Buffalo is known as the City of Good Neighbors. And in recent years, the City of Buffalo has become known for its renaissance. Its resurgence. Yet, news articles and reports continue to focus on Buffalo’s extreme wealth gaps and segregation. Across the country, we are given the label of being one of the most segregated cities in the country. So, are we really good neighbors?

I would like to live in a world where this reality is actively shifting. Where this narrative is actively changing. Where we, as a community, are part of that change. As a community organizer, artist Saira Siddiqui intimately works with maps that tell neighborhood stories. This project intends to flip the idea of ‘crime dots’ to ‘peace dots,’ capturing moments of peace, random acts of kindness and thoughtful gestures seen around Buffalo and beyond. So, I ask you, my fellow Buffalonians: How do we identify ourselves as a community?

If we continually share that we are a city of crime and racism, perhaps that narrative will continue to live on. But I believe we have a choice. A choice to shift our mindset and focus on the future we want. And by doing so, we manifest it. Let’s show that we are not subject to live within the walls these reports continually box us into. Buffalo is known as the City of Good Neighbors. Let’s prove it.