Community News
Brampton’s Black History Month closing event
BY: MICHAEL THOMAS
Anyone looking at the pageantry and elaborate celebration that took place on the evening of Feb 28th, 2019, at Brampton’s City Hall would hardly be able to tell that this is the first year that the city has celebrated Black History Month officially.
The chairs that were adorned with special name tags, the exceptionally well-dressed ladies in their African attire who spoke in whispers to each other, the ever- flashing lights of the cameras and the security personnel that moved in the shadows of the room.
The evening opened with a group of young kids who under the guidance of their coach moved the audience to applause after applause with their African style of drumming and reporters in the room could not get enough pictures and videos of these youngsters.
Mayor Patrick Brown welcomed everyone in the diverse crowd to his city with open arms and when asked what does Black History mean to him and the city he had this to say “It’s about celebration, celebrating the community celebrating legacy, celebrating contribution and this year we’ve really gone beyond what we’ve really seen three major events celebrating the community in Brampton and I am very proud of it.”
Brown also named a street John Shadrach Way after John Shadrach the first black Canadian to be elected to the City of Brampton City Council, Mayor Brown said, “We are celebrating our modern history as well and doing something a little bit extra special in doing so.”
Many members of the black community received recognition for the hard work and longstanding service to the community. People like Andria Thompson from The Black Women Honors and Empowerment Brampton Chapter who received an award on behalf of their work in the community.
On hand to receive her award for 10-years of community work was Reverend Blessing Ajani from Glorious Women of Wonders Organization, Ajani said “We have been serving the community selflessly in Brampton we run a lot of programs like women’s voice empowerment program, youth for greatness program, food and clothe drive cetwork, mission work, and seniors care.”
The evening also featured a Nigerian dance group called Mbaise Cultural Organization. The secretary of the organization Tochi Onuoha told TCN “This is a group that promotes the tradition and culture of the Ibo people of Nigeria.”
One of the crowd pleasers of the evening was Angelene Bailey, a UFT grad who wooed the black history crowd with her smooth vocals, singing tunes from Anita Baker and Marvin Gaye. Baily said she just came to share her passion for music with the people of Brampton.
When asked what does black history mean to her? Baily answered “It has a lot of ups and downs but I am a very proud black Canadian, some people think that slavery made our history but I remember I read somewhere that slavery did not make our history, it interrupted it, so black history is very important to me, but why is it the shortest month of the year?”
There were many more officials and entertainers on hand to celebrate black history including some members the Peel Police Force, Fire Chief of the city, other political figures and Evangelist\Recording Artist Gerry Thompson.
Amidst the entertainment folks had free refreshments, vendor booths, kids activities, a special Viola Desmond 10$ bill exchange (bring 10$ and trade it in to get a Viola Davis 10$ bill in an official City of Brampton 2019 Certificate) a special officer recognition of Deputy Chief Marc Andrews and Ingrid Berkeley, and Mayor Brown’s Making Black History Award Ceremony.
This was the third and final event for the month of February, the other two events were Brampton’s 1st Black History Month Flag Raising/Presentation Ceremony on February 1st,2019. This was the first Official Black History Month flag raising ceremony to be held in Brampton. The flag presented was the Pan-African flag (also called the Marcus Garvey, UNIA, Afro-American or Black Liberation flag). This flag was designed to represent people of the African Diaspora. The second event was Taste of Black History Month, held on Friday, February 22nd, 2019, from 12 pm – 2 pm at West Tower Conservatory, 41 George St.
With the standing room only crowd that just kept growing as the evening progressed into the night, one could not help but wonder, is this an indication of how Brampton celebrates and if Black History Month is made into an annual event in Brampton folks can expect to see a much larger gathering for the celebration next year.