{"id":32602,"date":"2023-02-09T17:40:50","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T22:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32602"},"modified":"2023-02-09T17:40:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T22:40:52","slug":"nacca-celebrates-the-black-family-as-a-source-of-perseverance-and-resilience-this-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/nacca-celebrates-the-black-family-as-a-source-of-perseverance-and-resilience-this-month\/","title":{"rendered":"NACCA celebrates the Black Family as \u201cA Source of Perseverance and Resilience\u201d this month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The role of the Black family as \u201cA Source of Perseverance and Resilience\u201d is in sharp focus this month as the Newmarket African Caribbean Community Association (NACCA) launches a series of programs for Black History Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese unprecedented and challenging times have provided us with an opportunity to re-evaluate our relationships, including those with family,\u201d say organizers. \u201cWhere possible, we have drawn upon the strength of family to negate isolation and social uncertainties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFamily is a basic unit in every society; however, the composition of the family is more complex to define. There is recognition that the \u2018ideal family\u2019 is one subset of a diverse society. Nowhere has this been more marked than within the diverse multi-ethnic Black community. Black families are not all the same and, like other racial ethnicities, the geographical location, culture, religion and socio-economic status play a large part in the modeling of each family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe historical challenges of the Black family from enslavement to present day are rooted in structural and institutional racism; this has served to delegitimize traditional African norms. In order to survive, the Black family has had to transform itself to buffer the experiences and impacts. Family and kin networks have served as an important bulwark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NACCA kicked off its commemorations on Wednesday afternoon with a flag raising in Newmarket, with a subsequent flag raising in East Gwillimbury, before gathering at Newmarket\u2019s Old Town Hall for a reception and art exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Programs continue this week with \u201cWalk with Our Children,\u201d a special speaker event with Ginelle Skerrit on February 8, and an illumination at Newmarket\u2019s Riverwalk Commons on Thursday night at dusk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis new public space is important to bringing awareness within our community, to advancing knowledge with our community around just having a greater respect for the diverse heritage, culture and contributions of Black Canadians to the building of our community and our country,\u201d says NACCA President Jerisha Grant-Hall, noting the program continues on February 15 with a panel discussion \u201cAchievers in Black Excellence,\u201d which will be led by previous winners of NACCA scholarships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know the Black family is diverse, it\u2019s intersectional. It\u2019s multifaceted,\u201d she says. \u201cOf course, a part of our Black family are children and youth. If we\u2019re showcasing the resilience and strength of family, we can\u2019t do that without showcasing the children and youth as well. The Achievers in Black Excellence is really a panel discussion to highlight what these young people\u2026how have they been able to achieve? What are the things that have brought them into their excellence?… They are all extraordinary folks living extraordinary lives and we want to engage with them to understand what the community\u2019s influence on their drive has been.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Black History Month continues, Grant-Hall says it\u2019s important to keep in mind that it\u2019s really about \u201cBlack History 365 \u2013 and 366 in a leap year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat February does it is sets time aside, that\u2019s all it is; it\u2019s just time set aside to amplify. Throughout the year, we\u2019re doing Black History, we\u2019re making Black history. The people who are a part of our organization, doing this work every day, are making Black history every day. The whole point of February is to set aside time to focus specifically on building awareness and knowledge. As an organization, all of our programs, the camp we hold in the Summertime, it is Afro-centric. It teaches Black history and Black heritage and brilliance. We as an organization we\u2019re not relegating this information to February but we understand that February is time we\u2019re setting aside to amplify and advance awareness and knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want people to leave these things and ask more questions and engage in more conversations, become change-makers for the things that they see in our community that are not equity building things, that are not inclusive. The whole point is to leave our community better than we had inherited it, so that is our goal: the goal is to engage our community, to move people to action, to build their curiosity and knowledge, and to have them make a difference, to leave Newmarket better than they found it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a full rundown of NACCA\u2019s programs throughout February and beyond, visit www.naccacommunity.ca\/black-history-month-2023.html.<\/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":"

The role of the Black family as \u201cA Source of Perseverance and Resilience\u201d is in sharp focus this month as the Newmarket African Caribbean Community Association (NACCA) launches a series of programs for Black History Month. \u201cThese unprecedented and challenging times have provided us with an opportunity to re-evaluate our relationships, including those with family,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"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-32602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8tQ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 09:18:41","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\/32602","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=32602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}