This is a reprise of yesterday's theme - the Black communities of Nova Scotia. The Prestons, Birchtown, Whylah Falls all places with footsteps, heartbeats and sorrows. The Maroons from Jamaica then the freemen sailing off to Sierra Leone - a presence here in this New Scotland measured in the hundreds of years, decades upon decades of apartness living outside of history.
I heard just the other day that Marcus Garvey visited the UNIA Hall in Whitney Pier advocating a glorious return to Africa. Close to 100 years later, Nova Scotia is beginning to take on the characteristics of a cosmopolitan society. The universities are embracing students from around the world. Just today two finger quays away from the Amistad I met Davi an undergraduate student from The Gambia enrolled in International Development Studies. Nova Scotia's universities continue to reach out to the world through organization's like EduNova to attract students from the global community and to export our expertise.
I wonder if Royson James from the Toronto Star picked up on any of this dynamic when he visited Halifax this past week. He has been following the abolition commemoration story around the world to England, West Africa and now Nova Scotia. We can only hope that his visit will mean that the stories of Nova Scotia's African Canadian communities will find their way to Canada's most populous centre and into the ether to the world. For a taste of Nova Scotia visit the Black Cultural Centre.
No comments:
Post a Comment