Hate Crimes against Persons of African Descent are escalating rapidly in Canada and indeed Nova Scotia while authorities are failing to take a strong public stand against these intolerant actions. We ask that you and your colleagues, friends and family make a concerted effort to attend one, two or all three days of the September 2019 trial. If you are unable to be there, you can help in other ways. We encourage you to write letters demanding justice for Nhlanhla to your MLA, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Premier, Prime Minister and share this information to all your networks. Vocalize your support, express how you feel and demand Justice for Nhlanhla Dlamini.

PSA: We are calling on all Youth, African Nova Scotian Communities Members, Social Justice Groups, Activists, Churches, Organizations, 1st Nations, Unions and Allies in Nova Scotia and beyond: We, the Core Group of African Nova Scotians (CGANS) and Allies of New Glasgow and Halifax need your help, support and Activism to bring about change.

I ask why it was journalists who revealed the racist bias of police street checks rather than the Board of Police Commissioners, whose job it is to oversee the Halifax police. Then I speculate on the answer. They’re worried that it will expose how powerless they really are.

“These stories are true.” Brenda Thompson introduces five people who lived between the early 1800s and today. “Their hardships were not their fault, yet they were punished for being different or for merely being poor. When it comes to people in poverty, our minds remain shut. Our attitudes and policies are still stuck in the 1860s, Brenda writes

Brenda’s piece was produced in partnership with the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers, for co-publication in Connections, published three times a year by the College. We really appreciate this wonderful opportunity to promote longer pieces by Nova Scotia authors on topics so dear to our heart.

“Crimes against our youth are unconscionable and hate crimes against African Canadian youth are especially heinous. What happened to Nhlanhla is evidence of this.”

“We ask that you and your colleagues, friends and family make a concerted effort to attend one, two or all three days of the September 2019 trial.”

Angela Bowden remembers growing up Black in rural Nova Scotia, and reflects on the enduring damage done by abusive police practices over the generations. “I vividly recall, as do many of my peer group, police officers slowly driving by us numerous times, following us as we walk, asking us our names, where we are going, where we are coming from, and who our parents were.”

Robert Wright’s full response to the Wortley report, as delivered at this morning’s press conference at the Central library on Spring Garden Road. Robert Wright spoke on behalf of the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition (DPAD), one of the organizations that long ago demanded a moratorium on the racist practice of police street checks.