London to develop action plan on anti-Black racism, seeks input from Black community

The city is seeking input from its Black community in creating a new plan to combat hate and discrimination in London, Ont.

The goal of the Anti-Black Racism Action Plan is to help make the city more welcoming, supportive, and safe for Black Londoners, said Yvonne Asare-Bediako, the city’s Black community liaison advisor, who’s leading the project.

“We know what happened with George Floyd and I know before then the city had been having engagements with the Black community. But now more than ever, we see the necessity of taking those conversations and bringing them into the light,” she said.

“It’s important for us to meet this community where they are at.”

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In a statement, Mayor Josh Morgan said that the city “recognizes the adverse social and health consequences that social inequity and disproportionate access to programs and services has had on members of Black communities,” adding that the plan will “help develop measurable actions and recommendations on how the City can deliver better services that meet the needs of Black Londoners.”

The Anti-Black Racism Action Plan will be developed in three phases, according to Asare-Bediako, with the first focusing on community engagement.

“We want more than ever to ensure that we are providing solutions, not just from our own lens, but from the lens of the community,” she said, adding that the hope is Black Londoners will share both their experiences and recommendations on how anti-Black racism can be addressed in the city.

“We want to know what barriers they face, what areas of priority they feel the city should be focusing on, and, most importantly, what actions they need us to take to address the issues they face within our community,” she said.

Asare-Bediako said she’s heard from the Black community that many aren’t even aware of the services currently offered by the city. It’s something she hopes to change with the development of the Anti-Black Racism Action Plan.

“Most of what I’ve heard has been about access to city services, how they can learn about and access these services, and what opportunities are available for them in terms of employment, funding, (and) any other supports that could be given,” she said.

“I really believe that this plan is going to address the needs within the community because the solutions are coming from the community,” Asare-Bediako added.

However, Alexandra Kane, lead activist with Black Lives Matter London, says that in regard to community engagement, creating open conversations might not be as simple as it seems.

“This is a great start, but I fear that (the city is) not going to get a lot of information from Black community members because there’s still there’s still fear surrounding just speaking in general,” she said.

Kane stressed the need for everyone to feel safe in their lives, referencing experiences she’s had with speaking out in the past.

“I’ve received threats and backlash from putting myself out there so I think it’s going to be really difficult to get the Black community members to speak out willingly. I think the city might have a bit of a tough go trying to find out from those in the community what needs to be addressed because there’s a lot of fear built into speaking out,” she said.

“Black Lives Matter, especially in the early days, has faced a lot of pretty violent and vulgar threats and we had allies report these incidents to the police and the police aren’t able to do anything,” Kane continued. “So, if there’s nothing that can be done to stop people from threatening you, then what’s the motive to talk about it?”

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However, She said that her interests in the Anti-Black Racism Action Plan remain positive and that she’s very interested to see where the plan goes beyond the call to action.

“I think anything that focuses on anti-racism, period, is a great thing and I’m looking forward to seeing how the plan develops,” she said.

“I would love to see an equity audit of the city,” Kane said. “If you’re still not having Black people (and) Indigenous people at these major tables, making major decisions, (then) how are you combating racism?”

Going back to Asare-Bediako, she says input will be collected from the community until July when the second step will be to analyze the data from consultations and develop the draft plan. But she stressed that community response and insight don’t stop there.

“It’s more like the first draft to get feedback from the community,” she said. “I’m not just going to go ahead, draft it, and take it straight to council. I’m going to take it back to the community to ask them, ‘Did I capture everything that you have spoken to me about when I had conversations with you?’ If I’ve captured it, then good to go, I’ll put together the finalized action plan for counsel. But I will open it up for community feedback again.”

Community consultations on the Anti-Black Racism draft plan include an online survey, focus groups, one-on-one interviews and community pop-up events.

Feedback on the draft plan will be accepted from August to September. Following that period, the final draft will then be presented to council for consideration.

Asare-Bediako added a special thank you to those wanting to share their views and opinions.

“Some people say they’ve heard this over and over again but seen nothing. But this time, it’s going to be good, and I’m happy that there is passion to be part of this work and people want to see things trend better for the community.”

Londoners are invited to provide feedback through the online survey until May 31. More information can be found on the Get Involved website.