PRESS RELEASE: Solidarity Halifax and Ujamaa condemn racism in our community

PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Solidarity Halifax and Ujamaa will be holding an anti-racism caravan this Saturday, October 19th departing at 2:30pm from Gouthro’s No Frills, 118 Wyse Rd, Dartmouth.

There can be no tolerance of acts motivated by racism such as that perpetrated against Garnetta Cromwell on October 7th, or those perpetrated earlier at Leon’s furniture store in Dartmouth. We make reference here to the painting of the word “Nigger” on Mrs Cromwell’s car, of the lynching of a Black effigy in Leon’s Dartmouth furniture store earlier this summer, and of the multiple reported acts of racial discrimination toward Black employees at the same Leon’s location over the last five years.

For those of us of European descent, horror and disgust can be our only responses to these acts of appalling bigotry. And these responses must be loud and clear.

Racism is a White problem. It is a problem of ongoing individual and systemic discrimination over hundreds of years in this province, and it is not going away.

Communities whose well-being has historically been undermined due to racial prejudice continue to face economic and political barriers that prevent social stability and prosperity. Governments at every level have not made sufficient attempts to undo the damage of centuries of imposed segregation, and employers at major retail stores avoid responsibility for acts of discrimination and hate-based threats in their workplaces in order to avoid loss of profit.

Racism is a White problem, because along with the disadvantage of a particular group or community comes the advantage, or privilege, of another. That is, if Black Nova Scotians have suffered, and continue to suffer, from systemic racism and exploitation, then White Nova Scotians have benefited, and continue to benefit, from that same racism and exploitation.

The onus for confronting racism is therefore on those of us finding ourselves in a position of privilege.

For these reasons, Solidarity Halifax will be leading an anti-racism caravan, where allies along with members of the African Nova Scotian community will express their solidarity with Mrs. Cromwell and denounce racism in our city.

WHERE: Departure from Gouthro’s No Frills, 118 Wyse Rd, Dartmouth.
WHEN: Saturday, October 19th at 2:30 p.m.