By Bennett Collins:
In 2005, Human Rights Watch senior adviser and UB history professor Dr. Alison Des Forges (1942-2009) gave an invaluable commencement speech for the Buffalo State College graduation ceremony. Her words, no doubt coming from her experience as an investigator in Rwanda, resonated with generations of social justice advocates and called for upcoming generations to take their place in society as critical and responsible citizens. She stated:
“We live in a world where there are many good causes for fear. But there are also times when the cause of fear is not so real, and when it has been manipulated. And you will have to judge. You will have to decide. It is a choice you cannot avoid. Because in that kind of situation no choice – not voting, not paying attention, not wanting to learn or to hear – is still a choice, and that puts your power in the hands of someone else, someone you may not agree with.”
In the same year, the city of Cape Town, South Africa opened ‘Nobel Square’ right on its internationally renowned Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. The square originally spawned from the idea to honor South Africa’s four Nobel Peace Prize Laureates: former President Nelson Mandela, former President F.W. de Klerk, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, and the late Nkosi Albert Lutuli.
The design is relatively simple and its surroundings are actually quite similar to the area around the terminus of the Erie Canal at Canalside. Trees and benches line the square to provide a tranquil setting for contemplation and reflection around four bronze larger-than-life statues of South Africa’s finest. The statutes, standing side-by-side (see below) in a slight arc, face away from sea towards the Peace and Democracy Sculpture – a memorial to all the women and children who fought for peace and democracy in South Africa. At night, in-ground lighting allows for evening walkers to continue admiring the four laureates and allows the square to continue to act as a shared space for the city throughout all hours of the day. In creating this space, the city of Cape Town and the Western Cape solidified their support of individuals who spoke out in times of ‘manipulated’ fear and fought for social justice.
While the idea of establishing a larger and more open public square has been floated around Buffalo before, I believe that an open space in tribute to our city’s values, history, and legacy of social justice is more sorely needed. The significance of such a concept is evident in Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool’s speech following the completion of Nobel Square:
“Expressing our cultures and identity as a nation through the arts, is especially important to us…as a tool in building the province as a home for all our people. As we create this place of reflection, we are not only building the home for all in our hearts and minds, but also embracing this concept in our open spaces and public surroundings.
Each Laureate played his own meaningful and different role in achieving peace and democracy, each one at a different time of the struggle, while sometimes uniting their efforts…This tribute must be a symbol that will hold the same significance to future generations. It is the people of the Western Cape’s gift to our nation, continent and world.”
We may know Buffalo as a sports town and architectural mecca, but do we recognize that our city has provided its own contributions to the ‘nation, continent, and the world’? Our past and present as a city is certainly filled with its own tribulations. Nonetheless, Buffalo holds an esteemed legacy of social justice activists from an array of fields, including and certainly not limited to: Monsignor Nelson Baker, humanitarian and who is currently under review for canonization; Mary Burnett Talbert, suffragist and founder of the Niagara Movement; Sister Rosalie Bertell, Roswell Park cancer researcher and environmental activist; Marvin Olper, professor at University of Buffalo and open critic of Japanese internment camps; Sagoyewatha, also known as ‘Red Jacket’, Seneca chief and an advocate for the freedom of belief and religion; William Wells Brown, prominent African-American abolitionist and underground railroad operator; and Alison Des Forges, activist on education reform in Buffalo and world-renowned expert on the 1994-Rwandan Genocide.
On the Nobel Square website, Alfred Nobel’s famous quote rests front and center: ‘It is not sufficient to be worthy of respect in order to be respected’. Though the work involved in the fight for social justice is usually not done for the sake of having a statue of your likeness, a foundation in your name, or winning the Nobel Peace Prize, I want to question the unintended consequences of not honoring those who raised their voices in atmospheres of fear and oppression. Buffalo has a legacy of its own unrecognized laureates who lie dormant, waiting to teach our community and future generations of the greatness that Buffalo has both nurtured and given sanctuary to. Surely without giving proper tribute to those who, in Des Forges’ words, knew ‘when the cause of fear’ was ‘not so real’, we also risk leaving future generations of Buffalonians without knowing and appreciating local voices who choose to speak out in such dark times.
Born and raised in Buffalo, Bennett Collins is a postgraduate student and researcher based at the University of Oxford in the UK