GRIOTS REPUBLIC - AN URBAN BLACK TRAVEL MAG - AUGUST 2016

More documents

Recommendations

Info

they could easily provide these things for themselves (a la the Black Wall Street in Tulsa). While some residents operated fishing businesses and some run farms, 65% of Africville residents worked as lowpaid domestic servants, and only 35% of the labourers had steady wealth. But, just like Black folks who’ve battled discrimination at various times in various countries around the globe, one of the biggest battles against racism is resisting state-sponsored plunder. Whether it’s the government, or some quasi-powerful white-interest group, sometimes Black folks things are just taken. Although Africville residents were granted the land that they settled on, and they even signed the first land purchase agreement in 1848, the city decided that their records weren’t official enough, ushering in an era of nebulous, unrepentant bias. While gentrification today is done by financially preying on the less advantaged, what happened to Africville was far more odious, direct and brutal. In the 1850’s, not only were some Africville residents relocated due to the construction of a railway but also the Rockhead prison was built right beside their community. In 1858, Africville became home to the city’s fecal waste depository and, more than a decade later, became home to an infectious disease hospital. Eddie Carvery, a former resident, said “The hospital would just dump their raw garbage on the dump—bloody body parts, blankets, and everything.” Eventually an open city dump was placed in Africville and Carvery believes that assisted in the rat explosion in the community. Although the area wasn’t incredibly large, Carvery believes that the rat population was around 100,000 at any given time. Once the rats reached the white communities, they came down and recklessly doused the dump in rat poison - leaving it for the citizens to breath in and ingest. After the 1917 Halifax explosion, which occurred when a French cargo ship laden with explosives collided with a Norwegian vessel, killing 2,000 people and destroying large swaths of the city, including many of the small frail homes in Africville, the already devastated community received little of the donated relief funds that was given to rebuild the city. That tragedy also gave Halifax their opportunity to steal the land and use it for what they really wanted: industrial redevelopment. “There were other communities, and not just Black communities, that had also the same type of living conditions, if not worse. But we were close to the city and we were predominantly Black so our living conditions were used as a reason to move us,” adds Dixon. In 1947, Africville was officially designated as industrial land and the Halifax city council, without consulting the actual residents of the community, began discussing the industrial potential the land held. By 1954, the city manager recommended shifting Africville residents to cityowned property so they could undergo the North Shore Development Plan.
It was not just a proposition to steal their land, but more importantly, a plan to steal their ownership to turn them from land-owners into propertyrenters. Because of the nature of how land was given and passed down, only a handful of families had actual legal title, and some were offered only $500 to leave the land they owned to begin renting from the city. Residents who refused to take the money found their homes being bulldozed while they were still inside them, and the church, which had been a symbol of Black survival and the center of their communal universe for over a decade, was bulldozed in the middle of the night without warning. The last building was demolished by 1970. And just like that, it was gone. The place that former slaves built. The community that was once visited by Joe Louis and Duke Ellington. The home of Black residents who, against every odd, built a life for themselves despite the racist intentions of different governments and fellow white citizens. Forty years after the last home was destroyed, the city of Halifax decided it was time to say “sorry” and they issued an official apology. But, as with most Black suffering, the recognition was too little and too late. Today, the children and grandchildren of Africville residents are less likely to be homeowners than other Halifax natives of their generation. In fact, in 2004, the UN declared that Africville residents deserved reparations for what they endured. time Black Americans find themselves flooded under a deluge of videos detailing racist rants and police brutality, they’ll resist the urge to post any “meanwhile in Canada” memes propagating the ‘Great White North’ as a land free from systemic racism. Just because our persecution isn’t televised, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. So, hopefully, the next
Page 1 and 2:
PASSPORT PARTY PROJECT Takes Toront
Page 4 and 5:
Archivists Note We’ve literally b
Page 6 and 7:
G L OH BE AL LGT IH F T S SICKLE CE
Page 8 and 9:
GRIOTS READ MID LIFE CRISIS AHEAD T
Page 10 and 11:
Where were you when the inspiration
Page 12 and 13:
The Green Book, is the best known o
Page 15 and 16:
TRUE NORTH Motherland Connextions
Page 17 and 18:
es by Portuguese and Spanish explor
Page 19 and 20:
See what’s possible l’Experienc
Page 21 and 22:
ARTY 01 PASSPORT PARTY PROJECT TRAV
Page 23 and 24: ARTIST PROFILE Take one look at the
Page 26 and 27: outlet for her curiosity and a reas
Page 28 and 29: The intoxicating aroma of strawberr
Page 30 and 31: emnants and communities even as the
Page 32 and 33: 2016 RIO Working The Games: An outs
Page 34 and 35: the Olympics would bring about more
Page 36 and 37: Born in Jamaica, Dave Reynolds spen
Page 38 and 39: BROWN OLY
Page 40 and 41: 1945 ROYAUX DE MON T h e y came to
Page 42 and 43: Their showcase event was the annual
Page 44: independent league scene as far bac
Page 48: derson .Paak and Polaris Music P
Page 51 and 52: 1 WE CONTINUE TO BE MAGICAL Roundta
Page 53 and 54: PRESENTED BY
Page 55 and 56: times held for ransom, held in dete
Page 57 and 58: influenced by the work of the Black
Page 59 and 60: seen. Also, I resent that we need t
Page 61 and 62: struggles to dismantle white suprem
Page 63 and 64: chine has been in effect since colo
Page 65 and 66: ERIA 2.0 BY Antoine Kinch
Page 67 and 68: esulting from slavery were insurmou
Page 69 and 70: chise is to “take away the right
Page 72 and 73: As our society is further inundated
Page 76 and 77: When Lincoln Anthony Blades is not
Page 79 and 80: BLM SPECIAL SECTION
Page 81: 03 ONEIKA RAYMOND TRAVELER PROFILE
Page 84 and 85: fans, emerging talent and style all
Page 86: colades in publications like EXPOSE
Page 89 and 90: Orchestra music is enjoyed globally
Page 91 and 92: International Wind Ensemble each su
Page 94 and 95: Tiki c flashy terest times with i h
Page 96 and 97: TORONTO TIKI BAR PICKS MISS THINGS
Page 98 and 99: The Making of Dous Makos Presented
Page 100 and 101: JOIN THE MOVEMENT WEAREBLACKANDABRO
show all

GRIOTS REPUBLIC - AN URBAN BLACK TRAVEL MAG - AUGUST 2016

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?