Winbush urges black community to organize

The internationally renowned race-relations expert, in Digby from Sept. 15 to Sept. 26, is consulting with the RCMP and the black community.

In June, the town of Digby was the focus of national media attention when two young black men leveled charges of racism against the local RCMP. One of the black men was shot with a taser following a fight with an off-duty Halifax policeman outside a downtown nightclub.

Winbush has already met with RCMP officers and members of Digby’s black community.

Winbush asked all of those people two questions. ‘What percentage of the world’s population is white?’ and ‘Can you name three composers of classical music?’

He said from the Digby RCMP officers polled, 40% was the lowest answer to the first question. In fact, only 8% of the world population is white.

In response to the second question, RCMP officers named European composers—Bach, Beethoven, Mozart.

“A hundred years from now,” said Winbush, “the music of Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley will still be performed. Their songs are classics too.”

“Although globally only four in 100 people are white males, it is hard for most to even imagine a world that is not ruled by white males,” said Winbush.

“We even have a fat white man giving our kids presents at Christmas.”

Winbush said the challenge for Digby’s African community is to get organized, unite, and collectively agree on goals.

The fact that a group of 49 black people was brought together for the Sept. 17 meeting showed that organizing was possible.

Darlene Lawrence of the Digby County Family Resource Centre is the person who brought those people together. She’s also the person responsible for bringing Winbush to town.

Lawrence said that there is a crisis in the community, particularly with black male youth. They’re dropping out of school, they’re unemployed and an African Canadian male is five times more likely to go to prison than a white Canadian male.

“We need to take our communities back,” said Lawrence. “We have to take care of our children. And we can’t depend on schools to teach them who they are as African children.”

Winbush asked the people at the community meeting to anonymously write on a card a question, comment or issue.

Among their responses:

“Why is there no sense of black pride?”

“Try to change how black youth think about themselves.”

“Black community is over-policed.”

“Teachers will bend over backwards to help white students.”

Winbush said the same exercise with RCMP officers brought very different responses—

“If they quit writing about it (racism), things would be O.K.”

“The black community plays the race card too much.”

“—But we can’t play a card, if we’re not dealt it,” Winbush said.

Winbush, also quoted Mahatma Gandi: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”