A press conference at Province House in downtown Halifax served as a reminder that the clock is ticking for Abdoul Abdi. Abdi is a Somali refugee who came to Nova Scotia when only six years old. As a teenager he got involved in crime, and as a consequence of these youthful mistakes he is now facing deportation. Nova Scotia shares much of the blame, a closer look reveals.
Community activist Tina Roberts-Jeffers on the Glaze Report and what it teaches us about the nature of anti-Black racism. “Anti-Black racism asks you to simply avert your eyes in this moment. Let us be clear however, at least today, when we ask ourselves: “why does anti-Black racism persist?” A decision like the one to legislate away the only non-partisan independent locally elected representation accountable to the people every four years is as clear an example of the “systems” part of systemic anti-Black racism, as any other.”
Pamela Lovelace writes on the elimination of school boards. “The long, sordid history of racism and sexism in Nova Scotia continues to simmer with this oppressive decision. Women and African Nova Scotians will no longer have a seat at the local decision-making table.”
Suzy Hansen, District 5 representative on the Halifax Regional School Board, speaks at today’s Province House rally about the lack of consultation with the Black community, and the loss of important African Nova Scotian voices, while the government pursues the Glaze Report recommendations. “It’s challenging enough for African Nova Scotians to run for politics, the obliteration of an entire level of electoral representation without consultation with the communities they serve demonstrates the government no longer wants their voices included in discussions about them.”
Delilah Saunders writes about the pain and emotional labour involved in speaking in public about her murdered sister Loretta and other missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. “My problem lies with the for-profit multi-billion-dollar industries/universities that penny pinch when a speaker provides expertise when their pricey textbooks fail to do so.”
Judy Haiven looks at the similarities between the Gerald Stanley and Raymond Cormier trials. “In each case, a white middle-aged man thinks nothing of ‘getting rid’ of his “problem” by committing a crime. Both victims were poor and Indigenous, from First Nations’ reserves. If an Indigenous person is murdered, it seems the benefit of the doubt goes to the white guy.”
Thursday is Shades of Green day, but Shades of Green has a case of laryngitis and needs to rest her voice this week. There will be no new podcast episode until next week. Fortunately, CBC’s The Current has just released a special edition from a town hall exploring anti-black racism in Nova Scotia, including environmental racism, gentrification, and violence against women.
I went home mad after listening to Black Lucasville and Upper Hammonds Plains residents talk about racist police behaviour in my neck of the woods. Shame on the politicians who feign surprise and can’t come up with anything better than an analysis that will go on forever.
Gottingen Street, one of Halifax main thoroughfares, used to extend into the far North End. But in 1981 Halifax Council voted that the northern segment of Gottingen Street, beyond the Young Street intersection, now be called Novalea Drive. The reasons behind that decision were tainted by racism and prejudice, and a survey of residents’ opinions conducted by the City purposely excluded most residents who lived along the street. Maybe it’s time to make things right again.
Episode 3 of Sadie Beaton’s wonderful Shades of Green podcast focuses on the work of the Alton Gas water protectors. “Join us at the Treaty Camp to get a taste of what it’s like on the front lines of a movement that is so much bigger than stopping a single project. Let’s listen and reflect on what what stopping a natural gas storage project has to do with Indigenous self-determination, how the Peace and Friendship treaties might help us understand how to build just relationships with the land and each other, and what it means to be a treaty person.”