March and Meeting in Solidarity with the People of Ferguson, Missouri

March and Meeting in Solidarity with the People of Ferguson, Missouri

Black, Brown, and Red Lives Matter will be marching in peaceful solidarity with the people of Ferguson, Missouri, in the spirit of building positive relations with our local police departments. Everyone of all backgrounds are invited.

We will gather at the Council Chambers at Hamilton City Hall (71 Main St W) at 12 noonsharp, and march to Ferguson Street where we will arrive at our destination, the Hamilton Police Station. From there, we will march to either Beasley Community Centre (145 Wilson St) or Volunteers Hamilton (267 King St E) where we will hold a dialogue on racial profiling and pragmatic steps for self-advocacy.

 Ken Stone, Chair of Community Coalition Against Racism (CCAR), will provide a short presentation. If present, Awasis, an Indigenous sister from London will also provide a short presentation of her time at Ferguson where she joined Ferguson residents in solidarity.

We empathize with the people of Ferguson as we continue to face similar struggles in Canada, especially with the systematic practice of carding (our homegrown ‘Stop and Frisk’ program) in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas. In a meeting between CCAR and the police department in 2003, then Police Chief Ken Robertson stated "he did not need statistics to know that racial profiling was indeed a problem in the Hamilton Police Services."

We recognize too that these instances of injustice are not exclusive to black bodies. In this spirit, we say Black, Brown & Red LIVES Matter.

For more information, please contact Ismaël Traoré at ismael.traore@hotmail.com and check out our Facebook page at: facebook.com/events/305683566304384/