What do people who are Black think about Calgary; this city, my hometown?
I have so many beautiful memories, Black History Month at the Jack Singer concert hall, packed every year. Carifest at Prince's Island park, THE place to be in Alberta that weekend. Thousands of people celebrating Black people. Shall I mention the filming of Cool Runnings? It was, and remains, my go-to Calgary pop culture reference.
There are many great things that have come from this city, but it's not synonymous with Black, Blackness, Black people, black achievement, Black excellence, Black accomplishment, Black communities. All those things are here.
I know because I am witness to or have experienced all of those things.
I want to explore Calgary with the lens of a Black woman. I want to know what folx are doing at Stampede? Throughout the summer? Do they festival and which ones? Is winter a deal breaker? I'm finding out no. LOL who's skiing? It's snowboarding now, right? I know we are, so where? Gimme the gist.
The story of Calgary that I read and heard about rarely included someone like me and when it did it was not a reflection of their humanity as a whole. It was as an exception not the rule and every day I wake up Black and proud. That's the rule.
So what I'm exploring is Calgary as a place that has guests to this Treaty 7 territory and is overdue in the work to be done. Truth and Reconciliation is an action. Anti-racism must be the everyday norm or the trauma of oppression continues.
Calgary, this oil and gas city that has flourished in so many ways, has also failed so many. I wonder will Calgary grow to flourish again in a way that is anti-oppressive and removes anti-Blackness as its status quo? Calgary must create the foundation for people to thrive outside of its current practices of oppression that can no longer serve to make this community sustainably fruitful.
I believe that there are those stories here: Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, diverse racialized groups, people in the margins thriving. Calgary, your future must be that as the rule, not the exception.