Buffalo mayor says shooting victim Kat Massey was 'a constant presence in our community'
At the funeral of Kat Massey, one of the 10 people killed in what authorities say was a racially motivated mass shooting on May 14, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown called Massey “a queen mother of this community.” Brown said she was a leader who led “with warmth and intelligence and the power of her pen.”
Video Transcript
BYRON BROWN: Kat Massey was a strong, proud, Black woman. She was proficient in her history and her culture and a lover of all people. Kat Massey was a constant presence in our community. She was a warm and welcoming spirit and had a beautiful and brilliant smile that could light up the atmosphere, cut through every conflict, and warm your heart.
We all should have the kind of energy and stamina that Kat Massey had. Any meeting to improve and uplift the community to make Cherry Street, to make the fruit belt, to make the East Side, to make Buffalo a better place, Kat Massey was there. She was called the mayor of Cherry Street.
But more than that, she was like a governor. And more than that, she was a Queen Mother of this community. She was a leader leading with warmth and intelligence and the power of her pen. We listened to her. We loved her. And we will miss her.
