Breaking News

Black Lives Matter Peaceful Demonstration and Vigil

Editor’s Note – This song was featured on CBC’s Morning North this morning, and I felt that it fit this perfectly. The law of change says that “History repeats itself until we learn the lessons that we need to change our path.” My family lived in Detroit through the riots of July 1967 & April 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The continuing police brutality, economic hardship and residential/racial inequity & segregation led to our moving to Wawa in 1973. But the police brutality, economic hardship and residential/racial inequity & segregation has continued throughout Canada, USA, and the world. I watch the news now and worry – surely like my parents did, but there is a different feel now, maybe, finally there is change coming. Let’s make it so.

————————————————————————

As concerned community members in Wawa, Ontario, we acknowledge and share in the outrage of the police brutality that resulted in George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. Minnesota. We recognize as well, the systemic racism that continues to impact all Black and Indigenous People and People of Colour in this country.

THIS WILL BE A PEACEFUL AND GUIDELINE RESPECTING PROTEST.

Click for steps to participate safely.

We will meet on Broadway Avenue, between Ganley and Ontario Street, a place to be most visible. We encourage that the attached Algoma Public Health Guidelines be referred to and followed, as any person attending is responsible for their own health and safety! Please bring your own masks, signs, water and adhere to physical distancing while standing on the sidewalks (2m apart) Let your voices be heard, because choosing silence in the face of oppression is choosing to side with the oppressors!

We will observe an 8:46 second silent vigil at 3:30 to honour the life of George Floyd, a 46 year old Black man, who was killed May 25, by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This silence may also represent years of silence and complacency toward the deep seated pain of this country’s’ Black, Indigenous and POC population.

To all BIPOC coming to this demonstration, we encourage you to contact us. Please let Mary Harbocian, Dawn Charbonneau or Allison Rousseau know if you have a story or an experience that you would like to share. We will ensure that you have time and a platform to speak freely, and that your voice is heard. If you cannot attend and would like to share distantly, we can do this on your behalf, crediting your name if you so choose.

We stand with you!

This Media Release
Latest posts by This Media Release (see all)