{"id":26703,"date":"2020-06-08T17:42:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T21:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26703"},"modified":"2020-06-18T19:13:30","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T23:13:30","slug":"were-here-today-to-make-a-change-more-than-1000-take-part-in-solidarity-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/were-here-today-to-make-a-change-more-than-1000-take-part-in-solidarity-walk\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re here today to make a change\u201d – More than 1,000 take part in Solidarity Walk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They knew they couldn\u2019t sit still and it was time to take\na stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was\nthe feeling shared by Chloe and Keenan Hull, Jordan Cangombe, L\u00e9a Robertson,\nJulia Frappier, and Elizabeth White when they set out to organize a community\nwalk in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start, they thought they might bring out a handful\nof people outside of their immediate circle to send a small but mighty message.\nBut hundreds of others felt they too had spent too long sitting still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, nearly 1,000 people filled Yonge Street\nsidewalks and Town Park for a Solidarity Walk, a response not only to the\npolice killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month, a murder that has\nsparked anti-racism demonstrations around the globe, but to countless other\n\u201csenseless killings\u201d that have taken place in recent years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an issue that is not just happening out there,\nit is happening at home,\u201d Ms. Hull told The Auroran as supporters rallied at\nYonge and Henderson before marching northward to Town Park. \u201cWe wanted to do\nsomething in Aurora because it effects people living in Aurora as well. We just\nknew we couldn\u2019t sit still. We\u2019re just a group of kids, but we wanted to stand\nup to social injustice and discrimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe started planning this, thinking it would just be the\nsix of us with our parents, but it is incredible to see the support from our\ncommunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she spoke those words, numbers at the marshalling\npoint continued to swell and by the time the march reached Town Park, very few\npatches of grass were left uncovered as individuals took a stand while\nattempting to maintain social distancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are so blown away with how many people turned out,\u201d\nshe told the thousand-strong crowd, which included Newmarket-Aurora MP Tony Van\nBynen, Mayor Tom Mrakas, and several Council members. \u201cThis was just a dream we\nhad three days ago and\u2026 I am absolutely blown away with how much support we\nhave from the community. It is even more crazy that even during COVID-19 that\nwe\u2019re still here [and] it just shows how important this issue is to our\ncommunity that we\u2019re still here, even during a pandemic, to show what\u2019s right\nand stand up for what\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were standing for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor,\nTrayvon Martin, Eric Garner and countless others who are no longer able to do\nso. They were remembered with two minutes of silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough this [planning] process, we have learned so much\n\u2013 both good and bad,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe have learned that there are some\npeople in Aurora who don\u2019t support our effort. We have learned that there are\nsome allies who criticize our involvement and engaged in white-splaining to us\nhow we should be doing this or how we should be advocating for ourselves. We\nlearned there are some fantastic Black people in Aurora who have been very\nsupportive and have given us sound advice. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI give respect to all Black people who are here today. I\nthank all allies. We are overwhelmed with the response. We\u2019re here today to\nstand up, we\u2019re here to celebrate being Black, and we\u2019re here today to make a\nchange.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they were also there to share a hard reality, a\nreality that is lived every day by some members of Sunday\u2019s crowd, and\nincomprehensible to others. To underscore this, Chloe shared the experiences of\nher brother Keenan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe felt different,\u201d she said of growing up in Aurora.\n\u201cHe was reminded he was different. At times, he was treated differently by\npeers, teachers, business owners, employers and, right here in Aurora, it\ncontinues today. We tried to fit in. It was a struggle. He felt lonely, he was\nangry and sad. At times, he was not proud to be who he was, despite the support\nhe received from our dad and other great Black people who were role models in\nour lives. [At school] he met some great friends and through these\nrelationships and experiences he can say he is a proud young Black man and this\njourney has brought him here today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others stepped up to share their shared \u2013 and unique \u2013\njourneys and offered some insights on how individuals can collectively \u201cmove\nthe needle forward\u201d on race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heather Tillock, a Dominica-born resident of\nWhitchurch-Stouffville said she moved to the York Region community soon after her\nsecond child was born thinking this move north from Toronto would give her kids\nbetter opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I was actually expecting to experience\nracism in Stouffville, but I did \u2013 every day I got up was a day that something\nhappened that reminded me I was Black, and I don\u2019t need a reminder,\u201d she\nshared. \u201cIt made me realize I am not doing enough. Moving my children to\nStouffville wasn\u2019t enough. We, I, have to do better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe these times are necessary. We\u2019re all consumed by\nthis COVID pandemic, but the reality for Black people and people of colour is\nwe have a much bigger virus to be concerned about, we have a much bigger virus\nthat is killing us. It is not COVID that is killing us; it is the brutal virus\nthat we call racism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the death of George Floyd, Ms. Tillock said she\nwas \u201cdevastated, hurt, angry, and full of rage.\u201d But something shifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started to watch the world pay attention. It made me\nthink that maybe this is an opportunity. Maybe finally there is an opportunity\nhere: the stars aligned, COVID forced us all to be at home, COVID forced us all\nto be on our phones, our devices, so we watched the brutality and the death of\na Black man. We all saw it, it wasn\u2019t hidden, and now we have an opportunity.\nThere is an opportunity move the needle, finally. There is an opportunity to\nspeak up for justice, finally. There is an opportunity for every single one of\nus to hold each other accountable, finally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silence is not an option in holding each other\naccountable, she noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing White people in the crowd, she said it\u2019s time\nto get off the fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fence is done,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to understand\nthat you have privilege. You have privilege and you have to be accountable to\nthat privilege. You have to understand how that privilege contributes to a\nsystem of inequality and just be honest about that. Talk to us about that. Be\npart of the conversation. Until you recognize the privilege and place that you\nhold, we won\u2019t be able to move that needle. No more excuses, guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to speak up when you see injustice. You have to\nask questions when you\u2019re not sure. Silence is not an option.  You have to challenge the status quo. You\nhave to question, your parents, your co-workers, your family, and you have to\nbe ready to have the uncomfortable conversations. Nobody is suggesting these\nconversations are easy to have, but we have to have them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also offered advice to the Black community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGive yourself permission to\nfeel all those feelings. We have a right to be angry. We have a right to feel\nlike we need to be violent. We have a right to get an outlet in terms of how\nwe\u2019re feeling and all of these emotions that we\u2019re feeling. Give yourself\npermission to feel those things. Stand together, sit together, be together,\nwork together, problem-solve together. We have to be part of this solution,\ntoo. We have to stand together. Don\u2019t let anyone else tell you what success\nlooks like. Don\u2019t let anyone else order your steps. We have got to order our\nsteps. We have got to take back our success. We have to get some of the control\nback. We have to be accountable too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe truly have to stay woke.\nMake your voice count. Respond in that second. Have you ever been in a\nsituation where someone says something to you, it feels a little bit\nuncomfortable, they walk away and you\u2019re still left feeling really gross and\nyou didn\u2019t say anything, and then you\u2019re thinking to yourself, \u2018I wish I said\nsomething.\u2019 Don\u2019t let any more of those opportunities pass. Every single time\nyou\u2019re left to feel uncomfortable, say something. Respond\u2026 We cannot let these\nopportunities pass. We all have a responsibility to not be afraid to speak up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlack is beautiful. Black girls rock. Black boys rock. Yes, of course, Black Lives Matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBlack is beautiful. Black girls rock. Black boys rock. Yes, of course, Black Lives Matter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/2020-06-11-01.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6WH","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-15 23:03:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}