Black History Month (BHM) is here again and I for one am interested to see what events are planned throughout Montreal and beyond. Every February it seems the community comes together to celebrate and tell each other and the world that black history does matter. However, I look my city which has a unique position in terms of its black population and wonder what if. In the French and English context of Montreal we often see two sides or solitudes as the general society calls themselves, differing in ambitions and ideas of how the black community moves in the city. The difference between the two communities often manifests itself in distrust and ignorance towards each other and a crabs in a bucket mentality. There is no doubt that the French black community in Montreal has the linguistic advantage but statistics have shown that is about all it is although over the past several years many young people in the French black community are becoming entrepreneurs, building businesses in the city, becoming local politicians and starting to become part of the cultural mosiac of Montreal.
The English black community has for years been in the shadows. On a linguistic front, English blacks have obviously faced language issues although more and more are becoming bilingual these days. Others face the struggle of not speaking French without enough of an English accent to not be seen as just an English person in the society no matter how good their French is. English blacks in Montreal like French blacks deal with the struggle of being a minority in a province where race issues are put under a rug and does not share the relative importance as the endless wrangling over separation and language wars.
So why all this?
I'm very happy that BHM is here so that we can all celebrate our community's contribution and our past in North America. I am happy that there seems to be a conscious effort to combat all the remaining struggles that the black community faces and for that matter all minority communities are facing in Montreal in regards to total inclusion in our society. I would love to see the two linguistic sides of the black community come together more than just for BHM and really pound the pavement for a better inclusion in the society. Black unemployment is still an issue in my city and particularly when the community has produced a high percentage of university grads, just as good or better than the overall society we seem to be underrepresented in a lot of professional fields. My specific issue still lands with our community and through the many Black History Months that I have witnessed, there may need to be a shift in how we view BHM. Maybe it is time to focus more on our present situation, unemplyment rates, black teen unemployment, job skills, black community development, black business development etc. for today's black community. I just witnessed a Caribbean themed restaurant close after only a couple months in business and this unfortunately is not the first time as Caribbean or "Black" restaurants in Montreal for the most part do not do well outside "the hood". No one wants to stop learning about MLK and re-reading his famous speeches but we definitely need to diversify what BHM means and we need the two black solitudes to come together in a more progressive way to ensure that we all have a future say in this society.
With that said, we should all go enjoy the events for Black History Month but remember to learn more about black history more than what is being given to us during this month. As someone once said, "Black history is 12 months a year"!
Click here for Montreal's Black History Month events.
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