The Halifax Regional Municipality created two street art installations with the words “Black Lives Matter” in downtown Halifax and Dartmouth.
The first installation, on Alderney Drive between Ochterloney and Queen streets in Dartmouth, began at 7 p.m. on Sept. 26.
Halifax’s installation, on Brunswick Street between Carmichael and Prince streets, was added on Sept. 27.
“This art installation is the municipality’s way of supporting the Black Lives Matter movement,” said an HRM news release.
It says public solidarity shows the city’s efforts to “help address anti-Black racism and continue to build a better relationship with the municipality’s communities of African descent.”
The municipality’s website says it is working to adopt “internal and externally-focused anti-Black racism strategies and action,” after Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard presented to council on anti-Black racism in Halifax, in July 2020.
Earlier this week, regional council adopted the African Nova Scotian Road to Economic Prosperity Action Plan — a blueprint for socio-economic development with and for Black Nova Scotians.
The plan includes building unity and capacity among ANS communities; establishing land ownership; addressing environmental racism in the region; investing in the development of ANS communities; and increasing entrepreneurship opportunities within ANS communities.
“Being an ally means taking stock, and taking action, and maybe taking a gamble. Being an ally means taking the lead from community and working with community … and amplifying voices from the communities,” Thomas Bernard said to council in July.
The city said in a release on Friday that “it’s clear there is much work to be done.”
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