{"id":22140,"date":"2020-06-02T15:53:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T15:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/regional\/no-justice-no-peace-hamiltonians-gather-at-gore-park-in-solidarity-for-george-floyd\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T19:48:48","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T19:48:48","slug":"no-justice-no-peace-hamiltonians-gather-at-gore-park-in-solidarity-for-george-floyd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/hamilton\/no-justice-no-peace-hamiltonians-gather-at-gore-park-in-solidarity-for-george-floyd\/","title":{"rendered":"NO JUSTICE NO PEACE | Hamiltonians gather at Gore Park in solidarity for George Floyd"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNo justice, no peace!\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 \u2014<\/span>\u00a0A rallying cry heard far too many times, and one that is seemingly falling deaf on the ears of some law enforcement and government officials, both in the United States, and right here in Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Monday, in the shadow of the COVID-19 global pandemic, a crowd of four to five hundred people showed up for a peaceful protest at Gore Park, organized by Michael St. Jean of Foreign Waves International, and co-organizers Mykel, Chancese, and Debbie.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For too long, the black community has been fighting for a proper conversation, a seat at the table, a chance to be heard, and to live as equals in their own communities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For some, watching the news coming out of the United States for the last 8 days, racism and injustice may seem like it\u2019s not something that happens in Canada. But make no mistake, from the questionable treatment of the indigenous, oppression and injustice for the black community, and even homophobia against the LGQBT+ community, these things are happening right here in Hamilton, and indeed around Canada.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While George Floyd\u2019s murder in the United States may have sparked an international fire, we must not forget the names of those who fell at the hands of the police, and honour the memory of those we may not know about.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I had the opportunity to talk to Michael on Sunday night, prior to Monday\u2019s event. He spoke with so much strength and passion, though he admitted he was nervous.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWe\u2019ve never done anything like this (event) before. I don\u2019t know what to expect. We only started planning this on Friday night and traction has just blown up.\u201d<\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

His hope was that things remained peaceful. He also said he and his co-organizers would be taking steps to ensure people respected social distancing, mask wearing, and gloves.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I arrived on scene on Monday morning, prior to the official 12 pm kick off, those efforts were visible from one end of the park to the other.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Organizers made their best effort to respect social distancing laws by drawing X\u2019s in chalk 8 ft apart, while others handed out masks and gloves for those who did not bring their own.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As noon approached, more and more people arrived, with signs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The all too familiar chants of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cblack lives matter\u201d , \u201cno justice, no peace\u201d , <\/i>and \u201ccharge all four\u201d<\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>echoed through the downtown core, as passing vehicles honked their horns to show their support.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Also present were Hamilton Police Officers who came to ensure the safety and well-being of those attending the event.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou see what\u2019s happened down south, and you watch the video, and you feel alone. It\u2019s a disgrace what happened,\u201d<\/span><\/i> s<\/span>aid one officer, who asked to remain anonymous as he was not authorized to comment officially.<\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span>\u201cWe\u2019re happy to be here to make sure everyone is safe. These conversations are important.\u201d<\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

While some questioned why such a demonstration was taking place in Hamilton, one of the co-organizers named Chancese shared her own experience:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cPeople say it\u2019s not as bad in Canada as it is the States, but I\u2019ve been in racist situations, right here in Hamilton. We\u2019re here to bring awareness to the people in Hamilton. We all live together in this community together\u201d.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Handmade signs were held in the air with messages of hope and frustration.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI can\u2019t breathe\u201d, \u201cStop viewing our skin as a weapon\u201d, \u201cJustice can\u2019t wait\u201d ,\u201cWe all bleed the same\u201d<\/i><\/span>, <\/span>and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWe\u2019re done being targets\u201d<\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>were just some of the words seen dotted throughout the crowd.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the whole thing right now, first of all I\u2019d like to say \u2018thank you\u2019 to everyone that has come out. Thank you to everyone who is supporting the movement and everything,\u201d<\/span><\/i> said Paul, one of the attendees of the event. \u201c<\/span>There is so much work that needs to be done. This has been going on for years. I feel like the fact that we don\u2019t really know our history, just makes some people feel this is just a thing of now. Like this is like Instagram and Snapchat and social media. But this has been going on for such a long time. To be honest, the balance and everything, I\u2019m tired. I\u2019m tired of the black killing black, whites killing black, I\u2019m just tired of everything in general. Let\u2019s sit down, and actually have a conversation and talk.\u201d<\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

He continued by saying,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s not a thing of \u2018oh yeah, let\u2019s arrest the cops\u2019, and let\u2019s do this. No. Let\u2019s understand what they want and where they are coming from. What do they actually want, because we\u2019ve been doing the same thing. We had people protest many years ago, we had people fight many years ago and riot and we\u2019re doing the same thing in 2020. It\u2019s not working. So why don\u2019t we try a different approach.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I asked Paul if he felt that in the last 7 days if the movement has changed, or if it\u2019s become a bigger conversation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, yeah. Not bigger, but I think it\u2019s just become more open. Like, it\u2019s become something people are now more comfortable talking about. Because everyone always had to tip-toe around the whole racism and everything, like \u2018I don\u2019t want to say too much, or say the wrong thing or say anything\u2019 but now everyone is like \u2018this is clear now\u2019. They literally had the knee on (George Floyd’s) neck, and the guy went unconscious, and he still has his knee on his neck. Like, okay, now it\u2019s time to really have conversations about things. So, the movement and everything has been getting awareness and it\u2019s really cool seeing all over the world people really taking up the whole movement. I think it\u2019s beyond just marching and rioting or breaking things. It\u2019s \u2018we should sit down and talk\u2019 and let us know what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I asked Paul how he felt as he looked over the mixed crowd of people standing together during a global pandemic.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at this, If I could take a picture of this and put it out there so everyone could see, because there are some black people out there who think \u2018every white person is racist\u2019 and there are also some white people who think \u2018every black person is a thug\u2019. So if I could put a picture out so everyone could see this and be like, regardless of the pandemic and everything, we\u2019re all out here supporting each other. Because it\u2019s not really a black vs. white or black vs. cops. It\u2019s good vs. bad. That\u2019s just it. If you support positivity, and you support words, and just general goodness of the entire human race [then] you should be out here supporting. But if you\u2019re going to support, do it in a safe manner. The virus is going on, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re handing out gloves; we have masks and everything. We want to make sure everyone is safe\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I asked Michael the same question.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cHonestly, it shows that people do care, even if it doesn\u2019t look like a big crowd. It still shows that there are people out there that care that are standing with us and that makes me feel really good\u201d.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

I followed up by asking Michael that given everything that’s happened with George Floyd \u2013 and knowing that there are hundreds of years of historical events both in the United States and Canada \u2013 if he thought the conversation felt different this time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I think the conversation has been serious. I think that the George Floyd situation put the topping on the cake. I feel like that\u2019s when nobody was having it anymore. But it sucks because what happened with George Floyd shouldn\u2019t have been like \u2018okay now they went too far\u2019. No, they\u2019ve been going too far. This should have been addressed years ago. The thing I find is the most unfortunate is that it\u2019s not going to stop. It\u2019s never going to stop. But if we stop doing what we\u2019re doing, then we are just letting it happen.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Before I left, I asked Michael what he hoped attendees walked away feeling.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cKeep that same energy. The way you are here, how you guys feel, the positivity and all that, just keep that same mentality and keep that same energy and all that.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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