Posts tagged Racism

Serving as president of The Round Table on Black History Month for the past two decades has offered Michael Farkas a privileged vantage point to gauge the relationship between our community and the various levels of government as well as our standing in society. “It’s not very encouraging,” he told the CONTACT in a recent telephone conversation. “At all levels of government we’re seeing a kind of disconnect.” Farkas says he particularly troubled by the on-going position of Premier Francois Legault and his CAQ government on the provincial front. “The fact that the premier wouldn’t even acknowledge systemic racism in …

Rosie Awori (LJI) As she stood on the stage at the Capitol Hill, on Wednesday January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman begun to speak hope to a nation that has been lingering on the edge of despair for much of the past four years. The 23-year-old Los Angeles native spoke the proverbial truth to power with a captivating delivery of her seminal spoken-word piece, “The Hill We Climb,” at the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. With her appearance at the historical event, Gorman was continuing on a tradition celebrated poets such as Robert Frost and Maya …

The Black community knows a thing or two about the anti-racism struggle in Montreal having been on the frontlines over the past several decades. Some will dare say that it’s a struggle that reaches as far back as the early history of this city. But things really started coming to a head in the late 1950s and 60s as the community grew and Montreal became increasingly uncomfortable with its growing Black population. And as more Blacks and other minorities came, evidence of racial discrimination became more pronounced. The expectations has always been that it would be up to city administration …

Some things never change, do they? Or, some things change slowly…but surely, don’t they? Here we are just one month into the new year, and once again we are forced to face denial of what can be termed Canada’s greatest social dilemma of the 21st century, — the issue of race. People with racialized identities and backgrounds face ongoing challenges, both at a personal level and institutional level, and this remains an underlying reality in Canada. Notwithstanding, as discussions about racism and inequality once again rears its ugly head, one cannot help but bring to the fore the 1992 “Egg …

The word ‘anxiety’ has become increasingly popular and is all a-buzz in the media and on social platforms. Ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety is often used to describe the strong emotional distress being felt by so many people of all ages worldwide. Truth is: we all experience symptoms of anxiety at some point in our lifetime. Anxiety impacts the mind, body and one’s emotions and is typically defined as an excessive and persistent amount of worrying that remains even when the source of the stressor is no longer around. For example, let’s say that you went …

Rosie Awori (LJI) There he goes again: Black this, black that. Black, black, black, black… ad infinitum. Sure it may be irritating to some… but being Black is my identity, my daily reality. It’s the first thing that comes to mind just about everyday I awake. And it’s not a burden, but a reason to live… in spite of these COVID-19 times. Once I open my eyes it’s a good thing. I roll out of bed and do my daily spiritual exercise — say a little prayer for being blessed with another day of life — then walk to the …

There he goes again: Black this, black that. Black, black, black, black… ad infinitum. Sure it may be irritating to some… but being Black is my identity, my daily reality. It’s the first thing that comes to mind just about everyday I awake. And it’s not a burden, but a reason to live… in spite of these COVID-19 times. Once I open my eyes it’s a good thing. I roll out of bed and do my daily spiritual exercise — say a little prayer for being blessed with another day of life — then walk to the bath-room to prepare …

Rosie Awori (LJI) This year 2021, will see more than 15 countries across the Africa heading to the polls to elect new leaders. Election seasons in the African continent often see investors withdrawing from their host countries because of the fickle nature of the African polls. Usually, observers from the EU and the United States are dispatched to watch the election and write eye catching headlines on the meek evolution of elections in Africa. This year though, the African continent watched as one Donald Trump singlehandedly regressed “democracy,” in the world’s most “democratic” nation and some nations like Uganda didn’t …

It would be a serious understatement to say 2020 was a year of challenges, especially to those grieving the loss of loved ones to the deadly coronavirus. The old year is past and the new year ushered in. In that span of time, all of us have lost something — some of us have lost everything. None of us will ever be the same. That is the cut that hurts the most. Many have gone from fearing they might never come back to losing hope they ever will. It is a note that we do not want to end the …

Over-riding passion for human rights and Pan-Africanism Egbert Gaye “To tackle issues faced by the global Black/African community, I refer to the quote by Kwame Nkrumah: “The forces that unite us are intrinsic and greater than the superimposed influences that keep us apart….” so it’s important for us to realize that liberating ourselves depends on recognizing, in the words of Dr. King, that ‘we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.’ As a humble student of our wise ancestors, I’m a fervent believer in recognizing …