After Buffalo's mass shooting — and its grief — these gardens defy white supremacy
Democrat & Chronicle
By Christopher Maag
BUFFALO — Oh, there is ugliness on Box Avenue. This cannot be denied. On Box Avenue, boys fire machine guns at other boys. Men race four-wheelers in the too-tall grass. An empty house on Box Avenue, useless to the world, becomes to drug dealers a place of endless utility, its porch a stage for all-day parties, its weeds a place to stash heroin and hide stolen cars.
One dealer was found dead in the fire pit behind an abandoned house on Box Avenue. Her remains had been divided into trash bags. The bags were laid separately upon the fire.
The crime happened down the block from Samantha White, who lives with her husband and daughter in one of the last occupied homes on Box Avenue. The terribleness of the crime changed her. She walked into her garage. She poured gasoline into the tank of her black riding mower. She hit the starter, and drove the machine bouncing down Box Avenue’s uneven asphalt. She mowed every abandoned lot on her block.