Making Black History Black Media Workers Bring It Together

We did it! On Sunday, March 4th, the Canadian Media Guild's Black media workers "brought it together" to celebrate our history and our work for the first time ever. With great music, food, poetry, an arts table for kids and a raffle of books & DVDs by Black writers and filmmakers - everyone enjoyed and many left asking, "same time next year?"

The event was organized in Toronto by members of the National Equity and Human Rights Committee, with the goal of creating a cultural environment where guild members, friends and family could relax, enjoy some thoughtful dialogue, and connect across differences. Big thanks to Dayo Kefentse for her hard work, and Wendyanne Comer for her solid support.

The event raised $100 each for the Archie Alleyne Jazz Scholarship, and the Regent Park Focus - Youth Media Arts Centre, and started a whole new way of building solidarity between our work and our union, ourselves and our communities.

The amazing thing about putting on such a celebration is that the journey to get there has been as valuable as the day itself. Outreach to identify who our Black members are revealed not only where we work, but also how many had gone out that revolving door. Just a few words from members told much deeper stories, with comments such as "can't think of anyone - the one guy I knew is gone..." for instance.

In the end, we worked through and with such challenges to welcome a large and diverse group of people at the Toronto event. For all those who couldn't attend, check out the clips, audio and transcripts from the Guild’s first annual Black history celebration that will be posted on the Guild website at http://www.cmg.ca/humanrightsEN.shtml

Datejie Green
National Director of Human Rights and Equity
Canadian Media Guild