COCHRANE— A Cochrane woman is looking to rally the community to participate in a Black Lives Matter march this week.
Lesley Kerfoot said she is planning a peaceful anti-racism rally in downtown Cochrane on Sunday (June 14).
“I feel there is a lot of underlying racism in Canada that we don’t expose,” Kerfoot said. “We don’t talk about it, but it exists.”
The event marks the first time Kerfoot has organized a rally, she said explaining she was inspired by George Floyd's death and the countless others that have been killed since Martin Luther King was assassinated.
Floyd's death brought in to focus the need to end white nationalist culture, she said.
The Canadian Press reported that Floyd died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, put his knee on Floyd's neck for several minutes as he lay handcuffed on the pavement, gasping that he couldn't breathe. Chauvin has been charged with murder, and he and the others could get up to 40 years in prison.
Around the world, the chilling cellphone video of Floyd's slow death has set off demonstrations against police brutality, racism and inequality.
Kerfoot said Canada has a complex and concerning history with people of colour and Indigenous people, that will be included as part of the rally on Sunday.
Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released in June 2019 states that it is not possible to conclude a final number— however, some estimates place the number between 2,500 and 4,000 women and girls.
The report characterizes the crisis as a "genocide” based on the amount of race-based violence, especially in regards to women, Indigenous populations have experienced.
“Thousands of women’s deaths or disappearances have likely gone unrecorded over the decades, and many families likely did not feel ready or safe to share with the National Inquiry before our timelines required us to close registration,” the report reads. “One of the most telling pieces of information, however, is the number of people who shared about either their own experiences or their loved ones’ publicly for the first time. Without a doubt, there are many more.”
Kerfoot said she hopes the rally can raise awareness in the community and encourage people to think about unpacking the experience of white privilege and the role it plays in perpetuating racism.
“People are closing their eyes— but it does exist and they let it exist,” Kerfoot said. “We don’t talk about it because a lot of white people who are racist obviously hide.”
Kerfoot said she hopes to launch a conversation about systemic racism in our society and get people thinking about their place in dismantling systemic racism.
“We have to open people’s eyes and make them realize it’s [racism] there in the shadows in our county,” Kerfoot said.
The rally will serve as space for conversation, she said which is critical because in her opinion if we do not stop racism it is only going to get worse.
Canada is unique she said because in her experience it is such a nice society with the majority of people being sweet, polite, kind and generous, but she cautioned there is another segment that is not talked about which pushes white supremacy.
“It’s time the people stood up and tried to stop it [racism] by conversation and by voting and by discussion,” Kerfoot said.
The march she said, is for those that believe in human rights and civil rights and want to expose and take action against racism in Canada.
Kerfoot is asking participants to meet at noon at the west end of 1st Street in downtown Cochrane and march east.
Kerfoot said she is making eight four-foot signs to maintain social distancing for the rally and hopes that others use their creativity to make their own signs. She noted the march is a-political and participants are required to wear a mask to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Kerfoot will be providing 100 masks during the rally.
She added that she also wants to ensure that the LGBTQ community is included in the march.
“I think that’s terribly important at this time," she said.
