{"id":32580,"date":"2023-02-09T17:33:34","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T22:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32580"},"modified":"2023-02-16T19:37:58","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T00:37:58","slug":"black-history-month-proclaimed-at-town-hall-flag-raising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/black-history-month-proclaimed-at-town-hall-flag-raising\/","title":{"rendered":"Black History Month proclaimed at Town Hall flag raising"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

York Regional Police Detective Kolin Alexander says he\u2019s very conscious of his uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a uniform he is proud to wear, he says, but as a Black man, he says \u201cit\u2019s not lost\u201d on him that what he dons can \u201cimpact members of my community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the Aurora community coming together on Wednesday night at Town Hall to raise the Pan-African Flag to signal the start of Black History Month, Alexander says he struck up a conversation with a girl, Trinity, who \u201chad a serious look on her face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to make sure she was comfortable before she jumped to any conclusions,\u201d he said before dignitaries, community organizers and members of the public who filled Council Chambers on Wednesday night. \u201c\u2018Are you okay? Are you afraid?\u2019 She said she was okay and that really warmed my heart because I know that there is trauma when I put on my uniform and at times I\u2019m a little conflicted because I love my job, this is something I really wanted to do, but I do recognize that when I put it on, and the good intentions I have, sometimes there is some impact that I\u2019m hoping and I am working towards each and every day, and the rest of my colleagues, to make things better so little persons like Trinity will feel comfortable and I am hoping that we can get there at some point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These sentiments were echoed throughout the Chamber as representatives from all levels of government, as well as community groups, renewed calls to eradicate racism in our own community and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is more than a flag-raising; this is a reminder for coming together as a community to demonstrate our fearlessness for the work that has to be done, the changes we need to see, standing up against anti-Black racism,\u201d said Ron Kellman of the Aurora Black Community Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These goals were reiterated by members of the Aurora Black Caucus, as well as the Town\u2019s Anti-Racism and Anti-Black Racism Task Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Aurora Black Caucus is comprised of people from all over Canada and they will attest to the fact that larger locations than Aurora come second to us when it comes to the things we have accomplished,\u201d said Caucus chair Milton Hart. \u201cLet us move to a time when all of the things we speak about are engrained and entrenched in our curriculum and into our consciousness. We are not there as yet. We still have work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work that still needs to be done was highlighted by Mark Lewis, Chair of the Town\u2019s Anti-Racism and Anti-Black Racism Task Force who said he experienced racism in York Region schools from Grade 6, and his daughter, 30 years later, \u201cwas still dealing with the same challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile we have made strides there\u2019s certainly a lot more work that needs to be done to eradicate racism in our community and it starts by all of us appreciating and understanding each other\u2019s cultures,\u201d said Lewis. \u201cI thank the Town of Aurora for making a space for us to celebrate the heritage of Black Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to a flag raising, Wednesday\u2019s ceremony was also an opportunity for Mayor Tom Mrakas and the Town to formally proclaim Black History Month throughout Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading his proclamation, Mayor Mrakas underscored the importance of recognizing and sharing \u201cthe important stories, history and achievements of the Black community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy heart is filled up because I look at the room and it speaks to the diversity in our community and it speaks to the fact of this tight-knit community of ours,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re growing, we\u2019re coming out, we\u2019re coming together, and these are all important things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy promise as Mayor of this Town, and I know Council believes in it as well, [is] we\u2019re going to do everything we can to get to that day where we can eradicate racism in our community. It\u2019s not just about our community, it\u2019s about working together\u2026We all need to work together to make a difference and to do it right, so we\u2019re going to keep doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy noted, \u201cBlack History Month is a time to celebrate Black culture and heritage and the many vital contributions Black Ontarians have made to our province\u2019s economic, social and cultural landscape. Throughout our history, Black Ontarians have helped to build our great Province with achievements in the arts\u2026the sciences, business and politics and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlack History Month is also a time to acknowledge that racism still exists in our society. Our government is committed to being an ally by ensuring we invest in programs that combat the negative impacts of racism and hate. I am proud to be a local partner in supporting our local Aurora-Newmarket Black Community today and into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not perfect,\u201d added Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill MPP Michael Parsa of Canada. \u201cWe can continue to do better, we can continue to learn from the past and the only way we can do that is by gathering, by listening, and making sure that we listen to those who expect us to do more [and] for us to be better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll Ontarians deserve a place to live free of racism, free of violence and free of fear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

York Regional Police Detective Kolin Alexander says he\u2019s very conscious of his uniform. It\u2019s a uniform he is proud to wear, he says, but as a Black man, he says \u201cit\u2019s not lost\u201d on him that what he dons can \u201cimpact members of my community.\u201d Ahead of the Aurora community coming together on Wednesday night […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32580","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\/2023\/02\/2023-02-09-06.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8tu","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 10:51:55","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\/32580","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=32580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}