A rally in support of Black Lives Matter on Friday afternoon drew more than 100 supporters – and lots of honks from passing vehicles.
New West residents Stanley and Cynthia Edom, who came to Canada as refugees from Nigeria in 2015, organized Friday’s rally at the Sixth Avenue entrance to Moody Park, with assistance from friends David Black, Maya Russell and Ruby Campbell. Stanley Edom, the lone speaker at the rally, said the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis on May 25, has given people the opportunity to speak out and to make their voices heard on issues like police brutality and racism.
“Today, I am very, very excited that I am able to stand before you guys and also to shout ‘black lives matter’ and see that people are hearing me and also listening to me,” he said. “That is positive.”
Edom said he hasn’t had any negative encounters with police in Canada, but he hasexperienced racism. Herelated a story where he was travelling on a bus in New West during a busy time of day and people kept boarding, looking at him and choosing to stand rather than take the empty seat next to him.
“No one wanted to sit around me,” he said.
Getting off the bus, Edom checked to see if he smelled.
“The smell is in my colour, not my body,” he said.
Edom, a father of four, said his son had a good friend he played with at school, but when they passed each other on the street one day, his friend ignored him. At school, where the two continued to play together, Edom’s son asked his friend why he’d ignored him when out walking with his parents.
“Because my parents don’t like you; they don’t like black guys,” Edom said of the response his son received. “He came back home and talked to me. I knew how he felt when that happened. That is the kind of racism that is going on.”
Edom said Black people have experienced a lot of racism, and now is the time for change. He believes people are “meant to live together” and people are starting to understand that “all lives matter” – no matter their race.
“We have to start from where we are,” he said. “We have to start by talking to our children about how we see people of colour.
Hearing people shouting Black lives matter gives Edom hope that “change is on the way” for Black people. At the rally, he led the crowd in chants of Black lives matter – as well as all lives matter.
The chants of all lives matter, however, raised concern among some community members.
“On my block right now are a majority of white people who are ‘performance protesting,’ without BLM call to actions,” tweeted New West resident @Amina/is/buggin’/out/. “This was organized with non-Black names on the event page. Now I have to endure hearing from my window ‘all lives matter’ in between BLM. This isn’t ok! #NewWest.”
In a follow-up interview with the Record, Edom explained he didn’t intend to be negative or controversial, only inclusive, when he said all lives matter, as he believes the lives of Black and Indigenous people matter as much as everyone else.
Because the Edoms aren’t on Facebook, where the event was advertised, Stanley said some New West friends from New West helped get the word out and organize the event. While the event wasn’t affiliated with any other group or organization, Edom told the Record he’s since been contacted by a Black Lives Matter group and may collaborate with the group on a future event.
Among the crowd at the June 12 rally were Trish Lim-O’Donnell and husband Merrill O’Donnell, who wanted to show their support for Black people everywhere and opposition to the “inhumane” treatment seen by people, including George Floyd.
“We were glad to hear there was a demonstration in the community,” O’Donnell said. “We are here to show our support.”
New West resident Bradley Hughes said he heard about the rally on Facebook and decided to attend to show his support for Black Lives Matter and for all the innocent Indigenous and Black victims of police brutality across Canada and the U.S.
An American woman from San Francisco, who has called New West home for three years, attended with her Canadian husband, saying they wanted to support the Black Lives Matter movement and the fight for racial and social equity.
“Racism is a bit different in Canada,” said the woman, who declined to give her name to the Record. “One thing that I have seen consistently is inequities, the structural inequities for Black folks, Indigenous folks, people of colour, trans folks, disabled folks. The structural inequalities are baked into Canadian society as well, not just in the U.S.”
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy said it’s important that people are willing to acknowledge that systemic racism exists and to work to be anti-racist.
“When the March on Washington happened with Martin Luther King, it was really a big deal that 10% of the crowd was white. It was really a big deal that some of the freedom riders were white. But now we are not seeing that kind of tiny percentage, we are seeing people in the millions, the tens of millions, saying ‘I want to be a good ally and I am going to be involved this time,’” he said. “That is a pretty fundamental shift that gives me a lot of hope.”
