Is Edmonton’s Black Community Being Served Old Wine in a New Bottle, or New Wine in an Old Bottle?
On August 29, 2022, at Edmonton City Hall and in Council, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi led the City of Edmonton to commit to support the UN International Declaration of People of African Descent.
This follows the December 2013 UN General Assembly adoption of resolution 68/237, by which it proclaimed 2015 to 2024 to be the International Decade for Peoples of African Descent, with the theme, “Peoples of African descent: recognition, justice and development”.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi read the proclamation and promised actions to tackle racism at Edmonton City Hall, in front of some Black community members in Edmonton. He promised an accompanying anti-racism action plan to help tackle the issue of racism in Edmonton, which he himself faced while campaigning to be mayor of Edmonton.
The action plan was reaffirmed by Deputy City Manager, Jennifer Flaman, who is the only person from the multicultural community on the City’s highest level of its administration – the Executive Leadership Team.
https://www.edmonton.ca
City Administration, led by the City Manager and Deputy City Managers, collectively called the Executive Leadership Team, has to execute the directions of Council. In fact the major decisions coming out of City Council on this issue, will become reality by the actions of a predominantly white City Manager and Deputy City Managers – Executive Leadership Team.
When people are recognized with opportunities, development will follow, and they can then fight for justice by themselves.
So how is Edmonton doing with respect to, recognition, one of the three UN Declaration’s pillars of Recognition, Justice and Development?
So far so good with a lot more work to do!
In the last election, Edmonton elected some members of the multicultural communities to City Council, a recognition of their abilities to lead, and serve as Councilors on its highest political decision making body.
A few months ago, after Mayor Sohi and Council launched the anti racism campaign, the only person from the multicultural community was appointed Deputy City Manager, a position on the highest level decision making in Edmonton’s administration – the Executive Leadership Team.
Serving the Black community old wine in a new bottle….
A movie we’ve watched so many times by City Administration, some heavy weights in the Black communities did not know about this event as they were not invited. Others heard from others and decided to attend due to the significance of the event to the Black community in Edmonton. This calls to question community involvement and engagement, indicating that people with little to no knowledge of the Black community in Edmonton were in charge of an event of seismic importance to the Black community.
As the anti racism action plan comes to light, many Edmontonians will be keen to know who’s managing it? If those in charge have lived racism experiences to be able to connect well to the issue of racism and discrimination? How will the community be properly involved and engaged to bring the main players to the table? And of course, how will this major project of monumental importance to the Black community be communicated to the communities that it’s designed for.
For us as a community, the process is as important and in fact will determine the outcome….
Hence three of the issues will would like to see in the planning of an Anti Black racism action plan are:
- A diverse and recognised African community leadership team to lead the community engagement
- Invitation of local ethnocultural media to disseminate and communicate to the broader Black African community
- City Administration identifies Peoples of African descent, within the corporation and with lived experience, to lead the development of this action plan, this is part of what one of the speakers at the proclamation event, Malcolm Azania, called an Africentric approach.
Still on recognition, Black and multicultural communities struggled to get City of Edmonton funding for their organization projects. The same is true for Black and multicultural businesses to get City of Edmonton contracts. This is a clear lack of recognition of their abilities, contrary to one of the three UN pillars on the decade of people of African descent.
Only those with clear eyes can tell the kind of bottle used to serve wine to them.
Well the Black community shouldn’t get drunk yet from the wine, be it old or new, as they will need to tell what type of wine bottle they’re being served in.
So far, with just one new multicultural face on City’s Executive Team, and an anti racism plan in the works led by Mayor Sohi, it seems Edmonton’s Black community is being served new wine in an old bottle and might just need a sprinkle of that Africentric dust that Malcolm Azania eloquently described.
