Local group stands against hate

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This article was published 17/08/2017 (2966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fearing that a wave of emboldened racism is creeping up from the U.S., a local activist group is calling a public meeting to vent, grieve, and mobilize.

Silence is Violence, hosted by Black Space Winnipeg, is a response to protests in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend, when the removal of a Confederate statue led to clashes between white nationalists and those protesting racism.

One woman died after a suspected Nazi sympathizer rammed into a crowd of demonstrators.

“We need to debrief, come together and heal,” said Black Space Winnipeg member Adeline Bird.

Over 600 people were ‘interested’ on Facebook just one day after the event was posted online, prompting a move to a larger room at the University of Winnipeg for the event on Wednesday.

The strong public response may signal lasting shock waves from viral images of Confederate flags, swastikas, and violence shared from the streets of the Virginia college town, but Bird said it was no surprise.

“It’s important that people who are seeing this and being surprised to really remember that we (people of colour) experience this on a daily basis. This is nothing new to us.”

Bird believes feelings of shock partly came from seeing millennial faces among the white nationalists, who switched out stereotypical white hoods for polo shirts and khaki pants.

Upset continued over the weekend, when racist graffiti was engraved into pavement and at least one park bench in Winnipeg.

Paul Lawrie first saw the graffiti during his run down Wellington Crescent.

The University of Winnipeg history professor said the explosive events in the U.S. followed by more “subtle” local hate speech have “shaken people out a sense of a complacency.”

“The most important thing is to not accept these events as the new normal, to see these as abnormal, anti-social and destructive to society.”

With the fall semester fast approaching, Canadian universities are bracing for student unrest, and some are already dealing with it.

On Wednesday, Ryerson University cancelled an Aug. 22 panel discussion on the issue of free speech due to safety concerns.

The University of Toronto has denied a student group with white nationalist views permission to hold a rally on campus next month.

“I don’t think you’ve seen the last of those groups attempting to organize, if not on campuses, mobilizing through campuses.”

On the other hand, Canada will start to see more counter-protests and events like Silence is Violence, Lawrie said.

That meeting will be held from 6-9 p.m. at the U of W Bulman Centre.

keila.depape@freepress.mb.ca