Anti-Racism Rally in Mabou

Over 150 people gathered at the Mabou Athletic Centre on Saturday to protest and learn about systemic racism in our community. Demonstrators listened to a lineup of Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian speakers who opened up about being at the receiving end of racism.

On everybody’s mind at the rally – Rodney Levi, a Mi’kmaq man from the Metepenagiag First Nation who was killed by the New Brunswick RCMP just hours earlier. Levi was the second Indigenous person to be killed by police in the Maritimes in the last two weeks. Chantel Moore was shot during a wellness check on June 4th. 

“There is a lot of grief and pain in the communities that have lost their family members,” said rally co-organizer Melanie MacDonald on the mic, before inviting protesters to share a moment of silence in honour of victims of police brutality and their loved ones. “Let us send them our prayers for strength for healing.”

Waycobah band councillor Steven Googoo, who was one of the guest speakers, said we have to make the necessary changes in society. “For many, many years, we lost relationships, partnerships, friendships,” he said. “Racism is something that has to be addressed, and it has been here for many, many years. It’s time to take a stand.”

Protester Josie Robinson said people can make a difference by fighting racism within their own circles. “Stopping racism doesn’t always have to be in grand gestures,” she said. “Yes, coming to protests and doing this type of activism is important but it can also be in the small every day things, like if you have a relative who expresses racist views, you have to interject and combat that because a person of colour may not always have the safety to do so. It’s not going to be one grand thing that makes systemic racism stop, it’s going to be every-day gestures.”

The Mabou rally wasn’t the only one going on in Cape Breton/Unama'ki this weekend. About 70 demonstrators in Port Hawkesbury listened to speakers and took a knee to commemorate George Floyd, a Black man who was killed while being arrested by Minneapolis police on May 25th. A white officer knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. His death, caught on camera, sparked protests across the world.