The London Black History Coordinating Committee (LBHCC) is kicking off Black History month with an opening ceremony in London, Ont., this weekend.
The ceremony, which will be held at Museum London at 421 Rideout St., on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., is set to feature performances from keynote speaker and spoken word artist Moyo Omole, rap artist KOTO, and the London Gospel Collective choir among others.
With this year’s theme as Reflections of Black London from 1820 – 2020, the annual event aims to celebrate the strength and resilience of the Black community while also showcasing the diversity of cultural and ethnic groups within the Forest City.
“It’s an opportunity for us to gather and learn about the significance and the purpose of Black history,” said Leroy Hibbert, the multicultural outreach coordinator at LUSO Community Services and a committee member for LBHCC.
“It’s to celebrate our contributions and who we are as a community to the City of London.”
According to Hibbert, Black History Month started as a week and was previously adopted by the City of Toronto, then by the province of Ontario.
Following that, the movement became nationally recognized in 1995 when Jean Augustine, the first Black female MP and cabinet minister, presented the motion which was unanimously passed by Parliament.
However, the world marked the first day of Black History month this year with the funeral for Trye Nichols who died three days after a Jan. 7 confrontation with five police officers in Memphis, Tenn. Video footage released showed police officers brutally beating the 29-year-old Black man for three minutes.
The Memphis Police Department later fired five of the officers, who also are Black, and prosecutors charged them last week with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression.
Hibbert said that “although we do have what’s called trauma in our community,” in relation to Black History Month, “it’s also important to talk about the joy and the significance of us as a people.”
“It’s important that we have a balanced approach to the conversation that although tragedies do happen, it’s also important to celebrate that we’ve come through it as a people,” he said. “Also, to talk about what we can do to move forward as a community because Black history is not just specifically for Black people.
“Black history is a part of Canadian history (and) I think that’s also important to indicate as well,” Hibbert said.
He added that people don’t have to be a member of the Black community to participate in this weekend’s ceremony and is encouraging all Londoners to attend if they can.
“It’s just about people coming together as a whole,” he said.
The LBHCC will be hosting a number of other events that will take place throughout February and a full list can be found on their website.
— with files from Global News’ Sawyer Bogdan and Heidi Lee
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