Thousands gather for anti-racism rally
Overflow crowd at Centennial Square for Black Lives event
Organizers of a rally against antiblack racism on Sunday issued a challenge to the thousands of people who gathered, asking them to speak up when they encounter racism.
Asiyah Robinson, one of three organizers, told the crowd the event was about listening to black voices and turning outrage into action.
“I want you to feel committed. I’m holding you to this. If you see something, I want you to remember this moment. And if you don’t feel comfortable engaging, learn how,” Robinson said.
Centennial Square overflowed with people attending the Peace Rally for Black Lives, with some spilling onto surrounding sidewalks, streets and an adjacent parkade.
Robinson, along with Vanessa Simon and Pam Buisa — all black women living in Victoria — organized the rally.
The crowd’s cheers and chants could be heard from blocks away as a series of speakers recounted their often difficult, dangerous and demeaning experiences as people with black skin.
Encouraged by the speakers, the crowd roared “black lives matter” repeatedly. They yelled “shame” when they heard firstperson stories about mistreatment, threats and physical harm.
Many people in the crowd held homemade signs saying, “Black lives matter” and “If all lives mattered, we wouldn’t be here.” Others held up messages about defunding or abolishing the police. With COVID-19 pandemic warnings still in effect, most people in the crowd wore a face covering and made an effort to not get too close to other people.
Rally organizers told the crowd they were gathered to stand up against police brutality and antiblack racism.
Simon, who organized a similar event last Monday, said she threw together the first rally at the last minute to connect with others in Victoria’s black community at a time of widespread grief and outrage sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“I have always felt alone. I’ve always felt that belonging was challenging for me,” said Simon, who told the crowd she was adopted and grew up in a white family in White Rock.
“I dealt with racism inside my home, as well as at school,” she said.
Buisa, a rugby player who moved to Victoria from OttawaGatineau to pursue her Olympic dream to represent Canada, said Monday’s rally was the first protest she had ever attended.
“The reason for that is because I was scared. I was scared to stand up publicly to say I’m black and I’m proud,” she said. “We can’t be scared anymore. … We cannot be okay with what’s happening.”
Buisa said she wears the maple leaf every day in her training with Rugby Canada.
“But first of all, I wear my skin. I can’t detach myself from that.”
Robinson, who grew up in Freeport, Grand Bahama, led an exercise to illustrate common injustices experienced by black people and people of colour. She asked everyone in the crowd to raise a fist if they had ever seen videos of violence perpetrated against people who look like them, if someone had ever questioned their abilities because of the colour of their skin and if they’d ever been marked as suspicious and followed in a store.
Robinson asked those with their fists down to look around to see how many people around them could relate to those experiences.
She said those who had never experienced racism couldn’t understand what it feels like, but “you can do something about it.”
Organizers asked on- and offduty police not to attend the event, because their presence can be triggering for many in marginalized communities.
“That’s not to say that we’re not going to have a conversation with them, because it needs to be had. We will be inviting them some other day, but today is not that day,” Robinson said.
Police closed a section of Pandora Avenue, Douglas Street and Government Street to give the crowd space to spill into the road. A few officers were stationed where the roads were blocked off and there was a police presence in the area, but officers largely kept a distance from Centennial Square.