lloyd was at the Merriweather Library within the Dr. Eva Doyle Auditorium on Tuesday, May 14th. This was a Jefferson Strong Brian Clothier Production. I hope you could be a part of it.