Black council still waiting for dialogue
Meaningful consultation a must, Leslie Mccurdy says.
The Black Council of Windsor-essex is a collective of more than 60 African, Black and Caribbean (A.B.C.) community organizations and individuals who advocate for the advancement of the members of the African, Black and Caribbean (A.B.C.) diaspora within Windsor and Essex County.
On July 19 at Windsor's city council meeting, TBCWE was disheartened by the conversation that ensued insinuating that consultations were held with TBC to inform the city's anti-racism initiative that saw funding allocated to the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex.
This was in fact patently untrue.
We believe the city's administration was dishonest in saying they conducted consultations with The Black Council of Windsor-essex with regard to anti-black racism in response to the George Floyd murder last summer.
Common good practice across municipalities states that consultation is: “the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people. It is a powerful vehicle for bringing about environmental and behavioural changes that will improve the health of the community and its members. It often involves partnerships and coalitions that help mobilize resources and influence systems, change relationships among partners, and serve as catalysts for changing policies, programs, and practices.”
Nothing like that occurred.
The council did have conversations with Mayor Drew Dilkens and his office pertaining to possible collaborations, but they were abruptly ended when we requested some autonomy and equality.
Conversations can amount to mere tokenism. In addition, we feel the survey conducted by the mayor's office, which was administered over
Conversations can amount to mere tokenism.
June-july 2020, was completely inadequate, ill-conceived and could not be proven to reflect the views of racialized individuals.
When most of the conversations and meetings the mayor was referring to took place last summer, TBC was not yet in existence, we feel further proving the disingenuous “support” behind the city's anti-racism initiative.
However, some individuals did attend those conversations and that is how TBC came to be when it was recognized even then that the actions being taken at that time were performative in nature and not genuine in attempts to tackle racism.
The final decision to fund this particular anti-racism initiative we believe was misguided.
How can people who don't know the difference between religion, culture, anti-racism and multiculturalism develop anti-racism programming?
Multiculturalism, something that the MCC does well, is not anti-racism. Even though anti-racism has been a part of their mandate for 48 years, it is our belief they have never actively provided programs or resources to support anti-racism efforts.
With the MCC there is a tendency to eulogize our culture through storytelling and such, rather than dealing with real systemic inequities.
Additionally, it appeared to us the city was already prepared to engage with the MCC without considering any other options.
Thankfully on Thursday, MCC decided to withdraw from the city's anti-racism initiative.
During the July 19 council meeting, we were appreciative of the position of Coun. Rino Bortolin, who seems to have done his homework on what anti-black racism is and how it should be dismantled.
In this meeting, he was an ally and we are grateful for that. We feel Coun. Chris Holt also made some good points and demonstrated he has some understanding of the difference between multiculturalism and anti-racism.
We believe the intended appearance of the city's anti-racism initiative was a re-election ploy on behalf of the mayor and some council members.
TBC would like to reiterate how we look forward to engaging in genuine consultation and partnering with the City of Windsor to institute more meaningful and intentional actions.