Resistance and Resurgence: Confronting Anti-Black Racism in Canada

You may also watch this video on Facebook. We ask that you share this video with your non-Black friends and family and let them know what you think of it.

As we witness many people in the US protest police violence that claimed George Floyd’s life, we need to also interrogate our own history of violence against Black people here in Canada. After all, how different are we from the US when the Canadian police killed 17 Black people in the past seven years alone? People in Canada forget that white supremacy has thrived and existed in this country long before the country has even formed, which affects the lives of Black people who live here today. It’s time to turn inwards and shed a light on anti-Blackness in Canada.

There has been a hatred against Black people from the very beginning. The overt and covert racism in the US provide cover for Canadians to not examine their own anti-Blackness.

Feminists Deliver is honoured to host Resistance and Resurgence: Confronting Anti-Black Racism in Canada.

We will have the following Black people join us:

The panelists joining will be expending their labour, energy, and time, and in so many ways, attendees will never come close to understanding the pain, trauma and survival of Black people. Feminists Deliver is committed to amplifying and not silencing Black voices, and this discussion is long overdue.

This conversation will be centering Black voices. We ask non-Black people to witness and decentre themselves, and not comment or ask questions. Please do your own work outside of this discussion.

When you get a ticket, we ask that you make a donation and financial gifts to support  Black people in your community (an individual or an organization), protest, or bail funds. Thanks to Central City Foundation, we are able to now offer webinar seats to 3,000 people.

We invite you to do your homework. Here are a few to start with:

• Dr. Yvonne Brown’s book: Dead Woman Pickney: A Memoir of Childhood in Jamaica
• Dr. Yvonne Brown’s thesis: Bodies, memories, and empire: life stories about growing up in Jamaica 1943-1965
• Dr. Yvonne Brown: Ghosts in the Canadian Multicultural Machine A Tale of the Absent Presence of Black People
• Dr. Yvonne Brown: Non-Fiction on African Canadians 
• Cicely Blain’s book: Burning Sugar 
• Battered Women’s Support Services: Black Women in Canada and the Black Women’s Program at Battered Women’s Support Services
• Stratagem Virtual: 10 Habits of Someone Who Doesn’t Know They’re Anti-Black (Make sure to buy a ticket to Stratagem Virtual)
• COOP Radio: Interview: Udokam Iroegbu, Angela-Marie MacDougall and Lama Mugabo
• CBC The Early Edition: June Francis of the Hogan’s Alley Society, and Christopher Parker Washington political science profession respond to the unrest this past weekend
• CTV Power Play: Anti-Black racism in Canada with Robyn Maynard and Sandy Hudson
• CBC On The Coast – Artist Naomi Grace (Buy from Naomi’s Melanin Rising Apparel and listen to the playlist, “VanCity Black“
• CTV: Canadians should not be blind to racism in our own country, SFU prof says
• CBC: Markiel Simpson of the BC Community Alliance, and Hogan’s Alley Society co-chair June Francis discuss anti-police brutality protests after the deaths of George Floyd and Regis Korchinski-Paquet. (see: 24:54)
• The Lynda Steele Show: Vancouver’s rich Black history with Amir Ali and Professor June Francis 
• CBC News at 6 (see 39:06) : https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1745209923579
• Vancouver Sun: Poll: British Columbians say systemic racism an issue for police and employers
• Xtra: I dreamt of a march for Black queer liberation  

Please donate to the following:

• Hogan’s Alley Society 
• Black in BC Community Support Fund for COVID-19 
• Black Lives Matter Vancouver
• Black Women’s Program at Battered Women’s Support Services
• The Black Mental Health Matters Fund (Toronto)
• Eritrean-Ethiopian COVID Solidarity Fund (Toronto)
• Justice for Regis
• Toronto Protester Bail Fund (they are redirecting funds to Justice for Regis)
• Vancouver Black Therapy & Advocacy Fund
• Black Business and Professional Association

Please continue to show support and stay connected with our panelists:

• Angela Marie MacDougall (she/her): Twitter | Instagram
• Yvonne Brown (she/her): You may send a note to Dr. Brown through us at hello@feministsdeliver.com
• Cicely Blain (they/them): Instagram – Cicely Blain Consulting | Instagram – Stratagem Virtual
• Denise Goldberg (she/her): Twitter | Instagram | PayPal | E-transfer
• June Francis (she/her): LinkedIn – Co-Laboratorio Project | Twitter – Hogan’s Alley Society
• Junie Désil (she/her): Twitter | Facebook
• Natasha Tony (she/her): Twitter | Instagram

This upcoming event may also interest you: 

• July 1 – 31: Stratagem Virtual – Stratagem Virtual is an online conference and digital resource hub for diversity and inclusion engagement. In a time of social distancing, Stratagem Virtual uses timely and meaningful diversity and inclusion content to build community connection from a distance. This is the space to delve deeply into topics like identity, culture, resistance, healing, and allyship within a moving and honest context. This online conference includes What Does Decolonization Mean to Me?, and Unlearning Anti-Blackness. Register now.