Yellowknifers rally in support of the #BlackLivesMatter campaign at Somba K'e Civic Plaza on Saturday afternoon. - Cody Punter/NNSL photo |
Yellowknifers rally for #BlackLivesMatter
Nearly 40 people brave cold to support U.S.-based movement
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, December 10, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Nearly two years ago protests against the Canadian government's indifference to the plight of aboriginal people ignited a national campaign under the Idle No More banner.
Ehxea Nahehk'o, 9 holds up a sign showing the names of some of the African-American men who have been killed by police officers in the United States in the last two years. To his right is brother Oz, Nahehk'o, 7. - Cody Punter/NNSL photo |
In recent weeks international attention garnered by the decision to not indict police officers responsible for the deaths of two black men in the United States is bringing systemic racial inequality inherent in the American legal system to the forefront through protests and social media campaigns.
On Saturday afternoon the movement made its way to Yellowknife, where approximately 40 people braved the -30 C temperatures in support of the rapidly spreading #BlackLivesMatter campaign at Somba K'e Civic Plaza.
"I wanted to be able to show people down there in the States that people all the way up here in the frozen Arctic – we're following, and we care, and we're motivated by their struggle," said Eugene Boulanger, who organized the rally.
The #BlackLivesMatter campaign was created in 2012 after George Zimmerman was acquitted for shooting and killing unarmed 17-year-old African-American teen Trayvon Martin.
The movement was recently reignited when a grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer responsible for shooting unarmed African-American man Michael Brown in the back in Ferguson, Missouri. The following week, a grand jury yet again decided not to proceed to trial in a case against a police officer whose chokehold led to unarmed African-American Eric Garner's death.
"#BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society," reads a statement on the campaign's website.
Boulanger said he was distraught when he watched the outpouring of frustration in the streets in Ferguson in the wake of the decision in the Michael Brown case.
"I shut down," he said. "I was so consumed by rage that all I could do was sit there and cry in anger." While he struggled to come to terms with the decision, as a politically-motivated aboriginal person, Boulanger said he felt a strong sense of empathy for the injustice in Brown's case, which is why he decided to organize the rally.
"My heart was so broken that I was compelled to (do) anything I could for those people and the first thing I could think of was let's do a frozen flash mob," he said.
Family rallies
Melaw Nakehk'o, who is helping bring the Walking With our Sisters exhibit to Yellowknife in the new year, attended the rally with her three young boys and her brother's family.
"For the past couple of weeks we've been following the Michael Brown case through the news and social media," she said. "There's so many links between black history and indigenous people in terms of how we're treated by the system in American and Canada as people of colour. It's really been a learning experience for myself to learn how to talk about these things."
During the rally, Nahenk'o's nine-year-old son, Ehxea Nakehk'o, carried a sign listing some of the names of African-American men who had been killed by police in the last few years. Nahehk'o said Ehxea has been particularly affected by the events that have been unfolding in the United States.
Rather than trying to shelter him from the news, Nahehk'o said she tries to engage him in thoughtful conversation about racism.
"I'm raising three indigenous Dene boys and just being able to talk about those things and to have the language to talk about those things (is important)," she said.
Although sharing a photo of the gathering in Yellowknife is just a small gesture in the grand scheme of things, Boulanger said it was important to participate in these types of dialogues to challenge the indifference to social injustices that are witnessed on a daily basis.
"I don't think people have ever stopped organizing or protesting but the wonderful thing about social media and about hashtagging now is that we have a new tool for organizing," he said.
