When a white supremacist opened fire at a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York, Sheletta Brundidge began searching for ways to help the community—and the country—heal.
She read a news story about Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire Goodman was injured in the shooting while working at Tops. Everheart put out a call for children’s books that address and combat racism to distribute around Buffalo. Brundidge, a Minnesota-based radio host, Emmy-winning comedian, autism advocate and mom of four, is also a children’s book author. She gathered a collection of her three books (“Daniel Finds His Voice,” “Cameron Goes to School” and “Brandon Spots His Sign”), threw in a bunch of Crown Shepherd’s “Black Boy, Black Boy” and “Black Girl, Black Girl” and shipped more than 1,000 books to Buffalo.
“I want the children in Buffalo to know somebody outside their community cares about them,” Brundidge told me. “That we love them and we value them enough to send them a little piece of us. Every person in that community has been touched by that shooting and I don’t want them to think they are hurting or grieving alone. I want them to know there’s love inside that book from Minnesota.”
