Doing the Right Thing at the Right Time to the Right People

by Betty Jean Grant

Betty Jean Grant

Courage does not come in a box or bottle nor is it scratched off a lottery ticket. It cannot be traded for a government grant or a patronage job. Buffalo’s Black community will prosper when our elected leaders and self-appointed activists realize this fact and start focusing more on their public advocacy and less on their personal advancement.

This writer is still surprised that none of the elected officials, especially the ones that represent the Eastside, have spoken up in denouncing the cruel and dishonorable move of having OJ Simpson’s name and record being erased from the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame, in the new High Mark Stadium.

Some of the representatives who remained silent remained silent when the NYS Governor Kathy Hochul and the other county and state representatives decided that they were not going to listen to the people who wanted the new High Mark Football Stadium located in Buffalo.

That new stadium in Buffalo would have jumpstarted the effort to revitalize Main Street in Buffalo and all the radial streets like Broadway, Clinton, William and Genesee Streets on the Eastside of Buffalo.

Business owners and residents of the above-named streets would see an increase in car traffic and hopefully, businesses in those areas would be able to generate more customers in their stores, especially in the Broadway, Fillmore, Central Terminal areas.

It seems that every political leader loves the eastside during summer festivals times.

That is where they go if they are not in the churches, wooing the church goers to vote for them. And yet, not one of them defended building the new stadium in Buffalo or leaving OJ Simpson’s name on the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame.

This writer is still soliciting signatures to present to the Bills organi zation. We hope that the thousands of signatures that have been secured will convince Mr. Terry Pegula to do the right thing.