Chanel Briggs: Extending 'endless love to everyone'
'I think remembering a name is the smallest thing I can do'
CBC is highlighting Black people in Atlantic Canada who are giving back, inspiring others and helping to shape our future.
Last fall, members of the public submitted over 350 nominations for 161 Black leaders, teachers, entrepreneurs and artists from across the East Coast.
A panel of Black community members in Atlantic Canada selected 20 people to highlight for CBC Black Changemakers. This is Chanel Briggs's story.
Chanel Briggs credits their grandmother with their love of community.
Growing up in the Bahamas, Briggs's grandmother was what's called a prayer warrior. Briggs said that's someone who is there for others in crisis — no matter what time it is. That sense of community is the driving force behind their work as a poet, storyteller and activist.
"I've felt more seen and more heard in the arms of my community members — mainly Black, queer women here on the Island — and so my main driving force is to preserve that community, to preserve the stories that are held in those spaces ... I just think it's such a beautiful thing. It's the very fabric of my being."
Existing as a Black, queer Caribbean woman in a rural space is a challenging experience.— Chanel Briggs
Briggs came to P.E.I. in 2018. They were on their own for the first time, trying to navigate an unfamiliar — and very white — space. They said they have sometimes been the first Black woman some people have ever interacted with.
"Existing as a Black, queer Caribbean woman in a rural space is a challenging experience," they said. "So being a changemaker, a lot of it is just existing, showing up in spaces that people don't want us to be visible in and just being ourselves.
"Healing comes from community navigating these very white places, you can only do that with aid of others. Especially because with the intersections of a lot of this being my first experience, my first time living abroad and my first time interacting with the world and growing up and renting and all these firsts and this foreign land, the only thing that could have anchored me is community ... I think that deep-rooted generational trauma can only be healed in the hands of community."
A welcoming presence
Besides being a poet and artist, Briggs is also co-ordinating an anthology by Black, Indigenous and people of colour on P.E.I. They're also one of the co-founders of Charlottetown Mutual Aid, a group that helps people struggling with issues such as housing or food insecurity.
Joanna Morrison, another Charlottetown Mutual Aid co-founder, nominated Briggs, pointing out specifically about how they made an effort to really get to know people — even during the busy weeks after post-tropical storm Fiona.
"Chanel took on the role of being the welcoming presence in the room. They would get to know the names of all the people who came in asking for help. They knew every single person walking through that door by the time they left. They would know their names, what they liked, what they didn't like, what they were going through. They put in that extra effort to get to know everyone and extend this endless love to everyone," Morrison said.
"They always want to help with this absolute joy and love for community and community care."
Briggs said that connection is important to them.
"I think that in this world, when we're interacting with these systems of oppression, people either view you as statistics or numbers rather than putting a name to a face," they said.
"But everybody deserves for their agency to be recognized. Everybody deserves to feel like a whole and complete human.... So I think remembering a name is the smallest thing I can do."
Being visible and being yourself
Helping others bring their stories to light is another big part of Briggs's work. They are inspired by author Toni Morrison, because of the work Morrison has done encouraging other Black culture-makers such as Angela Davis and Mohammed Ali to write biographies.
"Being a changemaker, a lot of it is just existing, is showing up in spaces that people don't want us to be visible in and just being ourselves and creating community," they said.
Briggs admits to being initially uncomfortable with the idea of being named a changemaker.
"I had a mini little panic when I got the call that I was nominated for this because I was like, 'but there's so-and-so and there's this person and there's that person.... Why on earth was I the one that got called?'" they said.
"Someone out there decided that's a label they can see me having. So now I am chasing after that and I'm continuously chasing after myself. Because that's the one person I'm gonna have for the rest of my life. And I love her. I love the me of the past. I love the me of the now. And I'm really trying to get to know the me of the future. And so I'm always chasing."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Natalie Dobbin