I was heartened to spend time this summer with Black scholar Chana Kai Lee who arrived in Halifax to conduct research on, among other topics, Africville. Now home, the associate professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Georgia recalled her experience at the Africville Museum. “My visit affirmed my appreciation for […]
“I Am Queen Mary”: a story of Black liberation, art, and dental intervention
As a Black woman who marks a dental visit in Denmark as a milestone in my life, I was thrilled to learn that the country now boasts a major public art work that honours a woman of African descent. Recently unveiled in Copenhagen, the “I Am Queen Mary” statue pays homage to Mary Thomas, a […]
The Rape of Recy Taylor
In her book Carnal Crimes: Sexual Assault Law in Canada, 1900-1975, acclaimed University of Ottawa Law professor Constance Backhouse examines (among other topics) the life of Rose Marie Roper, an Indigenous woman from British Columbia. In April 1967, Roper’s nude and brutally beaten body was discovered “lying face down … near a garbage dump,” Backhouse […]
“Hell to the no. We’re outta here.”
Fleeing Nova Scotia for Africa, Black Loyalists, in their “reverse migration,” had rendered themselves vulnerable to a still robust slave trade that was not abolished, within the British Empire, until 1834. Think about it.
There was no love lost between me and a bland fruit that routinely found its way into my childhood home in northwest Indiana. That sentiment changed when, at age 21, I nibbled the same fruit (between sips of palm wine) at a gathering in Ghana. “Who knew it tasted so good?” I marvelled while savouring […]
The Cornwallis statue and manufactured history: Morning File, Monday, January 29, 2018
News 1. Baillie resignation “While the Conservative response to the sexual harassment allegations against Jamie Baillie represents progress of a sort, there are still lessons we can learn from what the party did — and didn’t do — in this case,” writes Stephen Kimber. Click here to read “The PC party’s response to the Baillie […]
The price they paid
As Ellen Page and so many others tell their terrible truths, let's pause to remember those destroyed by sexual abuse.
Entertained and inspired by actor Ellen Page in Juno (2007), I was determined to pen a feature profile about the Halifax native when I moved to Nova Scotia from B.C., in 2012. My proposal green-lighted by an editor at a national magazine, I mailed a formal interview request and samples of my work to a […]
Mayor Mike Savage to shill for Shaw Communications: Morning File, Tuesday, October 3, 2017
News 1. Cornwallis panelists to be discussed in secret Halifax council will today appoint the “special advisory committee” to determine what to do with the Cornwallis statue. The panel will comprise: • Co-chairs from indigenous and non-indigenous community with leadership and chairing experience • An even number of members with experience and expertise in the […]
Silence equals death: Can I Be Me and queer people of colour
“‘Women of Color’ have rarely had the opportunity to write about their love affairs.” The line is from an Alice Walker poem of the same title, found in her 1991 collection Her Blue Body Everything We Know and wafted through my mind as I watched Whitney: Can I Be Me, which airs tonight on Crave […]
Arise Ye Nova Scotia Slaves: Morning File, Friday, February 10, 2017
News 1. Teachers reject contract The Nova Scotia Teachers Union sent out the following release last night: Teachers reject tentative agreement Nova Scotia’s 9,300 public school teachers have voted to reject a third tentative agreement reached between the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development since the opening of […]
On race and journalism: Examineradio, episode #50
This week we’re excited to welcome noted journalist and author (and semi-regular Halifax Examiner contributor) Evelyn White. She talks about a career that includes a stretch at the San Francisco Chronicle and her time as Alice Walker’s biographer. We also speak with NSCC journalism instructor Erin Moore and student Kristen Brown about the program’s groundbreaking investigation into […]