REFLECTION & REASON

Many are having conversations around being black and what that means to them. Some are just realizing what it is like to live as a black person. Some are seeing their black friends or family in a new light. Often black people mention that we cannot take our blackness off at the end of the day. It influences every single aspect of our lives and that includes our mental health. Many of us were not granted the privilege to even address our mental health. The current revolution has opened Pandora’s box in terms of what black people experience every day in their lives whether it’s microaggressions or stigma within their own community. This post is about the intricacies of black mental health and what that means. Being black and having a mental illness means: Having parents who do not believe black people can have a mental illness (that’s for white people) Not being able to tell any family outside of your immediate family that you have a mental illness (due to family dynamics, gossip or stig...

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Durham Region is evolving into a cultural hub of activity and advancement for Canada's Black population , and a growing segment of Toronto's Black community specifically. The last published Statistics Canada census (2016) reported that the African Canadian population of Durham Region was 51,380--8% of the municipal population, and approximately 12% of Ontario's overall African Canadian population of 627,715. In comparison, the Black community currently makes up 8.8% of the City of Toronto's population. Needless to say, the communities of the Greater Toronto Area are in constant flux, and along with the cultural changes come changes to the needs, interests, and requirements for the community as well. With this increase in culturally-specific foods, organizations, services, and health/beauty stores over the years, there is now a growing presence of Black literature in Durham that is evolving. There is a new outlet for securing books and increasing your library...

It was a term used by many of us: "2020 Vision." We were excited for the new year, with New Years' Resolutions ready for execution, and a clear perspective for activities on a global scale. Visions for upliftment, success, love, and awareness with an undercurrent of positivity. These messages were clear, because 2019 had been a year of extreme learning, self-reflection, and healing. A worldwide pandemic causing a global lockdown, international protesting against police brutality and the lynching of African people, and the continuous fight for racial equality with Black lives mattering: these predictions were far from the vision we had planned for. It wasn't anything we had prepared for, but 2020 became a vision that would open our eyes clearly. History had been broken. Conditions that we had never experienced before, were now realities the human race was forced to face. This fog was removed from our collective eyes, only for us to realize that there is a need fo...

REFLECTIONS – AN INTRODUCTION  When I first heard that Kya Publishing was partnering with members of the Black Arts community to present stories and reflections on the times and the surrounding social environment, I was excited. I knew that as an artist, I wanted to be part of a platform that offered positive movements and social change with literature at the forefront of the discussion. We’re living in unprecedented times: with countless stories of undocumented injustices to unusually high numbers of COVID-19 cases affecting our communities, there is a lot to face. These two factors have provided the necessary push to take chances in an effort to make sense of it all. I am fortunate that I am one of the lucky ones because I have the tools to help me disseminate, summarize and reinterpret. And yet, I am facing a difficult task in that not all of these tools can convey the effects of this experience on myself and those close to me.  I have come to the conclusion t...