Happy Black History Month! And Happy Lunar New Year too!
Hastings Anti-racism Committee (HARC) has another week’s worth of inspiring stories and resources!
We hope you enjoyed all the stories from last week’s email and have shared some of what you learned with your kids. Now let’s dig in to this week’s stories!
1. Joe ‘Seraphim’ Fortes was so beloved by Vancouverites that more than 10,000 lined his funeral procession in 1922.
Learn More…
2. What you may have ‘learned’ about The Black Panthers may be far from the truth!
Learn More…
3. COINTELPRO was a counterintelligence agency that targeted and infiltrated groups that were deemed a threat to US politics. Both Martin Luther King and the Black Panthers were main focuses of the organization. One of COINTELPRO’s main core goals was to equate Black people and the civil rights movement as a constant, disruptive threat to white people and civil society. Sounds familiar!
Learn More…
4. Markiel Simpson is a local Black activist and a Hastings Elementary Alumnus(!) He works with the BC Community Alliance – an organization working hard to combat anti-black racism in BC schools. Listen to Markiel HERE
And donate to the BC Community Alliance’s important work
5. Maya Penn is an environmental activist, sustainable fashion designer and TED speaker, among many other talents….and she’s only 20 years old!
Learn More…
6. Visit Iron Dog Books, on Hastings St, to support local and pick up your next book by a Black author!
Follow their instagram for book suggestions
Connect with Iron Dog Books
Check out the VPL’s kids list
7. The Ensemble Theatre Company, in Vancouver, are running an online festival – Us: A Black Peoples Month Festival.
Learn More…
8. An online speaker’s event is happening this Friday at 10am! Changing The Narrative – is ideal for educators or anyone wanting to learn more about Black history in BC.
Learn More…
P.S. Some of our favorite kids’ books: A Place Inside of Me by Zetta Elliott, Happy to be Nappy by bell hooks, When Stars Are Scattered by Omar Mohamed & Victoria Jamieson, A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee. Tell us yours!