Black Lives Matter walk draws larger than expected crowd

While originally expecting just seven participants, a Black Lives Matter walk in Swift Current drew a group of over 100 supporters for an afternoon walk on June 11.

Walk organizer Indika Oberding led last Thursday’s peaceful walk, and at the conclusion of the route she was overwhelmed with the turnout.

“A lot more than I thought. We were expecting seven people. This is a lot more than seven to say the least,” she chuckled after completing an eight block route through downtown Swift Current.

“We even gained people when we were walking back we noticed. This is way more people than we started out with,” she said after returning to Memorial Park after the half hour walk.

Oberding was originally planning to host a Pride walk, but the Black Lives Matter movement got really big and vocal in the United States. She said it was important opportunity for Swift Current residents to show their support for the movement.

“Because people care. People know that everyone deserves to have a say, to have a voice, to be safe. And I think that’s why everyone came to show their support. Because they may not be happening here in Canada, but racism still exists everywhere.”

With June being Pride Month, Oberding also wanted to combine the Black Lives Matter movement and raise awareness of the inequalities that still stand in the LGBTQ+ community.

“A black Trans Woman gave us our rights to be LGBT. She was there. She threw the first brick. She started Stonewall. She was the one that got it going. She was one that got us our rights. It’s simply repaying a favour for what they gave us, because no one deserves to have to live in the shadows, to live in fear. No one should have to hide who they are. It’s a basic human right to be yourself. No one should have to hide that.”

Oberding was referring to Marsha P. Johnson, a trans-rights activist and drag queen who was at the forefront of the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 which was a galvanizing force for the gay rights movement.