Savannah Thomas: “As I sat around the table listening to my Black friends talk about the importance of Emancipation Day, I couldn’t help but feel ignorant. Embarrassment flooded over me when I realized that as a Black woman I had no idea what this day meant and why it was so important to our community.”
Wellness Within: An Organization for Health & Justice applauds the state of Minnesota for passing the Healthy Start Act, which will give incarcerated people who are pregnant the option of receiving pre- and post-natal care and giving birth in community settings. They will no longer be separated from their newborns shortly after birth. We urge Nova Scotia to implement a similar policy.
Ross Gray, a Black Halifax man has no doubt in his mind that racial profiling was a factor when late last week security personnel falsely and condescendingly accused him of illegally riding his bike on the pedestrian lane of the Angus L MacDonald Bridge connecting Halifax and Dartmouth.
Raymond Sheppard: White politicians vying for political office will do the bare minimum to secure African people’s votes, and after an election they hardly ever keep their word on anything.
Dr. Ingrid Waldron and Dr. Juliet Daniel on a new research project to determine whether there is a link between relatively high rates of cancer among members of Shelburne’s Black community and the nearby dump, and how it will pave the way for further studies on the relationship between environmental racism and chronic diseases.
Raymond Sheppard: Whereas all North American governments and others profited of the enslavement of the African, reparations to the descendants of those forced into slavery should be a no brainer.
“Horror sits comfortably beside me.”One of the NS Advocate’s favourite poets, Chad Norman reflects on Canada Day and the horror of Canada’s residential schools.
Wayne Desmond on how the Town of New Glasgow changed the name of a street to commemorate his great-great grandfather. “It’s truly an honour to stand on the shoulders of the elders in my family. To think about the hardships that they had to face while growing up, working and raising their families as Black people. It’s a true blessing to be able to preserve the rich history and legacy that my maternal family had started. It is because of their hard work, sacrifices and resilience that I am who I am. “
Lily Barraclough speaks with fellow activists about the mess we’re in, what Covid taught us about a just recovery and how to leverage the upcoming provincial election. “the pandemic has created an opening for massive systemic change,” she writes.
Angela Bowden: “Hearing happy associated with somebody’s perpetrator of their genocide and trauma does not go well together. And, at this stage in the game, with racial tensions and hate crimes at an escalating high in Canada and indeed the world, hearing happy Canada Day can be significantly triggering for those being abused by Canada and all of its systems!”