Tuesday, March 12, 2019

WNY Peace Center riding the wave of march


          
Women's March participants at City Hall
 The Western New York Peace Center is still riding the #WomensWave from its third annual Buffalo Women’s March held on March 10.
            The center will hold the Women’s March Forum and Discussion from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., March 13 at the Frank E. Merriweather Library on 1324 Jefferson Ave. to discuss the outcome of the march and how the community can proceed to promote change.
            Victoria Ross, executive director of the Western New York Peace Center, was pleased with Sunday’s gathering.
            “I feel like the turnout was good when you think about just how terrible the weather was,” she said. “I think we had about 500 people.”
            The center, 1272 Delaware Ave., was founded in 1967 and has advocated for various social justice causes, including gender equality, human rights and environmentalism.
            The organization’s experience with underrepresented populations on the West Side, including immigrants, refugees, and lower-class families, allows the center to identify and advocate for marginalized groups regionwide.
             “We’re mostly in Buffalo and, more than anything, on the West Side,” she said, “but we feel it’s about gathering everyone together and working together and uniting the struggles.”
            Ross explained that the center aims to create a support network, and events like the march are necessary to highlight challenges endured by different populations within society.
            “There are all kinds of forms of oppression, so we still have a lot of work to do,” she said. “We still have a long way to go to get full rights.” By I’Jaz Eberhardt and Dylan Sleight