Monthly Archives: February 2021

In the 1870s, the colonizing American government rounded up Indians and put them in boarding schools and forced them to learn English. The American government knew one thing: If you take away a persons language, you take away their culture and their soul. Its the first and most important step of colonization and a necessary type of violent oppression. If you want to subdue people and landscapes and cultures, you must first describe and define them in the words of the oppressor and colonizer and teach them to use those words.

Environmentalists are losing the water wars because they have had their language stolen they are taught to use the language of their oppressor, and they often repeat that story, and thereby oppression, constantly in their communications.

My first exposure to this problem was more than a decade ago when I was in a meeting with the head of a government organization that wanted (and actually still wants) to build a dam on the Cache la Poudre River in northern Colorado. I was complaining that the river was already being drained by dams and diversions, and he replied to me and said that what was actually happening was that senior water-rights holders had swept the river.

My jaw dropped.

They werent farmers or cities, which are actual people who are harming the river they were senior water-rights holders. They werent draining the river. They had swept it, as if the complete draining and destruction of the river made it cleaner.

And finally, it wasnt even a river. It was just water.

Over the years I collected these words, metaphors and euphemisms because theyre repeated by the water agencies and establishment I call them water buffaloes and often by the environmental groups that work hand-in-hand with them. Here are just ten examples of a whole institutionalized and legalized system of linguistic and cultural oppression describing river destruction:

If you are a professional environmentalist and trained in water law or hydrology, youre taught this language in college and law school. At work, you repeat it day after day in meetings, phone calls and emails. The water buffaloes like this because you use their language, and they invite you to their meetings and give you a seat at the table. At best, the language sanitizes the destruction of living rivers and entire nonhuman life forms. At worst, the language solidifies the systemic, institutionalized oppression of living rivers and the people who protect them, thereby stealing your culture and your values.

When Aldo Leopold paddled through the 2-million-acre wetland of the Colorado River Delta in 1922, he said the river was everywhere and nowhere and described it as a milk and honey wilderness full of hundreds of lagoons containing deer, quail, raccoon, bobcat, jaguar and vast flocks of waterfowl. Now the Colorado River Delta is almost 100 percent drained, and the small effort to restore it is often described with bland scientific terminology. The tiny amount of water that the United States and Mexico are allowing to be pumped into the restoration zones is measured in acre-feet.

Language is a tool of political manipulation when you use and repeat your opponents language, you solidify their status and your own oppression.

Consider this mumbo-jumbo that you hear when talking to water agencies: When a water right is in priority, you perfect it by sweeping the river so that excess supplies are held in storage for consumptive use.

What really happened? They dammed, drained and destroyed a river, which is a living, breathing life force the veins of the planet providing survival to a vast array of nonhuman creatures that have entire cultures and languages of their own.

If they steal your language, they steal your soul. Dont let them.

Gary Wockner

Gary Wockner, PhD, is a scientist and conservationist based in Colorado. Follow him on Twitter, @GaryWockner. Learn more at savethecolorado.org

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OPINION: The Words That Kill Rivers - Pagosa Daily Post

Steve Brawner| Fort Smith Times Record

How should schools teach about history? And who should decide? The answer to the second question helps determine the answer to the first.

Arkansas state legislators are confronted with both with two bills by Rep. Mark Lowery (R-Maumelle).

House Bill 1218 would prohibit public school districts and state-supported colleges and universities from teaching material that:

Promotes overthrowing the government

Promotes division between, resentment of, or social justice for a race, gender, political affiliation, social class or particular class of people

Advocates the isolation of a group of students based on ethnicity, race, religion, gender or social class

Violates federal civil rights laws

Negatively targets specific nationalities or countries

Schools that violate these terms could lose 10% of state foundation funding.

The bill wouldnt prohibit discussing controversial aspects of history and wouldnt outlaw discussing the Holocaust,genocide,historical oppression of people based on ethnicity, race or class,or African-American history. It also wouldnt prohibit students from participating in voluntary activities.

Lowery is also sponsoring House Bill 1231, which would prohibit the use of public school funds to teach the 1619 Project, which is a curriculum developed by the New York Times that teaches that 1619, when slaves were first brought here, is Americas true founding date rather than the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

The 1619 Project elicits strong reactions from people. Supporters say it explains slaverys importance as an economic and political institution. Opponents say it inaccurately devalues the nations more noble, high-minded principles.

The bills have not yet been heard in committee.

Heres the thing about laws: They ultimately put the lawyers in charge, which makes everyone hesitant to do anything and turns us all into i-dotters and t-crossers. School districts would have to decide what promotes division and then theyd have to be really careful about teaching anything. If they cant negatively target a nationality or country, then what could they say about Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Chinaor Iran?

The second half of the bill tries to foresee its own potential problems by listing what schools can teach, but then it becomes self-contradictory. Schools could teach about oppression based on race but couldnt promote social justice for a race? Thats a minefield. It lists exceptions to its own prohibitions, but what does it leave out unless controversial aspects of history covers everything? Ultimately, lawyers would decide.

The 1874 Arkansas Constitution makes the state ultimately responsible for maintaining a general, suitable and efficient system of free public schools, even as schools were locally run back then. In recent years, the courts have interpreted the phrase to give the state an increasing role in public education, particularly regarding funding. Meanwhile, historical events have moved power from the schoolhouse to capitols, and not always for bad reasons. If President Eisenhower had to send troops to Little Rock in 1957 to end school segregation and protect those students from the mob, so be it.

But turning schools into arms of the state and federal governments also has a downside in a diverse, divided country. There are real differences between red states and blue states, and there are differences between parts of Arkansas. Mountain View is different from Malvern, which is different from Helena-West Helena. 48 languages are spoken in the homes of students in the Springdale School District, the states largest with large populations of Hispanic and Marshallese students.

The truth is the truth, but certain approaches to history will work better in one school than they will in another. People who live in different places and have different experiences will see history differently. Communities will have different expectations. Whats divisive in one district, or classroom, would be merely controversial in another.

Force can resolve differences, and sometimes thats necessary, as it was in 1957. But we should be hesitant to use force, which is what a law is. We can also try persuasion. The other choice is accepting that differences will occur, often even celebrating that fact, and trusting schools and teachers to make these decisions.

So we return to our first two questions. How should schools teach about history? And who should decide? Well see what answers come from the Capitol in the coming days.

Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevebrawner.

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How should history be taught, and who should decide? - Times Record

Hitting out at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday announced that it will drag the Prime Minister's government to court over "targeted" demolition drive against its party leaders. A press conference by PML-N leaders Khawaja Saad Rafique, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and Ataullah Tarar in Lahore on Sunday protestedthe Punjab government's recent actions, in particular, therazing of the Khokhar brothers' residence by the Lahore Development Authority over what the government has characterized as "illegal occupation of government land".

READ |Osama Bin Laden Supported & Used To Finance Nawaz Sharif: Ex-Pakistan Envoy & Minister

While stating that the "lists were being prepared" and the government was "targeting" the party's leaders in particular and adding their names to those that must be probed for corruption, PML-N's Khawaja Saad Rafique said that this idea of corruption will no longer sell. "Whoever commits acts of oppression will meet a befitting fate," he added. Alleging that Imran Khan-led government wishes to eradicate all its opponents, he said that PML-N members have vowed that they will "never be eliminated".

READ |'Devoid Of Humanity': Maryam Nawaz Attacks Imran Khan For Calling Hazaras 'blackmailers'

Rafique said that with by-polls around the corner, the government is "trying to scare the Opposition" and strong action must be taken against the District Superintendent of Police under whose watch the operation took place. He also gave the example of the office of an "approved scheme" in Sialkot that was demolished to scare the Opposition.

Former speaker of the National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq,said that Transparency International, to whom the prime minister would often refer to when speaking of his political opponents, has now found Pakistan to be suffering from the "worst corruption" in the current government's tenure. Meanwhile, Ataullah Tarar, for his part, announced that the party will approach the court against the government's actions.

READ |'You'll Be Surprised': Maryam Nawaz Claims Imran Khan Govt 'begging' Opposition For Talks

Earlier on January 26, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz claimed that the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khans government is begging its opposition for a dialogue. However, Nawaz said that the opposition has decided not to indulge in any talks with the Khan-led government and even labelled them incompetent.

While attending a joint meeting of the partys parliamentary groups in the National Assembly and Senate on Tuesday, PML-N vice president reportedly said that the opposition would submit its resignations from the assemblies at an appropriate time and with a consensus within the 10-party Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

READ |'Pakistan A Country, Not A Phone That You'll Reboot It': Imran Khan Slammed Over Blackout

(With ANI inputs)

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PML-N threatens to drag PM Imran Khans govt to court over targeted demolition drive - Republic World

All City of Winnipeg employees, including elected officials and the mayor himself, will take part in anti-racism, anti-oppression and cultural competency training in the coming weeks.

The training follows a number of allegations of racism in the last year alone, interim chief administrative officer Mike Ruta said in apress conference on Wednesday, although he didn't providespecific numbers or refer to specific incidents.

There have been previous complaints of racism and sexism at some city fire halls, and accusations of racial profilingand random checkstopsby Winnipeg police.

"We remain committed to moving forward and improving the workplace for our employees and to foster community trust with the people we serve," Ruta said at a news conference Wednesday.

"We know this will require a tremendous amount of focus and patience, but we know we cannot stand still on this issue."

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said the training is part of making municipal government a more welcoming place to work, and that it's mandatory for everyone, including elected officials.

"We all have something we can learn through anti-oppression training," he said.

City employees and elected officials have taken part in mandatory reconciliation training in the past. Bowman says there's council has a human rights committeeas well.

Even so, the mayor said systemic racism is ingrained in all levels of government, including at Winnipeg city hall.

"As elected officials, I think it's incredibly important to acknowledgethat systemic racism exists at all levels of government, in every department in those governments," he said.

"It's a journey.... Itwill take time tobuild this culture in our organization."

The city doesn't yet have a plan for how to addressongoing allegations of racism, Ruta said.

"We're taking instruction from our consultants and developing a program for all our employees."

Ruta said anyone found to be "intentionally targeting" someonebased on characteristics like race, gender identity and sexual orientation will be punished.

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All City of Winnipeg staff to take anti-racism training after allegations of discrimination - CBC.ca

Throughout history, ethnic stereotypes have been used to justify mass violence, exclusion, oppression, and inequality in many corners of the world. In times of violent upheaval and conflict, ethnic narratives often come to the fore. This is true even when the origin and the stakes have little to do with ethnicity. This colours peoples understanding of the conflicts stakes and fault-lines.

In such moments, people may start to think of conflicts in ethnic terms. They may begin to attribute certain cultural, or genetic, characteristics of their adversaries as the cause for conflict. A perceived ethnic adversary may be regarded as violent, aggressive, greedy, "savage, rebellious, restless, backwards, undemocratic or cunning. This makes it easier to cast them as a threat to ones own ethnic community.

Such stereotypes are not simply created on the spot by opportunistic leaders. Rather, they should be understood as identity categories embedded in societys power structures,discourses, and, more broadly, in peoples ways of thinking and feeling. In brief, across the world people are socialised into thinking, feeling and acting as members of an ethnic community, or group.

Because ideas of ethnic territories are a major source of political friction and persecution in the world, its important to investigate how they are created and used in conflicts.

In a recent article, I dissected how ethnic territories have been imagined and constructed historically, and how they have been used in political struggles for power and resources in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Formerly known as Zaire, DRC is the second largest country in Africa and home to 90 million people. A sizeable part of its rural population is administered under no less than 250 traditional chiefdoms. These are ruled by customary chiefs, who are recognised by the government and who apply both modern and customary laws. In addition to chiefdoms, there are myriad smaller customary units such as groupings and villages.

The focus of my study is the area directly west of Lake Kivu, known as Kalehe Territory, which has been the scene of violent conflict for more than two decades. The main conclusion I draw is that the ideas of ethnic territories used by actors in struggles over power and resources in DRC have their roots in the way in which the territory was run under Belgian colonial rule.

This matters today because ethnicity still plays an important role in politics and violent conflicts in eastern DRC. Evoking ethnic narratives remains an effective strategy of mobilisation because of entrenched mutual distrust and prevailing fear. This is especially so in areas marked by persistent violent conflict such as Kalehe and Uvira further south.

Read more: Why history matters in understanding conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

A key component of how DRC and other territories across Sub-Saharan Africa were run was the creation of chefferies or chiefdoms.

Chiefdoms were envisioned as mutually exclusive ethnically discrete territories ruled by a single customary chief governing through customary law. The colonial authorities used them to rule indigenous people indirectly as tribes or races, in their natural environment, and through their own customs and political institutions.

Across the world colonial regimes created ethnic territories. By creating ethnic territories they sought to balance demands for profit and self-financing with objectives of maintaining order, managing dispossession, and upholding racial boundaries and hierarchies.

Hundreds of chiefdoms were created in DRC. The object was to ensure that order could be maintained at the same time as the indigenous populations were turned into productive and taxable subjects. Customary chiefs with extensive powers became particularly important intermediaries. They were framed as the embodiment of traditional indigenous political institutions despite the enormous diversity of these.

However, the indigenous political units were not the pliable natural units imagined by the colonisers. Rather, they were complex polities populated by people with diverging interests and complex external relations. In eastern DRC, local leaders such as the Bashi chief Kabare and the Banyungu prince Njiko mounted rebellions against the colonial authorities. As a result, violent repression became a common theme.

Over time, the territorial model fragmented. As a result, the creation of ethnic territories became a dynamic process where boundaries were determined by political struggles. Violence, and the threat of violence, played a big role.

At the same time, theories of racial superiority of mixed biblical and scientific vintage were harnessed to authorise colonial decisions to create ethnic territories and impose paramount chiefs on previously independent polities.

I focused on the creation of Buhavu chiefdom in the 1920s. It was made up of several hitherto independent indigenous polities. This brought together culturally diverse populations into a single chiefdom under the rule of the Bahavu chief.

But several indigenous leaders and groups refused to recognise colonial overrule. These included rival Bahavu chiefs and leaders of the people collectively known as the Batembo. The Batembo lived in small independent communities on the eastern edge of the Congo River Basin. Among the Batembo, authority was dispersed among several clans and groups. This meant that the idea of a mono-ethnic territory ruled by a single chief was significantly at odds with the existing political culture.

These communities and their leaders were forced into submission through severe repression, making the creation of the Buhavu chiefdom a violent act of exclusion and inclusion.

Its creation violated the areas existing cultural diversity and political institutions. It also silenced subaltern and rebellious voices, and concentrated authority in the hands of indigenous royal lites willing to collaborate with the colonial authorities.

Independence from Belgium in 1960 created opportunities for a new set of Congolese actors to shape politics. In Buhavu chiefdom, a group of leaders, claiming to represent the Batembo ethnic group, demanded the right to territorial self-rule. They justified this demand on grounds that it was an economically sustainable and culturally homogeneous area. As such, they argued, it deserved to be recognised as a self-governing entity.

During the Congo Wars, the first in the mid-1990s and the second between 1998-2003 the struggle to create a Batembo territory became engulfed in the larger dynamics of regional war. Batembo leaders mobilised a powerful militia, which fought alongside Congolese government troops against Rwandan army units and their Congolese allies. This they justified on the grounds that DRC was threatened by a plan to forge a Tutsi-Hima empire in Central Africa sanctioned by the major western powers. Their new-found military strength also inspired Batembo leaders to push for the creation of their own ethnic territory called Bunyakiri.

But the politics that emerged after the second Congo War did not play out in their favour. Their soldiers either demobilised or became integrated in the Congolese army. And the groups leaders were sidelined or outmanoeuvred once they entered the arena of national politics. Today, Batembo leaders still clamour for the creation of an independent chiefdom.

The numerous conflicts in eastern DRC cannot be ascribed to ancient hatreds between ethnic communities. There are many different causes of the complex conflicts in eastern DRC. Nevertheless, the idea of discrete and mutually exclusive ethnic territories do play an important role in these conflicts.

This idea was introduced and institutionalised by the colonial administration, and, in fact, violated the existing political institutions and cultural diversity of eastern DRC. Hence, colonial ways of administering indigenous populations has played an important role in sowing the seeds of ethnic tensions in the present.

It seems logical, therefore, that a reconciliation process in eastern Congo should entail a reckoning with colonial ways of thinking about ethnic territories. This will not be an easy task given the vested interests in the status quo. On the one hand, customary chiefs and political and military leaders derive much of their power from the idea of ethnic territories. For many ordinary Congolese, on the other hand, chiefdoms provide both customary land rights and political inclusion since belonging to a chiefdom is a prerequisite for citizenship.

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How DRC's colonial legacy forged a nexus between ethnicity, territory and conflict - The Conversation CA

IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan from the AGMUT cadre, who came into the limelight after resigning in 2019 over the restrictions in Kashmir has said that to protest against state all one need is conscience.

The officer had resigned in August 2019 when the central government abrogated article-370 and placed unprecedented restrictions in Kashmir.

He had been serving as the secretary of the power, urban development, and town and country planning departments of the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

Back then, while speaking to The Hindu, Gopinathan who joined the service in 2012, had said that he has taken the decision because he wants his freedom of expression back.

Over the past few days, I have been really perturbed by what is happening in the country, wherein a large section of our population have had their fundamental rights suspended. There has been a lack of response to it. We seem to be perfectly fine with it. I also see in some small ways how I am also a part of it. I think if I had a newspaper, the only thing I would be printing on the front page would be 19 on the front page, because today is the nineteenth day, he had said pointing to the 19th day of the communication blockade imposed in the valley.

On Monday, Gopinathan said that he had been asked multiple times as to why he had resigned despite not being a Kashmiri. Taking to his twitter handle, Gopinathan said, You are not a Kashmiri, then why resign? A question I was repeatedly asked. Well, one is not a Muslim, not a Sikh, not a farmer, not a student, not a journalist either. You dont have to be one to recognize & protest state oppression. All you need is a conscience. Arise.

We have always come to you for help: The Kashmir Walla is battling at multiple fronts and if you dont act now, it would be too late. 2020 was a year like no other and we walked into it already battered. The freedom of the press in Kashmir was touching new lows as the entire population was gradually coming out of one of the longest communication blackouts in the world.

We are not a big organization. A few thousand rupees from each one of you would make a huge difference.

The Kashmir Walla plans to extensively and honestly cover break, report, and analyze everything that matters to you. You can help us.

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"All you need is a conscience": IAS officer who quit over "state oppression" in Kashmir - The Kashmir Walla

Trigger warning: Rape, murder and violence.

What is it like to be a woman in Indian society? Well, in my experience, it is a struggle because, on daily basis, I come across heinous crimes that take place towards other women, children and men. Rape and violence towards women, children and oppressed sections have become a toxic culture in India. Our society has normalised this unsafe environment. This goes on to the extent of accepting rape jokes, casual sexism, acceptance of toxic masculinity, victim-blaming, and violent acts against women.

The Nirbhaya case was still fresh in our memories when India witnessed another heinous crime that took place in Hathras and Kathua.

The alleged gang-rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman by four Thakur men was a shock to the whole nation. A woman said caste-based sexual atrocities were common in the village.We dont let our daughters walk around alone, said a Dalit woman. Normally, the Thakurs dont even touch us, she said, referring to the age-old practice of untouchability, but to rape, they take our daughters, the woman mentioned.

The caste skew that drives this caste-based sexual violence against Dalit women is not a new culture in several parts of India.

The caste-based hierarchy system in India in many ways contributes to this culture where individuals belonging to the deprived section of the society face caste-based sexual violence as an act of oppression. In detailed interviews with rape survivors and Dalit activists across five western, central and eastern districts of the Uttar Pradesh-Hathras, Shravasti, Unnao, Jaunpur and Lucknow. It was also found that state-wide public programmes to ensure the safety and rights of women-projects, shelters, helplines-have become defunct over the last few years, neglected, drained of funds or simply shut down.

Acts such as stalking, molestation, sending unsolicited photographs of genitalia contribute to the degradation of woman. Such acts are normalised by the society by sayings like Most women at some point in their life become a victim of such acts.

Looking at this through the lens of intersectionality we can say that gender-based violence is as an instrument of oppression or a means of teaching a lesson.

However, this is not a lone incident that has shaken up the country. Several incidences like Nirbhaya rape case (2012), Unnao rape case (2017), Kathua rape case (2018) and the Hyderabad rape-murder case (2019) expose the grim reality of bestial sexual crimes against women in the country. A survey by the Thomas Reuters Foundation in 2018 ranked India as the most dangerous country for women.

In the Annual Crime in India Report 2019 published by the National Crimes Records Bureau, crime against Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribe has been recorded an increase of over 7% and 26% respectively in the year 2019. Crime against women hs steadily been rising over the years. The NCRB 2019 states that 4 lakh crime-based cases were reported against women which means 88 rape cases per day. Experts say this is nearly just 10% of the crime and violence women experience. Many of the worse cases go totally unreported.

In the Kathua rape case, where a nomadic minor 8-year girl was kidnapped on January 10, 2018, and allegedly gang-raped in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district after being kept sedated for four days. Her mutilated body was found in a forest on January 17. The question here is what did a little girl do to deserve this level of torture? Or what did any individual do, to go through such violence and humiliation? These cases of child and women abuse are gross and traumatic and literally show that even in this new era women, children and oppressed are not at all safe and are prone to such outrageous acts.

This breach of bodily dignity and violence creates a long-lasting phycological and physical impact on the survivors which cannot and should not be neglected by the justice system and society. Such grievous violence must be handled on a quick, efficient and professional basis with empathy to provide justice to the aggrieved.

When talking about this caste-based issue, I really cannot forget to mention the Payal Tadvi and Rohit Vemula case which depicts the deeply rooted casteist society that we live in which is being represented by leaders, a few of who still live in another era and fail to understand the energy and ambitions of the youth. A major section of youth demands human rights and dignity and want to feel accepted.

The system of oppression continues to fail the deprived class repeatedly. The poverty rate in India is 21.9% which is grossly understated. Among the lower castes, 81% of the STs, 66% of the SCs, and 58% of the OBCs live under the poverty line. On the other hand,the poverty level among the rest of the population is 33%. The lack of representation and lack of important resources such as education, food security and health care, continues to increase the gap between the privileged and the deprived.

A voice of a Dalit and Adivasi is usually silenced over savarnas in each and every field including governance, justice or this so-called progressive society!

Talking about justice, most often in caste-based violence, the system completely chooses to ignore the caste angle or sometimes even the bodily violence itself.

In most cases, blame-shifting is also seen as in Dr Tadvis case her capacity to deal with academic pressure was questioned. The lawyers then promptly moved ahead to argue that her unstable mental health and the alleged marital discord were the real cause for her death. This despite the colleges anti-ragging committee finding evidence that Tadvi was subjected to extreme harassment by three defendants.

Well, we as humans ignore that caste-based discrimination is very much a thing and it can completely affect a persons self-worth. Sheetal Kamble, a PhD scholar from Mumbais Tata Institute of Social Sciences, mentions the case of Khairlanji massacre. A woman, her college-going daughter and three sons were publicly tortured and murder. The media, and the caste society, assassinated the character of the women. Whether the deceased woman had a romantic relationship outside her marriage or not was the primary focus of every discussion. The perpetrators and the police leaked baseless stories about their faulty characters and the media readily lapped it up, Kamble points out. The focus, she says, was shifted from the criminals to the characters of the victims.

In India, there are no laws made towards hate crimes in general but there we do have Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities Act).Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for past so many years have been humiliated and have faced crime violence by the upper caste, and this represents an extreme form of prejudice and discrimination.

Across the world, we find upper caste individuals humiliating another individual based on caste identity in the form of rape, abuse by police personnel, harassment, illegal land encroachments, forced evictions and so on. After the Nirbhaya case, the government may have taken measures but no increase has been seen in conviction rates. As the NCRB data of 2018 shows, only 25.5% of cases end in conviction.

Human Rights Watch reported that Dalit women exist at the lowest end of genders class, caste hierarchies, and therefore upper caste men have used sexual violence as a tool against Dalit women as a means to inflict political lessons and crush dissent and labour movements within Dalit communities.

I can say that we as a society, have failed to address this issue, we have failed to provide women, children and the deprived section of a safe environment and fair justice. We as a society forget to unlearn toxic things which are passed down through generations.

When we look into empowerment, especially of Dalit-Advisai females, the historical experiences of Dalit communities particularly in the context of education are based on deprivation and oppression. They were traditionally denied access to learning due to their so-called polluted and lowest status in the Indian caste system. Education is an important input for human resources development and it plays a key role in empowering women in general and Dalit women in particular. It is a very powerful instrument for the emancipation of Dalit women. It not only improves prospects for economic development but also promotes self-confidence and helps in capacity building to meet the challenges that the changing socio-economic scenario poses.

The education of Dalit girls is a serious issue as they are often doubly disadvantaged, due to both their social status and their gender.

Gender equity is a major concern, as the drop-out rate is higher among them at the elementary level. Dalit girls are particularly disadvantaged because family and social roles often do not prioritise their education. Early marriage and poverty lead to large scale drop-out in the 5-10-year-old and 16-20-year-old age groups, interrupting the completion of girls education. However, this is not the only reason that Dalit girls drop-out.

Memories of humiliation can also play an important role in the decision to leave, albeit a less visible one (National Commission on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 1998). There is also a feeling that reservation of seats and preferential treatment benefit Dalit students, but the empirical reality is quite different. It has been seen in various studies that there is a minimum enrolment of Dalit girls. This lack of empowerment through education and basic rights deprives the Dalit-Adivasi females to live a life that they deserve and also makes them prone to caste-based violence.

In most caste-based crimes, we see failures in the filing, investigating, and pursual of cases that empowers potential perpetrators by signalling that crime against lower castes will go unpunished. It further disempowers marginalized communities by eroding their trust in the legal system. Moreover, a regular occurrence of such crimes may lead to secondary victimization i.e., it creates a sense of vulnerability and anxiety not just for the victim but also for the wider community.

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When Violence Is Used To Teach A Lesson: A Day In The Life Of A Dalit-Adivasi Woman - Youth Ki Awaaz

by Allegra Chen-Carrel|February 2, 2021

According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, is one of only five countries in the world free from both domestic and international conflict. The Sustaining Peace Project at Columbia Universitys Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity has been learning from people in sustainably peaceful societies, such as Mauritius, in order to refine its model of lasting peace. One core factor in influencing peaceful dynamics that has emerged is the way that history is told and remembered.

In October 2020, Mauritius launched an Intercontinental Slavery Museum with a temporary exhibition, Breaking the Silence, at the site of the future museum. In the Q&A below, we ask Jimmy Harmon, a member of the museums board of directors, about this museum and how it may contribute to peace.

Harmon is an independent researcher in the Centre for Research on Slavery and Indentured Labour at the University of Mauritius, and is the deputy director at the Diocesan Service of Catholic Education. Previously, he was the director of the Nelson Mandela Centre for African & Kreol Culture, and he also worked as a part-time researcher with the Truth and Justice Commission.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Dr. Jimmy Harmon with childrens drawings from an activity to mark the opening of the exhibition. The activity asked elementary students from Notre Dame de Lourdes Roman Catholic School to imagine a day in the life of a child during slavery.

Can you briefly describe the impetus behind the creation of an Intercontinental Slavery Museum in Mauritius? What do you hope the museum will help achieve?

The Intercontinental Slavery Museum is one of the major recommendations of the Truth and Justice Commission of Mauritius, which in 2009 set up public platforms to investigate the legacy of slavery and indentured labor from colonial days to date. It was the first truth commission in the world to specifically be about slavery. The main issues which were investigated were land, race discourse, the impact of slavery in terms of socio-economic development, and it also investigated indentured labor which came after the abolition of slavery. The commission came up with a report in 2011 with 290 recommendations, and one was to set up a slavery museum in the capital city of Port Louis to be something visible which acknowledges the contributions of slaves in the development of the country.

Port Louis was a hub during the slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries, a stop-over from when slaves were taken from Africa or from India. We are calling it an Intercontinental Slavery Museum, because we are focusing not only on Mauritius, but are showing the links between the different continents, and how Mauritius was a stop-over for slave traders to then go to the United States. There is a lot of documentation on the transatlantic slave trade, but the Indian Ocean slave trade is quite a recent research area, so this shows the importance of the Intercontinental Slavery Museum.

In 2011, the idea of a museum on slavery was approved by the government, but from 2011-2020, it took a lot of time because there were lots of obstacles, a lot of resistance. There was opposition to the museum itself, but the main opposition that I felt was around the site. At one point in time, there was an unofficial suggestion that at that site, there should be a museum on human beings, a Muse De Lhomme, and then at the back, there would be a room for slavery. I rejected that. No, we are not going to dilute. Were going to talk about slavery.

This museum is to be located at a place that was used as a hospital for sailors and slaves during the French colonization. We are calling it a site of conscience. We had to look for a place highly symbolic it is not just a place to display artifacts, it is a site of memory. When you come here, you feel something. You visit the museum, and then when you leave, you say no more.

Mauritius ranks very highly on several global indices of peace. How does the legacy of slavery impact Mauritius today? Does this complicate the notion of Mauritius as a peaceful multicultural society? If so, how?

The legacy of slavery still impacts today. It is not clear cut, rather it is enmeshed, it is embedded. Maybe one visible element is ethnic politics, and this is not only in Mauritius, it is like most postcolonial societies. The paradox is that we Mauritians live together, we are good neighbors, but we dont do more than that. And when it comes to politics, when it comes to access to resources, its on an ethnic basis, what we call here communalism.

I think how this is linked to slavery is that even when slaves were brought here, the slaves were divided into two types of slaves those who worked as domestic servants in homes, and those working in the field. And with time you had an evolution, those slaves who were working as domestic servants, some had the chance to get some slave owners who had some kind of humanity, who helped them to read and write, and it is from that group that we see some social mobility. But those who moved up the social ladder would look down upon slaves in the sugar plantation. Right at the beginning, there was that division.

Later, the Indian immigrants came to replace the slaves. And in fact, there has always been a not a competition, but its you know, you were working, and then you were replaced by somebody else. This is in the psyche of Mauritians. And when the indentured laborers came to work, they were paid less than slaves would have been paid. Because when the British came and abolished slavery, the slaves had to be paid, and what a slave owner would have had to pay to a former slave would cost him more than what he would have to pay to an indentured laborer. So its more or less like the current situation today where you have immigrants coming to your country who will work for less than the locals. So, this is how things developed between these two communities over the years, over centuries. When indentured laborers came, there was a drastic change in the population profiles. Suddenly the slaves who were the majority became a minority. And with time, when we got independence, power was transferred to the Indians.

So today in Mauritius, we have two big communities: descendants whose ancestors were enslaved, the Creole community, and on the other hand you have descendants of Indian immigrants who now have political power. And in fact both have been victims of the system. But its a question of getting access to resources, who controls. This new power relationship is underpinned by the legacy of slavery. And this is another main avenue the museum would explore, to work towards a common identity. I think when people learn how slavery and indentured labor was, well be able to really work together.

Some research suggests that the ways in which history is remembered and accounted for can be critical to bringing about and maintaining peace. How might recognizing the legacy of slavery in Mauritius contribute to sustaining peace?

Very true. In fact, I wrote a paper: Re-membering the Past, Educating for Present and Building our Future. In postcolonial studies, especially from the Caribbean countries, Derek Walcott and others use this term re-membering. When I see the museum, I see history, and its an opportunity to bring together all the dismembered elements of society. So this new museum will be a re-membering of a population.

Then second is education. The museum should not be a dead museum, it should be a living museum. One objective is to work on curriculum development, educating about the past. In Mauritius, in your fifth year of secondary education, you sit for the Cambridge Certificate. Out of 17,592 candidates, only 48 sit for history of Mauritius. This gives an indication of how we have educated Mauritians with masters and doctorates, but when it comes to our history, there are very few. We study the history of Mauritius at school, but not really as a subject. One reason for that is it has always been very difficult to elaborate a national curriculum for history because there are so many contested memories. History has always been told in terms of communities. You know only the history of your community, but you dont know the richness of others. It has not been told in terms of a shared history. I think we have to move forward, we have to go beyond that to have a shared history.

So for me, this re-membering is critical, bringing together the different members through education is critical, and then we have to build on hybridity. By hybridity I mean, even myself I will not venture that I am from one origin only, probably I might also have ancestors who have been slaveholders, or ancestors who have come from India. For the time being, Ive defined myself as a Creole, putting more emphasis on that African and European heritage, but I know that I am a hybrid, you know, coming from a mixture. I think all Mauritians, if we had to do a DNA test, we will discover surprisingly that we cant claim to be from only one origin. So I think the role of the new museum is to bring this out, each member of the population has different elements.

But at the same time, I have a note of caution because I see a tension coming. I can hear some people saying now, You know the museum is not for Creoles only, its a museum for all Mauritians. Im okay with that. Yes, its a museum for all Mauritians, but we must not forget that the main raison detre of that museum came from a Truth and Justice Commission, which said that for cultural reparations to the Creole community, its important that we showcase the history and the contributions of that community. Yes, its for all Mauritians, but at the same time, you should not dispossess the Creoles. Now we are valorizing that history and culture.

What are your hopes for the future regarding how Mauritius can address the lingering consequences of slavery and colonization?

My hope is that one day in 20 years, anybody who comes to the museum, especially Mauritians, will see the history of our country. And not only of our country, but because it is intercontinental, that we belong also to this region, and we are connected, and we have a common destiny in terms of humanity. And my hope is that this triggers a deep reflection in people that we have to stand up against all injustices, against all forms of oppression, from whatever quarters it comes. And for me, the most oppressed, those who have suffered the most injustices, are the Creoles. Im not fighting because we are Creoles, Im fighting because we are victims of injustices, and I would like that one day, whatever situation may happen in the future, we have people engaging themselves for those who are being dispossessed. I think this is the lesson future generations should learn.

Allegra Chen-Carrelis the program manager for the Sustaining Peace Project at Columbia Universitys Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity.

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How the Intercontinental Slavery Museum in Mauritius Promotes Peace and Justice - State of the Planet

The summer of 2020 jolted America out of a complacent slumber. George Floyd didnt walk into a Minneapolis convenience store foreseeing his death, but his lynching reminded many Americans of the precarity of Black life when confronted with maximum-force policing. It only took a 911 call over Floyds alleged counterfeit $20 bill to seal his death by Minneapolis police.

Grotesque public killings like Floyds disturb the conscience of many. But for Black people, theyre also routine reminders of what often happens when they encounter police: harassment, or worse, death.

2020 saw newfound enthusiasm for mutual aid networks and community-based public safety systems amid the twin threats of the pandemic and law enforcement. But communities adversely impacted by American institutions have used this model for years, with an awareness that working together better ensures their survival. Existing systems will not meet their needs; instead, they often create and exacerbate them.

Police are more likely to shoot and kill unarmed Black men presenting signs of mental illness, compared to white men showing similar behavior, according to a UC Berkeley School of Public Health study. (2020 provided a harrowing example upstate in Rochester, where Daniel Purdue died by asphyxiation in late March after police pressed his head and naked body into the ground. The 41-year-old was suffering a mental breakdown intensified by drug abuse. Purdues brother had made the 911 call.)

Six years ago, the litany of police killings catalyzed Vanessa Green and other Black Lives Matter Hudson Valley organizers to brainstorm ways to reduce Black peoples contact with the police. What if they were their own first responders? We asked, what would a hotline for Black people look like? Green says. What would it look like for us to respond in our own community that we know and love?

Green and other organizers began by tackling mental health crises in the Black community, starting a rapid response team to mitigate such deaths in their neighborhoods. We knew that if you called the police on somebody in a mental health crisis and theyre Black, they could die, says Green.

At first they focused on Newburgh, where 24.5 percent of residents are Black. Green and others shed trained in crisis intervention made house calls to de-escalate situations.

Sometimes they got callers from outside the city and state. When they couldnt make those housecalls, theyd steer callers to other resources. But it soon became clear that they should nationalize their work. In 2016, they shifted gears, retiring their in-person response initiative to focus solely on phone calls and texts nationally. Thats when they became Call BlackLine, a 24/7 hotline that helps BIPOC navigate the struggles, abuse, and harassment they face in America.

Call BlackLine is part crisis line, part warmline. While some callers need immediate counseling, others just need a friendly ear to share day-to-day highs and lows. Still others might need emotional support in their distress or may be on the brink of crisis.

The organization answered 1,016 calls between January and August last year, ranging from Black students facing racism at school to people living with schizophrenia searching for a daily constant in their lives. Green says more people are calling about COVID-related stressors amid the pandemic. Ive got moms with kids at home who just need to talk to anybody because theyve been isolated, she says.

January was another recent major flashpoint for the hotline, after Congress certified Joe Bidens election victory and a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol. All day the phones ringing off the hook, Green says.

Through an LGBTQ+ Black femme lens, the hotline embraces and affirms even the most marginalized within BIPOC communities. Green and the team of 10 volunteers, most Black, queer, and/or people with disabilities themselves, connect with callers through their shared experiences with racism, violence, and other forms of oppression. Transphobia and other bigotry arent tolerated by callers either. Our philosophy is, thats how we get freewhen we start lifting up our trans sisters, Green says.

Those lived experiences also inform the training volunteers undergo and the protocols they take with suicidal ideation and mental health crises. Major hotlines like the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline have come under fire for tracing and routing callers locations to local police departments without their consent. Some are harassed by police and forcibly hospitalized. For BIPOC, LGBTQ folks, and sex workers, these interactions can be fatal. For that reason, Call BlackLine doesnt call the police.

Instead, the team connects callers to regional therapists, psychiatrists, homeless shelters, and other resources as needed. Many are Black or Black-led, and all are vetted by Green and a national network of other racial justice and Black Lives Matter organizers, with approval based on Black women and femmes past experiences with the resource.

Green herself does not have a therapists license, and she says that the hotlines legitimacy has been critiqued since Call BlackLine was founded. But neither she nor other team members present themselves as therapists, and callers in acute need are connected to help. She addressed that criticism in a prior interview: We dont need licensing because weve been doing counseling in our communities since you trafficked us here.

The hotline fills another niche in BIPOC community care: its a place to report brushes with consumer discrimination, negative police interactions, and racist vigilantism.

In the hopes of changing the way our communities are policed, we hope to speak to people who have had negative experiences with law enforcement or vigilantes, Call BlackLines website states. We want to help build a new network of support that our community can rely on.

For many Black folks, reporting police harassment to the local department can be daunting because of the fear of retaliation. Raising red flags about white racist vigilantism to local law enforcement can also be futile, as they often fumble their response, enable the activity, or even cheer it on. Police departments have failed to crack down on this activity despite the Department of Homeland Security naming white supremacist extremists the most persistent and lethal threat in the homeland in a 2020 report, and warning about the current rise of right-wing extremism as far back as 2009.

The threat is not foreign to the Hudson Valley, even if it hasnt risen to widespread ideological violence. According to the Hudson Valley Anti-Fascist Network (HVAN), Patriot Front is the main white nationalist group recruiting in the region, primarily through flyering and stickering. John, an organizer with HVAN who prefers to remain anonymous, says Patriot Fronts activity has declined after HVAN doxxed its regional director, who fled Poughkeepsie soon after. But that hasnt stopped other local white supremacist groups from attempting to make their presence felt: in December, the neo-fascist group Proud Boys threatened a Putnam for Black Lives food drive led by BIPOC high schoolers.

As for vigilantism, John says individual activity that HVAN has monitored pales in comparison to last summers counterprotest against a Rally for Black Lives in Pleasant Valley, when Back the Blue counterprotesters hurled slurs, punches, slaps, and spit at Black women, children, and other rally attendees. It was so shocking because it was so unprecedented for this area. It seemed almost like Charlottesville that day, John says.

Only one arrest for disorderly conduct was made by New York State police, after two months of public pressure. An early analysis of the event by the Dutchess County Sheriffs Office found that a small group on both sides were violent. Since those preliminary findings, Captain John Watterson says no new information has surfaced, no evidence of misconduct has been discovered, and no charges have been filed.

Green says Call BlackLine doesnt receive many calls about vigilantism, but that isnt to say its not happening. Most of the calls they do get are about activity that feels threatening but doesnt quite cross the line: white neighbors looking through a Black neighbors window or trailing them by car. And long after Black codes and Jim Crow, national store chains and small business retailers still perpetuate the Shopping While Black phenomenon. Green hopes to help BIPOC navigate this reality by developing an app to document these experiences.

This isnt criminal behavior per se, so police might chalk it up to unfounded paranoia. But in a country known for gaslighting Black people about their pain and trauma, the hotline is an alternative safe place where these experiences are affirmed.

Cataloguing those experiences can also provide a clearer picture of the problem, and help Call BlackLine quantify its impact. A Vassar College student is creating a database of these reported incidents and other call data that, when complete, Call BlackLine will draw from to bolster grant applications that will allow the organization to pay volunteers.

Despite Call BlackLines social justice mission, Green hasnt always had a social justice worldview. Her 31-year career in the social work, human services, and nonprofit sectors slowly but surely radicalized her.

Green can attest to how social servicesparticularly foster carecan be inherently oppressive for communities of color and the poor. During her 11-year stint at Pius XII Youth and Family Services in Orange County, the overflow of Black and Latinx families in her caseloads disturbed her. Why are there so many Black and brown people in the system? she remembers thinking. And then I realized its because theyre Black, and theyre brown, and theyre poor.

Green says that the foster care systemor family policing, as she calls itholds Black and brown families to oppressive standards. Instead of helping families in hard times, the system punishes them. We know that poverty is one of the root causes of kids being hungry, moms being on the streets, moms prostituting themselves, [and] doing whatever they need to do to survive, she says.

Green did everything in her power to keep families together. But if that wasnt possible, she made sure they kept in touch. Theres no such thing as adoption being private with a Black child. These kids need to know where they come from, she says.

A year after Pius XIIs office closed in 2000, Green joined the Mental Health Association of Orange County to direct rape crisis services, where she witnesses more failures by local government to protect victims.

For one thing, Green says police involvement often did more harm than good. At one point, St. Lukes Cornwall Hospital had a policy of calling Newburgh police when they admitted rape victims. Green believes this policy ultimately got one person killed by her attacker, who thought the woman had snitched to police. Through meetings and relationship-building with staff, Green helped to get the hospital to change its policy. You just killed her, she remembers telling St. Lukes staff. Its about giving a woman autonomy. You let the victim decide if they want to report their rape.

Year after year, Greens supervisors at the Mental Health Association couldnt keep up with her visions for reform. They told me, Youre moving too fast. Im scared, she says.

Green was also working part-time for the mental health, family counseling, and advocacy nonprofit VCS, gaining the social justice acumen shed use to attempt to reform mental health response in Orange County. Black women and girls are at disproportionate risk of sexual violence, but are less likely to report rape compared to white women. When Green did targeted outreach for Black women and other women of color, she was met with resistance from her supervisors. Feeling unsupported, she left the Mental Health Association in 2006 to work full-time for VCS.

Green had her ups and downs with the trailblazing social justice nonprofit, as well. On one hand, she gained invaluable knowledge of institutional oppression through her mentor, Phyllis B. Frank, a longtime social justice advocate. On the other, Green says the organization mirrored many other nonprofits in its day-to-day dehumanizing treatment of people of color. You can ask any Black person working at a nonprofit organization: We experience that on the daily. Thats just par for the course, she says.

But it was anonymous death threats that ultimately ended her time at VCS, after she and other BLM Hudson Valley organizers filed a lawsuit alleging illegal surveillance by Clarkstown police. Green says that put a target on her back. She left her post as a racial justice organizer for VCS in 2018, sought cover from the public eye, and threw herself into the work of Call BlackLine.

Green is dubious of the United States willingness to address the institutional and societal oppression driving the calls to Call BlackLine. This is a country that has never atoned or acknowledged the abuse, terror, and genocide that they have perpetuated on every marginalized peoples since they began their system of colonization hundreds of years ago, she says.

According to Green, social services, human services, and the nonprofit industrial complex arent the answers either. Three decades in these sectors has taught her that much. White supremacy, homophobia, sexism, and patriarchy are all embedded in the institutions and structures that purport to serve the public. Some within these systems have pure intentions. But with the exception of some policy changes, Green says, transformation isnt possible for innately oppressive structures. Reform, as witnessed in policing, doesnt eradicate inherent anti-Blackness.

If were working on providing services for marginalized communities, we cant continue to use structures and institutions steeped in maintaining the status quo, that work in hand in hand with police and systems that continue to cause harm within our community, she says.

As an abolitionist and community organizer, Green also believes strongly in divesting funds from police departments bloated budgets and investing in education, youth programs, housing, mental health, and restorative justice initiatives. Poverty and poorly funded public infrastructure should be considered public health crises, Green says.

Above all, communities should get to shape their futures, unfettered by paternalistic governments and nonprofits. When we say defund, we want to create different programs for our communities where were working as a unit together, Green says.

There is power in self-determinismthat is, there is power in marginalized communities deciding what their freedom looks like. That often doesnt look like what the government wants it to be. But until thats realized for all marginalized peoples, Call BlackLine helps BIPOCfrom single Black mothers to sex workersnavigate present-day America.

Call BlackLine can be reached 24/7 by calling or texting (800) 604-5841.

This article was published in the February 2021 issue of Chronogram.

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Call BlackLine: Community Care and Liberation on Speed Dial - The River Newsroom

When a Black historian in the United States created a week devoted to celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans in 1926, Canadians soon followed suit with celebrations of their own. But it wasnt until decades later in 1995 that Canadas federal government officially came to recognize what had become Black History Month. Thats the year the Honourable Jean Augustine, the first Black Canadian woman elected to Parliament, introduced a motion in the House of Commons that February be officially recognized as Black History Month in Canada. It passed unanimously.

Now known as African Heritage Month in Nova Scotia, this period of annual celebration serves as an opportunity to reflect on the past achievements and future aspirations. This years theme, Black History Matters: Listen, Learn, Share and Act, draws attention to the legacy of people of African descent and their long-standing history in the development of Canada. It also brings awareness of racialized issues of a historically marginalized community that has overcome great adversity for inclusion and the need for community members to take action in making Nova Scotia and society at large a better place.

We asked Isaac Saney, a university teaching fellow and director of Dals Transition Year Program, to explain the history, contributions and legacies of African Nova Scotian communities which have been here for over 400 years.What is something that people dont usually know or that might surprise people about the history of early Black settlers in Nova Scotia?

As victims of colonization, the vast majority of the first people of African descent who lived in Nova Scotia cannot be labelled settlers as they came to the province though forced migration, not through their own volition. They were "settled upon the lands or "forced to settle." Or as some have pointedly stated, "Stolen bodies" on "stolen lands." This is clearly reflected in the reality that many Black Nova Scotians have yet to receive any formal title to the land upon which their ancestors have lived for several generations. It must, therefore, be underscored that Nova Scotia was a slave society, in which Black people were chattel property who were sold as commodities, treated as property or personal household goods which belonged to their "masters." Indeed, advertisements for the sale of enslaved Africans were common.

While there were a number of free Blacks in the local Halifax population skilled tradesmen whose services were in high demand their situation was extremely precarious as they could be enslaved at any time. When their labour was no longer required, some were taken to other British colonies and sold. For example, a 1751 advertisement in the Boston Evening Post reads: Just received from Halifax, and to be sold, ten strong hearty, Negro men, mostly tradesmen, such caulkers, carpenters, sailmakers and ropemakers. The very existence and practice of slavery in Nova Scotia established the precedent of using African peoples as a readily available source of cheap labour, bereft of full political and citizenship rights. This dynamic, despite slaverys end, shaped the lives of subsequent migrations of Black people, most notably the Black Loyalists (3,500+ in the 1780s) and the Black Refugees (2,000+ after the War of 1812), the two largest migrant groups of African descent to the Maritimes. Having escaped enslavement in the United States and granted their freedom by the British, they were designated a cheap pool of labour, and consequently, relegated to a subordinate social position disenfranchised, marginalized and segregated.

How did Black History Month come to be known as African Heritage Month in Nova Scotia?

Black History Month was first officially launched in Nova Scotia in 1985. In 1996, the name African Heritage Month was officially adopted by the Province of Nova Scotia, acknowledging that the Black history and experience in Nova Scotia is part and parcel of the African Diaspora, Pan-Africanism and Africa. The portmanteau name African Heritage & Black History Month is often used.

The official launch of the month in 1985 occurred amid an ongoing Black Nova Scotian cultural renaissance, building on the rich trends of the past, typified by such artists as Portia White (internationally renowned contralto) and Alf Coward (prominent jazz pianist). In the literary field, several poets, writers and actors emerged during the 70s and 80s, notably George Elliott Clarke, Maxine Tynes, David Woods, Henry Bishop, George Boyd and Walter Borden. In the field of music and performing arts, various troupes formed, including Four The Moment, Voices, The Gospelheirs, and the Nova Scotia Mass Choir. In the world of film, video and TV, the 1978 series Black Insights (five episodes on history, education, employment, land claims and the church), followed by two award-winning films produced by Sylvia Hamilton: Black Mother, Black Daughter and Speak It! From The Heart of Black Nova Scotia.

In journalism, Mark Daye, Clarke and Charles Saunders published The Rap from 198285. In 1982, the Africville Genealogical Society was formed to preserve the memory of Africville, advocate equitable compensation for dispossession for the former residents and organize annual reunions in Africville. Institutionally, the Black Cultural Centre was founded in 1983 to promote, preserve and defend the culture and identity of the Black community. One of the more vibrant organizations to take shape was the Cultural Awareness Youth Group. Formed in 1983, it developed branches in schools throughout the Metro area, dedicated to highlighting Black history and culture as an instrument for building bridges between communities.

Who are some influential figures who have shaped African Nova Scotian history?

Richard Preston is perhaps the greatest figure in African Nova Scotian history. He escaped slavery in Virginia and came to Nova Scotia in search of his mother in 1816. He later trained as a Baptist minister in England. During his time in England, he worked with the leading figures in the anti-slavery moment, participating in the public debate. These debates played an important role the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act by the British Parliament in 1833.

Upon his return to Nova Scotia, he became President of the Abolitionists in Halifax, and anti-slavery society, and, also, founded the African Friendly Society and the African Abolition Society. Preston was very popular amongst the Black population, travelling from settlement to settlement delivering sermons. In 1832, Preston founded the African Baptist Church in Halifax. It was later incorporated as Cornwallis Street Baptist Church in 1892, changing its name New Horizons Baptist Church in 2017. Between 1832 and 1853, Preston established a total of eleven African Baptist churches in Nova Scotia. Affectionately called "Father Preston" by his congregation, he encouraged church members to press and advocate for changes that would make their lives easier.

One of Richard Prestons greatest accomplishments was the creation of the African United Baptist Association in 1854. The AUBA united (and continues to unite) Black churches across Nova Scotia. The AUBA became the key institution of Black Nova Scotian life: not only the source and space of spiritual succor but the focus of educational, cultural, social and political activities throughout all the Black communities. While formally a religious organization, it expressed their social, economic and political aspirations by defending and advancing the interests and rights of African Nova Scotians. As the central institution of Black Nova Scotian life, the AUBA was the material network that consolidated a pan-Black Nova Scotian identity. Richard Preston served as its leader until his death in 1861.

The theme of this years African Heritage month calls attention to racialized issues experienced by the African Nova Scotian community. What are some of the barriers to equity and inclusion that the community currently faces and what can Nova Scotians at large and local governments do to address and eliminate these challenges?

An essential step is the acknowledgment that the African Nova Scotian community has been segregated, jim-crowed, ghettoized, marginalized and slandered; they have been hired last and fired first; they have been compelled to work the hardest and they have been paid the worst; they have been kept out of education and forced to school themselves. And yet with supreme effort they have more than endured. While the history of oppression and exploitation weighs as a nightmare on Black Nova Scotians, this fire tempered, rather than consumed them. Dealing with the potent legacy, forces and dynamics that continue to impact the lives of African Nova Scotian communities requires significant policies, programs and resources aimed at achieving structural socio-economic change. However, these measures will be only be successful if the Black Nova Scotian community is meaningfully and democratically involved in their creation and implementation.

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Ask an expert: Isaac Saney on the significance of African Heritage Month and the legacy of African Nova Scotians - Dal News