UNITY RALLY
Civil rights leaders ready to resume anti-racist
boycott
By Beverly
Hiestand
Cheektowaga, N.Y.
"We called for this boycott to raise awareness of the
racism and racial profiling going on at this Galleria Mall,"
the Rev. Darius Pridgen told the crowd at a Unity Rally here
on April 28.
Pridgen and others recently formed the Coalition Against
Racial Injustice to denounce a widespread pattern of racist
profiling and police brutality in Cheektowaga, N.Y., a
virtually all-white town adjacent to Buffalo.
The Walden Galleria Mall, the largest in Western New York,
has been cited as one of the worst offenders by targeting
Black shoppers for surveillance and harassment.
As a result, the coalition called for an April boycott of
the Galleria Mall and held weekly pickets here. The coalition
has made four demands: that officials send a clear message of
non-toleration of racial profiling and discrimination; that
they schedule public hearings on racial profiling and
discrimination; that they add people of color to the
all-white town police force; and that mall owners meet with
coalition leaders.
Under the weight of the boycott, town officials met with
coalition leaders on April 18.
Pridgen told those gathered at the April 28 rally that
Pyramid Corporation, owners of the mall, agreed to meet with
the coalition in Syracuse on May 3.
Pridgen vowed, "If we don't hear what we need, we will
continue to boycott until there is a change at the
Galleria."
The Rev. William Gillison, a coalition leader, told the
rally that there is growing support for the boycott by people
outside the African American community. He reported many
meetings with representatives of white and Latino churches in
which they asked how they could be of help.
The Stop Racist Profiling Committee of the International
Action Center in Buffalo made two 20-foot banners announcing
the Unity Rally. Together with other anti-racist supporters
they hung them from overpasses above the downtown Buffalo
expressway during morning rush hour.
And on March 31, a predominantly white group of some two
dozen protesters marched through the Galleria Mall in a bold
action against racist profiling. They chanted, "Jim Crow must
go, from Cheektowaga to Buffalo!"
The anxiety of mall owners over the effectiveness of the
boycott was evident today. Construction is underway to put a
sidewalk in front of the mall.
In previous rallies Pridgen had pointed out that the
mega-store owners were not interested in shoppers who arrive
by bus, many of whom are African American, and so there was
no sidewalk.
Pridgen and others have pointed out how difficult it is
for pedestrians to cross Walden Avenue.
No one here will forget that in December 1995 Cynthia
Wiggins--a young Black mother--was on a bus from Buffalo that
wasn't allowed to stop on mall property. She was killed
trying to cross seven lanes of highway traffic on Walden
Avenue to get to her job at the mall.
Lawyers for her estate argued that the bus was barred from
stopping at the mall to discourage inner-city Buffalo
residents from shopping there. Pyramid Corp. settled the suit
for $2.55 million in November 1999.
Her father, Leonard Wiggins, said at the April 28 rally,
"The racist attitude has not changed. Maybe a protest like
this will get them to change. It's not just about Cynthia
Wiggins, it's about all of us."
On this day, for the first time, police were present to
escort people across the dangerous highway.
Pridgen stressed that if town officials and mall owners
are seriously committed to diversity and are sorry for
Cynthia Wiggins' death, then they can show it by renaming the
avenue "Cynthia Wiggins Drive."
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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