Black Lives Matter: What's different now?
CBC Asks event takes an intergenerational look at efforts to end racial violence, discrimination
Joe Curtis spent decades living with racism the safest way that he felt was acceptable — by smiling and looking the other way.
"It was encouraged in society that you have to 'Go along to get along,'" said the 52-year-old Winnipeg musician, who is Black.
"So if people exhibited racism and I didn't get angry, I was the good guy … like, 'Hey, you can say that around Joe. He's a good guy.'"
The facade was "very, very hard," he said.
But the times, he hopes, are changing.
"It feels like we're on the precipice of significant change, the tipping point of the needle," he said.
Imani Pinder, 17, agrees. The Winnipeg high school student says she was shy — "to the point where I let people walk all over me" — until she finally spoke up against racism in her former school.
"Now, I speak out. I have a sense of empowerment for myself that I've never felt before."
Anti-Black racism and targeted violence against people of colour have gone on for centuries, and for centuries, there have been efforts to end the systemic racism, but to no avail — leaving history to repeat itself time and time again.
But after George Floyd was murdered at the hands of police in May 2020, the world paid attention.
Large protests followed.
I looked to the younger women and teens who organized the … rally and got inspired by them- Nampande Londe
In Manitoba, more than 15,000 people took part in a demonstration on the steps of the legislature on June 5. It was organized by Justice 4 Black Lives — eight women and teens who are part of a new generation of justice seekers.
It gives Nampande Londe hope.
The Winnipeg artist, healer and community organizer has attended rallies in the past, but they left her so traumatized and demoralized, she dreaded attending the Justice 4 Black Lives rally.
Today, she's encouraged.
"Even though I'm also young, I looked to the younger women and teens who organized the recent rally and got inspired by them," she said.
Londe, Pinder and Curtis concur; there's change in the air, and a renewed sense of hope.
And CBC Manitoba wanted to find out why, on a special CBC Asks event on Wednesday, where we asked the question Black Lives Matter: What's different now?
CBC Up To Speed host Ismaila Alfa was joined by Curtis, Londe and Pinder for a multi-generational look at the fight against systemic racism.
WATCH | CBC Asks: Black Lives Matter — What's different now?
