Anti-Racism North Hastings is Taking On Anti-Blackness in Rural Ontario
GUESTS Marlena Zuber and Sheila Wilmot from Anti-Racism North Hastings
MUSIC: LAL
Marlena Zuber is a community arts builder, and an illustrator based in Maynooth. Marlena inspired by the groundswell of activism against anti-Black Racism following the murder of George Floyd found a group of amazing local people and started Anti-Racism North Hastings.
She is joined by Sheila Wilmot is a Toronto-based educator and organizer who has been working with people in the North Hastings area on anti-racism and other social justice issues.
We talk about Anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism and how it is a Canadian social problem; a white supremacy problem. We talk about organizing in a pandemic and in a rural area and how people can stand in solidarity with Black and Indigenous people. We talk about defunding the police and what that means and we talk about how to move forward in our communities for a better world.
Many of us in this area are no stranger to LAL - many of us have danced on dance floors here and in Toronto to their music and been inspired by their lyrics that demand justice and inspire some ass-shaking. Thanks to Rosina Kazi, the band's lead singer for the generosity of this music.
Contact Anti-Racism North Hastings at antiracismnorthhastings@gmail.com
LINKS
Video: "Defund the Police" Explained
Sheila Wilmot's book Taking Responsibility Taking Direction: White Anti-Racism in Canada
Printable Black Lives Matter + Anti-Racist Signs and Posters
Find Out More and Support the podcast's Musical Guest: LAL
Dark Beings Lyrics by LAL
We have always destroyed what we have
To create something new
If you add fire to the equation
And then you throw in the truth
We’ve been doing this for a while
We remember we’re proof
And as the sky comes falling down around
Some still don’t know what to do
Some still don’t know what to do
Some still don’t know what to do
Maybe its time we felt and we listened
To vibrations in depths of the system of
Dark Beings We are We are
Dark Beings We are We are
Dark Beings We are We are
Dark Beings
Grown to cultivate all around us
Despite all the scars
We have seen for centuries lined up
Are we with the stars
We are planted seeds in the ground
Inside us is goddess, I feel free in
the presence of it all
Bow down to what we have lost
I Bow to what we have lost yeah
Pray pray for what we got
I said maybe it’s time felt and we listened
To vibrations in depths of the system of
Dark Beings We are We are
Dark Beings We are We are
Dark Beings We are We are
Dark Beings
photo credit: Marlena Zuber