‘It doesn’t feel safe to be a person of colour’
Dozens of protesters at a Black Lives Matter march in Simcoe called for action to address racism in small communities like Norfolk County.
“This is years and years of oppression,” said Devin Defreyne, a Simcoe resident who said he organized the six-hour event Thursday to bring attention to a history of injustice toward marginalized communities.
“It’s not just police brutality we’re marching for. It’s justice,” Defreyne said.
The protest comes in light of recent events in the United States and Canada, such as the death of George Floyd — a 46-year-old Black man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis.
“Coming from a small town, I think there is a lot of opportunity to be silent on matters like this and just be nonconfrontational. But unfortunately, that doesn’t bring change,” said Tiffany Forde of Simcoe.
“It’s necessary to bring light to this
here. We just want people to know that Black lives are important, and making sure that Black lives, women’s lives, LGBTQ ... have equal opportunity and success in this world.”
Kody Forde was heartened by the public response to the protest.
“It’s awesome that a lot of people could come out. We’re trying to show that change needs to happen, and that’s what we’re here for,” he said over the sound of passing motorists honking their support and giving protesters the thumbs up.
As a person of colour living in Simcoe, Nate Orde says he’s experienced discrimination at the hands of the police.
“Just the racial profiling — I’ve been walking and they’ve just stopped me because I look like someone else,” he said, adding it is “necessary” to stand up for Black culture and combat racism.
“It’s good to use your platform to spread the information, but being out in person is something that really shows the effort and really takes the message to people,” Orde said.
“We need to talk about the whiteness in our country and the racism that is inherent in Canadian culture and Canadian society. It happens in bigger cities, but it accumulates and stems up from the smaller regions.”
Leo Ijogun drove in from London to join the call for change.
“It’s important because this keeps happening. It’s like a loop, every single time. It never stops. So, I’m tired, and I want it to stop,” Ijogun said.
“I just hope people can understand why we are fighting, and what we’re fighting for. And understand that we just want equality. That’s all.”
Watching footage of police brutality in the United States galvanized Sarah Auld to join the protest.
“I was disgusted by what happened to George Floyd and countless other people of colour,” Auld said. “We all need to come together and show that we support the Black Lives Matter movement, and I think if more and more communities do this and we keep at it, justice will be delivered.”
Meredith Wood’s eyes filled with tears when asked about her homemade sign. She wrote, “All mothers were called when he called for his Mama,” in reference to Floyd’s last words as he was being killed by Minneapolis police on May 25.
“I can’t talk about my sign without crying,” Wood said.
“I am here because I believe in equality, and I think that more people who don’t necessarily have to struggle with racism should stand up for those who do.”
She noted that calls for racial justice resonate in Norfolk because of incidents of racism toward the area’s Indigenous and migrant farmworker populations.
“We need to stand up and say it’s not right,” Wood said.
Julia Schott-Ramirez, who lives outside Delhi, hopes the protest is a catalyst for “real change” in Norfolk.
“Even though it’s a small town and has low crime rates, to me it doesn’t feel safe to be a person of colour,” Schott-Ramirez said.
“We’ve firsthand witnessed the racism, not only against ourselves but against other community members. And we feel that we need to raise a lot more awareness in this area about the current state of things and how we can all work together to decolonize.”
Schott-Ramirez said the antidote to systemic discrimination is “a lot of education.”
“Around here, (racism) looks like a lot of ignorance. It sounds like a lot of stereotypes, and it sounds like devaluing of any life that is not white,” she said.
“In high school, I’d hear comments calling people the Nword or telling people to go back where they came from, or stereotypes of Black men being violent. Things like that.”
Whether seen in prejudice toward migrant workers from Mexico and the Caribbean or Norfolk residents exhibiting racist attitudes in casual conversation, Schott-Ramirez said racism has to be confronted head on.
“Then we can start to change our own individual attitudes, and see what has to change to make a more sustainable system that serves everyone in the community,” she said.
“There should be no safe spaces for racism.”
Mikal Schomburg, the reverend at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Simcoe, walked over to lend his support to the cause.
“The way I read the Bible, Jesus was a brown man,” Schomburg said.
“Jesus was a refugee — he had to run from his country when he was an infant so he wouldn’t be persecuted and killed. He was a man of little means — he didn’t have position, he didn’t have privilege. And in the end, he was legally killed by the state, for nothing that he ever did. So if Jesus were walking around in Simcoe, Jesus would be here today. And that’s why I’m here.”
Danielle Chambers had a simple explanation for why she joined the protest.
“My heart’s breaking, so I’m here.”
J.P. Antonacci’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about the regions of Haldimand and Norfolk.