By Blaine Courtney
February is Black History Month. Original known as Negro History Week, in the United States, it has been expanded to ensure sufficient time is available to recognize and celebrate the history of blacks in North America. Our school books contained little on the subjects of slavery, emancipation, the struggle for civil rights and the significant contributions blacks have made to the growth and maturity of our nations. February has been set aside to address this neglect.
Our obvious memories are those associated with sports and music. Almost everyone can name several noted black athletes and entertainers. While the contributions their successes have had in the overall journey towards acceptance and equality in society is significant, they only represent a small portion of the entire story.
By Cathy Hird
Do you remember the poem by John Donne, where he reminds us that humanity is a community, that we need each other? The language will feel exclusive to us because it was first published in 1624:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
By Cathy Hird
The words meaning and purpose often land together as if they are the same. But I am thinking today about the difference between them. To explore this, I am going to talk about waiting.
What happens for you when you end up in a long slow line at the grocery store? What do you think about as you watch the person three ahead of you struggling to get their groceries loaded? What happens to your heart rate when the person two ahead of you has a problem with the price that has come up, or their debit card won't work? How do you feel when the cashier finds a hole in the bag of rice and waits for a service person to bring back another exactly the same?
By Cathy Hird
As we head into Black History Month, I want to reflect on the way we approach diversity in our community. We have changed as a country so that we are more accepting of difference in culture, religious practice, race, lifestyle, but there are still tensions. There is still racism. We do not interact with all the respect and caring that we could.
By Paulette Peirol
The Owen Sound Emancipation Festival – the oldest Black freedom festival on the continent -- is being recognized by the Ontario Black History Society.
The festival will be granted the Harriet Tubman Award at the society's awards brunch in Toronto this weekend. The black history society is the group behind Black History Month, celebrated each February across the country.
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