Editing 2020-07-20 BlackLivesMatter march

=2020 Halifax Pride Black Lives Matter Rally= ==Source== * Transcribed from https://www.facebook.com/halifaxpride/videos/298935928021302 "March" * Transcribed by DanielMacKay, 2020-07-25 * This is a draft; if you have any corrections, please contact us or make them. ==People== * P001 white shirt, medium length curly black hair, neon green socks * P002 dark hoodie, pink camo shorts, neon orange socks, black boots * P003 blue? sneakers, black pants, black shirt, pride flag as a cape * P004 dark cap, short beard, white teeshirt, Black Lives Matter sign, black shorts, white shoes * P005 dirty blond hair, blue top, red pants, sandals * P006 black hair, black tank top, black pants, black sneakers * P007 black hair with red bun, black teeshirt with white print, black shorts, black flipflops * P008 long wavy black hair, black and pink knee length dress, black shoes * P009 brown hair short ponytail, black teeshirt, grey shorts, yellow sneakers * P010 reddish medium length hair, tan shirt & pants, blue jacket * P011 long black hair, black tee, silver belt, black pants, black boots * P012 black head covering, white tee, blue jacket, blue jacket, tan sneakers * P013 salt’n’pepper wavy hair, blue tee, black shorts, grey sneakers ==Transcript== P001 ... this year we thought that we would rewrite the narrative and make it a little blacker (crowd cheers) I know that there's a long, complicated history with Pride and racialized folks. I'm not here to prentend that that didn't exist or doesn't still exist and that we aren't still in conversation about how to make Pride a better place. (applause) There have been lots of requests both (??) the table that have been really harmed by Pride that are still working through that (??) I want to honour those folks that have continued to show for the conversation in the name of intersectionality, so give yourselves a round of applause. (applause) Originally Pride was a protest. It started because police are racist. (laughter and cheers) Oh my god. So real. And that's still happening (??) these days. Police had its roots in slavery and that's how it started. So to pretend that it wasn't born out of that racism, anti-black racism would be ridiculous. So that's what we're seeing in the streets today. OK. So, that's why we're trying to make a little bit of noise today, trying to open the mike for folks who want to say whatever they want to say. It doesn't matter. I'm not here to police what you're going to say, the thing with policing, when we say "abolish it" we mean also the way we police each other, right, so let's replace the policing with care and love (??) (cheers) and the queer communtiy has like problems, interacting (??) with racism as well, just because we're marginalized doesn't mean we don't have some shit to address, we do, and this is the beginning of having those conversations we have to be open to change, though, OK? I won't be on the mic all night. Everyone's heard me talk so much. But, we are going to do some chants, and I think that we shoudl start with Black LIves Matter, "Black Lives, They Matter Here" 0:02:06.0 (chant) "Black Lives, They Matter Here" (chant) "Black Queer Lives, They Matter Here" (chant) "Black Trans Lives, They Matter Here" Give yourselves a round of applause. 0:02:47.8 Right. So we're trying to get back to some of the roots of what Pride was, which was a protest. So we all had enough time to like watch the news incessantly when there was a pandemic we were locked down and stuff, so folks were faced to look at the brutality that black bodies experience all of the time, right? It's a constant thing. It's walking in the streets, it's walking into a store, it's what you get pulled over, the anxiety you feel, it's everything. And as we're (??) individuals and not binary (??) individuals however you identify, whatever language affirms your identity, we all know how it feels to be marginalized, right? Imagine that twice over. We're asking for solidarity. Black folks are asking for solidarity. We need it. It's time. It's time for to all.. We have to fight for each other like you're fighting for yourself, like it's your last day. Like it's your last day. (cheers) 0:03:37.5 Everybody (??) we have to do it differently this time. We've said this before in these spaces. We want things to be differently, so let's do it differently. We can't have folks burn out. You have to know where are best, and where your fight is most effective. If that means you're taking on policy, if that means you're taking on transit, or housing, or employment, whatever it is, whatever it may be, you have a space there, maybe it's one-on-one care for somebody, one-on-one care for a black person that you're close with, that you could check for. Maybe you donate, whatever it is, we need people in every single space all the time relentlessly. Politicians work for us. The government is supposed to work for us. That's why we (??) . So get them to do what you want them to do. What do you want them to do? What do we want people to do? 0:04:23.9 I'm gonna do... another chant. (apologizes to interpreter for talking so fast.) 0:04:42.6 We're gonna say "No Justice, No Peace, No racist police" (chant) 0:05:05.8 There's the cops! They arrived on time! (boo) "How do you spell racist? Halifax Police" (chant) 0:05:28.0 OK so when we say that, people are like, "omgish what, the police are racist, it's like actually, yeah. We have statistics that prove that, with the street check report, the Wardley report, we flew in a researcher, a white guy, from Toronto named Scott Wardley, and we said, "we need you to validate the racism that black people feel, so if you could study the stats and report back to us and create recommendations even though you're not black and you're not from here. He found that black men between the ages of 18 and 35 are six times more likely to be stopped by the police 0:06:01.5 crowd: yeah! and that's embarrassing. And the police said that it was less than that which is even more embarrassing. So they lied. We also have seen really intense instances of police brutality against black bodies in Halifax recently and also historically. There was an incident with Demario Chambers Dixon (??) at Bedford Mall who was tackled by the police and assaulted. Yay! 0:06:24.5 That's actually embarrassing, he's a child. He's fifteen years old. Santino Reo (??) in Walmart being accused of stealing before she actually left the (??) line. As somebody who worked in retail for literally forever, she had to leave the store. She had to leave the store in order to be proven stealing and everyone's like "oh good job her charges were dropped" but, of course her charges were dropped, but she didn't steal. So it feels like a big win but we got... we have to critically look at these things. And there was another incident with Mr Calvin Fraser on Quinpool Road where he was tazed. Sixty four years old and he was tazed by the police three times. He's lucky to have ?? out on the other side. And then we know that Regis Corchens (??) was murdered by Toronto police in Toronto, but she has ties to here so that one hits home. So again, it's not about qualifiying when we're saying the police are racist, this is fact. We just need to do something else. Cool? Are you guys ready? (cheers) 0:07:32.0 P002 We have a moment right now in history where when we look back ten years from now, we'll be asking what did you do and how did you help, and what side were you on? We're in the midst of .. I don't want to say a post covid, but we're in the midst of COVID-19, we're in the midst of race relations internationally and then Pride lands sort of in the middle almost right after that, and we're all fighting to be treated equally, to be treated fairly. And this is a moment right now in history where folks from the LGBTQ2S+ community, the black community, everybody has an opportunity to stand in solidarity with everybody. So all come together. (cheers) 0:08:33.8 For Pride, and for folks to allow myself, Trey Vaughn as a straight male to be a part of this, to be an ambassador for Pride, as I've been saying, it's an absolute honour. That comes a lot of... that comes with responsibility that comes with moral obligations to be better, to learn more, to do better. And with that, Halifax, we have a unique opportunity to set the trend to do shit differently. (cheers) 0:09:09.6 We're living in a time when we accept that good enough is good enough. And that shit has to be done with. We have to demand more, we have to demand better, we have to do better. It's not OK to just sit back and do nothing. As Kay (Kate???) was talking about, however you choose to show up, you have to show up. People ask, what can I do? My question back is, "Well, what do you do?" So if you're a business owner, if you have particular skills, if you're working in a particular field, use those skills and move the needle for all people in that area. (applause) 0:09:51.4 We live in a place right now where groups of marginalized people are not feeling accepted, and we can't stand that stuff any more in this city. It can't be applying for a job and only seeing he or she, that's not good enough. You have to do the work to change that stuff. It can't be walking into a store as a black male or a black person in Halifax and being followed by the store clerk, it's not good enough. It can't be black men are six times more likely to be arrested by police and we're just accepting it's not good enough. We have to make changes and we have to do it right now. It's not about getting it right, it's about getting it right, right now. Because our lives depend on the movement that we make right now. So when we're looking back five, ten years from now, when we're all talking about COVID and it's popping up on our Facebook timelines, what did you, what did we do, how did we come together? Collective impact is the best way that we can make this movement actually work. This march, Pride, all of this, will be for nothing if we don't come together. We have to all come together and work together to make movement and to make real change in our cities. (applause) 0:11:18.5 P003 Hello everyone my name is Trayvone Clayton, ?? name change ?? I wasn't here for the opening, ?? for myself... I just wanted to say that I'm grateful to be here today, I did this, I honoured Kate because she has taught me so much about ths, about Pride. Last year I never had anything against Pride but I was never around Pride. And so this year as I am begging you guys to accept me for my skin colour, I understand now that black queers and black trans are begging for you guys to accept them as their skin colour and as who they are. So that's something that I'm .... (applause) 0:12:20.3 I always accepted it but I'm starting to get myself more comfortable with it. I acknowledge Kate for letting me be around her to see this side of the story, this side of the.. ?? Because I really appreciate it. So I just wanted to say I'm honoured to be an ambassador for you guys here today, this is a great movement to make happen all across Canada, North America, and so for ones who feel that they don't know what they're doing, you gotta take it as this: you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Racism, don't be afraid to stand up, just because you're white don't be afraid to stand up against your own people. It's not a mistake. Trust me, when you stand up against it, they're going to listen to you. Because you're defending for us, they're going to pay attention to what you're saying (applause) 0:13:12.7 ?? a white man, come from Toronto to Halifax to share our stories. Now we've been complaining about for more than 20 years, but yet it took 20+ years to get that story out but yet it had to be done by a white man. And that's sad that I have to say that. That's sad that I have to get someone else who hasn't experienced anything that I've been going through, the rainbow cape etc, other black people have been going through to explain our stories. So you guys really need to start paying attention to the things we're saying because it's not a lie. I wouldn't lie about racism. So I need your guys' support from now, next month, the month after, and the month after that. Years, after this, this is still going. Don't use this as trending topic right now just to get yourself out there and seen. You gotta use this for the rest of your life. Everything we're talking about, we're teaching you, pay attention to it, take it, make sure you're teaching your kids, other kids and more kids. (applause) 0:14:13.4 I'm only 22 but I'm ?? as if I'm way over. I'm sitting here arguing for rights for my little sisters, my nephews, my little brother, and like I said, I'm only 22, I shouldn't be doing this at 22. I'm not even finished university. But thank you guys for being here today. (applause) 0:14:40.7 P001 OK, yay Tray, yay Rico! (applause) So part of the reason why it's so important that we're all ambassadors together is because black CIS straight men also have a responsibility within this fight. I need to know that I'm protected by my brothers. I need to know that and you all need to know that they will protect you too. You feel me? So it's very important that they're taking up this space and having these conversations maybe for the first time ever, but they need to be normalized and made a part of every day dialog. So I'm so proud of them. They accepted this role for me fearlessly, for me and raised us up. (applause) 0:15:25.4 P002 One last thing I just wanted to say is that, it's not about any one person, but it's bigger than every person. It's not about the individual, it's about the collective. A few things on what Kate just mentioned, and usually when Kate does that I start to ?? a little bit. I think that while I'm taking this on as an honour and for people to say they're proud, I don't want people to be proud, because it's a conversation I should have been having or a role I should have been playing, a responsibility that I should have been taking on a long time ago. I'm 31, and I don't want people to say they're proud, although I accept it, but right now the knowledge that I have, the friendship that I've gained, the acceptance that I feel, now is the real work, now is the grind work, and now is the way forward. And so with that, unless Kate has anythign to add, I'm going to say a sincere and humble thank you thank you, and let's get some shit done! (applause.) 0:16:50.7 little kid chant: "No justice, no peace! abolish police!" (applause) 0:17:16.8 I'll take this opportunity to share this thought: so we say defund the police, we mean, start by stripping some of their budget away and allocating it to community mental health and safety initiatives. (applause) 0:17:34.4 that's step one. And think about how many times we see it on the TV, "Call this line if you have a tip on this crime" We actually are still doing police officers' jobs, fundamentally. They still need us, they rely on community intel, they rely on conversation and community relationships and they will lie on community relationships as well. So it's important to think it's not impossible, we just have to reimagine, and as marginalized folks, we haven't always been given the courage to dream and reimagine, so your ancestors would want that for you. Our community members that have passed on this year will want that for you. The black people that can't dream any more want us to dream for them. It is our responsibility to create a better world to live in. That's our responsibility. When you're here saying Black Lives Matter, keep that same energy all the time. All the time. (applause) 0:18:35.4 when we say, ?? come through, we'll come for you too, I promise, OK? It's a dual thing. It's a relationship thing. You gotta give, you gotta take, you gotta push, you gotta pull. And we all have to push each other to ask for better. We don't have to settle. This is our world, we decide what it looks like. So dream for something more, OK? We can. 0:19:06.7 At this point we're just shootin' the shit so if anybody wants... (laughter) Jad is working with Kat on the board so give Jad a round of applause. (cheers) 0:19:27.1 Oh look, there's a Pride fire truck! (some applause) People say all the time, you don't ??? we'll fuck the fire people so... (laughter) so there's a reason for that. So I also just want to acknowledge that there's a lack of indigenous representation here this evening, and that is a shortcoming of Pride, that's a shortcoming of me, that's a shortcoming of ... us as a collective, and we can be better and more intentional. So part of the thing is like obviously ?? I know indigenous folks, I've organized with indigenous folks, I love indigenous folks, but if I wasn't reaching out, with an adequate amount of time for them to make a decision not feel pressured, and not in the spirit of creating a relationship or further programming, that's fake, that's some fake shit. So I just wanted to say that we acknowledge that, Jad and I had this conversation earlier, and I can say my bad for sure, and we can all do better at being more intentional in how we include indiginous folks. if we ask at the last minute, we be tokenizing, and that's like marginalized folks, we have to do better than that, so yeah, we fucked up bad. )I'm sorry for the children. ) That's OK to say you made a mistake as long as you learn, and actually do something about it. (applause) 0:20:56.4 I should have said a land acknowledgement before we started, but we are on unceeded unsurrendered Mi'kmag territory, this land is governed by the peace and friendship treaties, specifically the peace and friendship treaties that were written between the years of 1725 and 1779 but specifically the Peace and Friendship Treaty that governs this land that we're on right now was signed in 1752 by Jean Baptiste Co (??) . When we think about peace and friendship, sounds super nice, but when you think about how the government moves and how the systems move it's not that nice. And the treaties that govern this land never had anything to do with giving the land up or away, right? It wasn't a land title passover, they were saying, "We would like to welcome you here" .... [she's interrupted] 0:21:47.6 yeah the white people need the treaty is what Masuma (??) just said. The white people needed it for their protection. It was also to do with the Mi'kmag nation being able to live here and to live off of the land in a way that they could still provide for themselves in a traditional way. And when you look at the development around the city and you look at how excluded indigenous folks are from conversations obviously the government is making a mess of these treaties. And I think that it's really important that we have indigenous voices and Mi'kmag voices here spearheading conversations and having their culture and traditions included in the way we are structures fundamentally. 0:22:23.5 OK, I've talked so much, is there anybody else want this megaphone? 0:22:36.9 P004 HI everybody, my name is Jad, I'm a settler on this land, I'm an immigrant, I ??? at four, I serve on the board of Halifax Pride and it's a very complicated relationship, I'm part of the Queer Arabs of Halifax ... (applause) 0:23:03.7 I envisioned my role in Halfiax Pride as taking one inch forward to creating spaces that are actually accessible and welcome to QTBIPOC folk and I want all of us to hold Halifax Pride and other systemic white organizations as such accoutable for failing to do that on a daily basis. Really this space has traditionally been a white space but today it's POC life (applause) 0:23:39.8 If you are a POC, if you identify as a person of colour, if you identify as black, if you identify as indigenous to this land, take up the space, you do not need permission, you don't need to ask anybody. Firstly we have a march, come to the fuckin' front. This is your space. (applause) 0:23:58.1 call the folks who have hurt you out, there are people here today who are willing to listen. So this is what we mean when we are opening the .. this megaphone for folks ?? I've been hurt by white folks, I've been hurt by white organizations, so many of us have, all of us queer folk have been hurt by cis organizations, by hetero organizations, we need to hold those folks accountable for them to start listening, we need to demand that we are respected and that these spaces belong to us because ultimately we have created these spaces ourselves, all of us have. (applause.) 0:24:41.4 I'm really ?? folks have showed up today, I don't know if this is what you were expecting, but shit disturbing is my number one thing I'm here for eh. (applause) ?? come up and speak, no one needs to have a speech, nobody needs to be eloquent, nobody needs to ... just scream into the mic for a minute and get it out. Now people are listening. And then we'll talk about how we're going to get to the vigil. 0:25:23.4 P002 So... hello, hello So, followup from Kate in regards to police. Do police prevent crime is sort of the conversation we're having at the moment. Police show up to a crime that often has already happened. There's a couple of jobs, people may have heard this, this is a Chris Rock vid, but there's a couple of jobs that require you to be ?? perfect every single time. A pilot. A train driver. A transit driver. And a police officer. Imagine if Halifax Transit said, "We crash our buses every now and then but for the most part we're good apples." We wouldn't accept that. We just wouldn't accept that. But we've become somewhat accepting of the fact that this happens, and so again, as the people, we make decisions and we stand up every day to say that this stuff is not right. So is there anybody that wants to take this mic from me. Andreas... 0:26:48.9 P005 Can you hear me? Got it. I just wanted to ?? here for a friend and for black people everywhere all over the world. As a reminder that that Halifax is a welcoming place where we welcome people from all over the world, and I never ever want to diminish the fight here, but I wanted to share a statistic from Brazil where every 23 minutes a black person is killed by police, and so I just wanted to remind you that colonization happened all over North America and around the world and when we fight this fight, we have to think locally and we have to think globally when we think about where we're putting our money, if we're donating to organizations that are fighting against police brutality that we consider the lives of black people everywhere, not just here. (applause.) 0:28:13.5 P006 Hello Halifax, how you doin' ! ?? hello black queer people how you doing? (cheers) 0:28:23.8 Hello black queer people of colour how you doing?? (cheers) ?? to queer people, how you doing? (cheers) ???? pride is in essence started by black, queer, black trans women and it's beautiful to see.. ??? (cheers) so many different faces out here pay respects to many bipoc queer people who have died and have been put at harm as a result of white supremacy, and ?? reminder to people who don't come from those specific communities, who are not black, who are not bipoc people, who are not indigenous people, it's lovely that you come out to these things but it's important to put the things you learn in these spaces in practice, not just during Pride Month, not just during Black History Month, but 365. (cheers) 0:29:21.9 and if you're not doing this, I'm letting you know from now that ?? performative bullshit and we as a black inidgenous people of colour are over it. We're not here for it any more. So collect yourself from now, please and thank you. There are so many resources that are available, that are made by blacks, indigenious, people of colour both from Nova Scotia and across the world so if you haven't read a book, read an article about it, strongly encourage you to do it. There are so many stores in Halifax itself to go collect it, go online is not that difficult, it's relatively simple, but that's all I have for you... 0:30:04.9 P007 So, I'm not a part of organizing Halifax Pride, but I have been an organizer before, and I just want to say that I'm very tired of showing up to rallys for black folks, for indigenous folks, for two-spirit folks, for queer folks, for gay folks, and having people who don't know their place take up space on the mic. I'm real sorry. Like, we need to have, we need to pay attention when show up up to support our communities that we're showing up in order, so when Beyonce or even Chris says, "Let's get informed" it means, "Know the fuck where you stand" AKA if we are here, we're QTBIPOC folk and queer black folks should be speaking first (crowd: amen) trans black folks should be speaking next, like (cheers) 0:31:01.2 if you need to look at it like some kind of Venn Diagram from when you back in school, like Black in the middle, and ??? indigenous folk in the middle that we have black folk, white people you are on the outest ring. The outest ring. (cheers) ?? only if it's not important otherwise shut the fuck up and stop taking our space I'm so sorry. ??? (cheers) I thought so, thank you. 0:31:35.4 P008 0:31:41.7 I'm a ?? individual but I'm a talk right now. So I'm a black trans woman (cheers) ?? only trans family that's here right now. But what I do want to say is that I'm taking stock, and I'm also taking attendance. I'm fucking tired of seeing people that said they're for our community and not fucking showing up (cheers) 0:32:09.4 I just ?? I know who is not here, and there's a few people that I will be addressing later who are not here because if you are here for QTBIPOC people, we are not are trend, we are not a fucking tiktok, we are not a facebook to you. (cheers) If you're not here to ?? then you're not here at all. For the last time. If I don't fucking see your face, you ain't my friend. Thank you. 0:32:47.2 P001 Anybody else? 0:32:58.6 P009 Hi, my name's Breck (??) I am fourteen years old and (crowd: fourteen!) I myself am a queer nonbinary person and (cheers) ?? non binary ??? so I am here and I'm happy how I look so (cheers) I didn't exactly know what to say but I just couldn't stay silent, this means so much to me, I myself am not a person of colour, but I understand so much ?? means, if you don't support Black Lives Matter then like... I don't understand how you can't support someone a living life, we all bleed the same blood and nothing can change that, we are all the same, you know what I mean? (cheers) 0:33:56.9 Black and indigenous people I admire today, tomorrow and always and I'll always be like that so... (cheers) 0:34:22.0 P010 Hi. ?? i dunno.. ?? everyone has stolen the words right out of my mouth, but I'm just going to ask a general question I guess: Can I have a show of hands how many of you have posted a black square on instagram or social media within the past two months? Delete it. It's performative bullshit. (cheers) And I do not have time for it. 0:34:56.8 P001 OK there's also a little bit more to that. So with the square, it was like hashtag black lives matter which actually has blacked out the entire feed and important news that was happening we couldn't get ahold of any more, and channels were clogged. So it actually interrupted communication across borders that we rely on outside of mass media to connect with other black folks. I need to see the shit that's happening in Ferguson, I need to see the shit that's happening in Minneapolis, I need to see New York, I need to see it all, and when you clogged shit like that with weird hashtags that make not a lot of sense? 0:35:27.4 [off] No more hashtags BLM with your friggin children that are not black Alright.. .no more hashtags. So just think about these things as like strategies and algorithms to social media which are complicated but important that we talk about and take the opportunity to share (dog yips) yeah, that! (laughter) 0:35:51.0 Is there anybody else who wants to speak? P011 0:35:57.7 I'd just like to quickly acknowledge the queer Métis people of Halifax (applause) ?? we are valid and we will not be silenced. 0:36:23.9 P012 This has been a long road. (laughter) Hey everyone, my name's (??) Rastul Con, I'm a community organizer, and I've been calling out Pride since 2016. (applause) ?? traumatized ??? . Do you know what happened at the 2016 AGM? (agree) You should know. I was part of the Dalhousie Student Union and I was very vocal in getting my student union to boycott Halifax Pride for the way that they treat racialized black indigenous people of colour, all these community members and I'm going to read to you something that Adam Reid said in the article in 2016. So, you can find this article in "Mending Fences at Pride" and it talks about the two student unions that boycotted Halifax Pride. And this was 2017, the summer we had boycotted by 2016. And I'm just going to read a part of this, and just bear with me because I've been waiting a very frickin' long time to say this: "Dalhousie Student Union has taken a different path, choosing to boycott Halifax Pride in spite of the festival's changes." What changes? What changes? What changes? (snapping) 0:38:12.5 A boycott motion passed in January after Halifax Pride made a presentation to the Union about the additions to its policy. Alright? This is what I said: "they did not really meet the concerns of our councillors." says ??? Con. Some of the concerns were that Pride .. what was Pride really going to do to create a safe space for QTBIPOC queer trans indigenous black and people of colour from their communities, what were they going to do? What were they going to do? (applause) 0:38:46.4 Reid counters, Reid counters that many of the concerns ?? listed on the motion were already being addressed. Well I'm still waiting, cuz. What are you talking about, already been addressed. This is 2017 mind you, three years. What we told them that we were already working on those things and were happy to continue collaborating and discussing with them, they still voted to pass the motion and I haven't heard from them since. No, what had happened was we asked them a question and they didn't have a response. They didn't have a plan. They created so much violence for the community, they made it so hard for people to engage with them. They didn't care, they didn't care, they did not care. And Adam Reid is coming against me in an article, and here I am, a visibly Muslim hijabi woman at the DSU putting in the word for my community, and you come here to counter me. I don't care if you signed the cheques to ?? sit on panels. I don't care, I'm going to call you out right now. Where the fuck are you? (cheers) 0:40:12.1 Reid recognizes everything won't change overnight, but he wants Pride to be a community grounded event. You didn't ground shit. You didn't ground shit. All you did was violate people. Your leadership is completely inviolating queer and trans 2T bipoc 2S community members in this fucking land. (cheers) 0:40:37.7 ??? I'm open to the fact that Pride is sort of like an ever evolving entity. The issues we face this year may not be those issues we face next year. DId you know how Pride started? That's the same fuckign issue! What the fuck are you talking about? [off] Where's the Pride Board members ??? right now. 0:41:21.1 Yeah the Pride Board Chair just walked out coz they're being called out. I'm sorry y'all I had to do it, it's been three years. It's been four. I'm open to the fact that Pride is ... I"m going back to what he said: "Pride is an ever evolving entity," says Reid, "The issues we face this this year may not be the same issues we face next year and it's really exciting. Certainly makes me nervous but that's fantastic, right?" Excuse me, but there has been some shady shit going on in this organization so bear with me when I say this: All the white folks at Halifax Pride need to step the fuck down. Now. (cheers) 0:42:08.9 Step the fuck down, and make space for the queer, black, indigenous and racialized folk to be part of the organization because it's the end of time for you to capitalize off of people like Janet's work, off of all this labour, off of you to use ambassadors to get off and be racist still. Still. I'm done with it. It's over. I speak on panels for my community, I've worked with queer youth, I do the shit that needs to get done. It's time, it is beyond time, that all these white folks in Halifax Pride and a bunch of other organizations across this city, step the fuck down and make space. You need to step down so that we can take it. (cheers) 0:43:04.1 P001 Alright, alright ??? power. Before we direct and be like whoa, wow, what was that, OK listen, K, Massum ??'s my homie so don't go there. Number two, if we don't have transparent conversations about what happens in organizations we can not fundamentally change. When we hide, when we protect, when we don't admit that we were wrong, we can not fundamentally change, right? Everybody wants change, so let's have these transparent conversations and hold each other accountable. I know you want to say something. Can you? Are you able? P008 0:43:45.5 OK, I've been known in Halifax as a ?? in Halifax. As a black trans woman, when I see head of Pride, who is also a black male, fucking get fed up and leave, not ?? not ?? not sit here and understand what the fuck he did, and just walk out the fucking ... oh, I'm telling you right now, it's going to be public, it's going to be mean, and it's going to be bad. I want Adam gone, I want fucking Morgan gone (cheers) ??? goodbye, goodbye, good fucking bye. 0:44:25.1 P001 Give it up for ?? (Elle?) (cheers) She still ?? P013 0:44:44.6 So, my name is (??) Leeann ? Lance ? (cheers) I am the queer (??) am founder (cheers) 0:44:55.2 and we have ?? ized Pride for the last four fucking years because of the fucking AGM that's harmed us, that's made us feel so fucking worthless, so fucking angry, and he just fucking left without even hearing my fucking anger. Fuck. (cheers) 0:45:16.6 This is the motherfucking first time, the motherfucking first time we've been back here because (??) Jaz worked, because (??) Tenise worked, we need some fucking apologies to us ... ??? motherfucking work. Our work is not done because we're here. We still have work to do. Black lives matter. Indigenous lives matter. Trans lives matter. Fuck everyone who stands against us. We're done. (cheers) 0:45:52.7 What you do, the ?? white people? (sarcasm) the prime minister was in town. oh my god let's go to Pride. Let's go celebrate with the Prime Minister. Instead of like, boycotting pride and demanding that gay black ??? be like, eradicated. You could have done so much work. You could have stepped up in front of the fucking prime minister, fucking ??washing. We're done, man, we're fucking done, this is our anger, you're going to have to sit uncomfortably with this forever. Deal with this forever. Do the work. Do the motherfucking work. (cheers) P004 0:46:49.2 Alright folks, we're going to get ready to march. I just want to say something. Firstly, when you go home today, take care of yourself, self care is so important. Especially my POC friends. Take care of yourself, this is such a high energy moment. it's re-living trauma over and over and over. Please care for yourselves, your lives are so important and ??) (cheers) 0:47:21.7 secondly and most importantly, all of us have privilege, but some of us have a lot of fucking privilege and you folks have to learn to be comfortable in your discomfort. You have to learn to feel OK understanding that you are the benefactor of generations upon generations of crime and violence and race and erasure and pillaging and hurt and yeah people are upset, but we have the right to be upset. And you can not be more upset than us. Do not show us your privilege, tears, do not erase us with your white guilt. This is not the space for this. The space is here for you to understand, for you to take in that people are hurt and people are calling on you, we are calling, we are demanding, we are showing up to your spaces, we are demanding that you make room for us. Step the fuck aside and listen. (cheers) 0:48:39.5 So we're obviously over time, I expected this, however, we'll be marching to the Friendship Park which is down by the Westin over there. We told police to fuck off as we should, always (cheers) 0:48:58.5 what that means is, we all have to be responsible ourselves to make sure coz we'll be walking on the fucking street, that means, leave no one behind, that means (??) Leeny will make sure that traffic is controlled, that we're taking up space, we're going to walk down, ?? we're going to walk relatively slowly, we're going to chant and make a lot of noise, POC specifically, black and indigenous folks to the very front, if you're not black, if you're not indigenous, please don't be at the very front, I will ask you to move to the back. (off) Please just ?? back up. 0:49:29.6 K . So. Led by black and indigenous folks, queer black and indigenous folks, we will march on south park street, turn left onto ... sorry I'm so confused. We're going to walk down to the end on South Park Street... (off) Just follow us (cheers) 0:49:53.3 Listen, one last thing. Some us may have access needs, we're not running, this is a march, we're going to march at a pace where elders and those who have access needs can also follow with us. (cheers) P007 ??? we're going to start with the chants, and in the spirit of shutting down Pride we're going to go No Justice for Black, No Justice For Brown, What do we do? Shut it down, shut it down. (chant) end at 0:50:47.2

Summary:

This change is a minor edit.

Username: