Anti-racism efforts transcending rural-urban divide in SW Ontario
The chants that started in cities are echoing back from the countryside.
From Stratford, Woodstock and Sarnia to smaller communities such as Ingersoll, Tillsonburg, and more rural areas, Black Lives Matter protests have popped up across Southwestern Ontario.
It’s a clear message that the Black Lives Matter movement transcends geography and the rural-urban divide.
“I think it matters more, especially in smaller towns,” said Hannah Hodder, founder of the Oxford County chapter of Black Lives Matter. “Compared to the U.S., I think Canada has a better way of concealing these kinds of issues.
“Especially for smaller communities, it’s not alarming, but it’s concerning. The level of racism is super concealed. You’re not sure whether there are people who are racist or closeted racists. It’s harder to go about these kinds of matters.”
While Woodstock is her hometown, Hodder opted to create the chapter to include all of Oxford County. “I feel like it’s important to include all the rural towns and areas,” she said.
Hodder created a Facebook page and organized a protest in Woodstock as hundreds of demonstrations continued throughout the world, sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis after white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck.
Hodder said the first step for individuals seeking to combat racism against Black, Indigenous and other people of colour starts with education.
“It’s important that as a community, we continue to engage people, teach them, educate them on what it means to be anti-racist,” she said. “There is a lot of room for growing and change.”
Her chapter plans to release a list of demands for local officials in the coming days, which will provide ways to tackle systemic racism in the community.
Eventually, Hodder hopes to have representatives from other rural towns in Oxford County assisting with the chapter.
In the meantime, rural protests and demonstrations — from townsquare rallies of 30 in Simcoe to marches of hundreds in Chatham-kent — raise awareness in predominantly white, conservative communities that may seem far removed from the movement’s epicentres.
“When I see those rural populations, which is something I see now more than ever before, saying, ‘This is wrong, I’m going to stand up and be an ally,’ that makes me feel good,” said Myrna Lashley, a psychiatry professor at Mcgill University who researches culture and mental health.
“I hope that we as human beings have empathy for other human beings, regardless of the size of the population in which we reside.”
Rural communities might be more engaged with the current anti-racism movement because they have greater access to information than before, Lashley said. They can see exactly what is happening in the world, no longer cut off in isolated bubbles.
“We’re all starting to understand now that we’ve all been working under the boot of colonialism. That boot has kicked us all,” she said.
But as the rural-urban divide starts to close, with more individuals moving from large cities to the countryside or young small-towners who moved away for school returning home, the opportunity arises to learn from the experiences in multicultural centres.
“I think it is good when people are exposed to other nationalities, when they are exposed to other people,” she said. “If they’ve been in urban centres, they certainly have a good understanding of the larger community. They can bring it back and educate others.”