The Kingston community lost someone really special last week. Judith Brown was an educator, advocate and one of the warmest people I’ve ever met. You didn’t have to know her well to feel familiar with her. I didn’t know very well or for very long but I did get the privilege of interviewing her for my podcast, Kingston, The Black Experience, last year. She enthusiastically took the time to invite me into her home and have a conversation about the life she created in Kingston.

Graphic designed by Emske.

The local Black community has been working with the City of Kingston to deliver an incredible line up in light of Emancipation Day! This includes a Black (owned business) Block Party that will highlight 20 + local businesses. I share a bit of insight and context on how we got here!

As I’ve aged, I’ve realized how important it is to speak on things that are important to you and watch the stars align. It might take a minute for you to see what I mean but I promise if you read until the end, you’ll get there.

Three years ago during the height of pandemic and the surge of the Black Lives Matter movement, I shared passionately about what it feels like to live as a Black woman in Kingston. In the moment it was just a rant. But it turned into something much more meaningful and changed my life and career trajectory. More than 20,000 people read that rant. At the time I decided to shift the narrative a bit from myself and focus on the root of the issue I spoke on, lack of representation and support for Black folks in Kingston. I started the Black-owned Business List and that’s been growing ever since. This tool has not only helped allies who are actively searching for ways to support Black entrepreneurship. It’s also connected local Black folks with specific cultural products, services and foods they might not have found otherwise.

As someone who was raised in Kingston, I know it can get a lot of heat for not providing opportunities for residents to think outside of our small town bubble. Folks tend to venture to bigger cities for broader cultural experiences. But I can say that the team at The Kingston Grand curates incredibly diverse programming every year! And I am excited to tell you about a particular production that will be showing very soon.

Next week on Tuesday, March 14, The Kingston Grand will welcome Jaberi Dance Theatre from Toronto to present No Woman’s Land. This award-winning dance production features stories of refugees and many women’s journey of migration. It took three years to create and was born out of a process that “was multi-faceted and included a literature review, films, documentaries, articles, case studies and a series of focus groups with refugee women from the Tamil, Somali and Syrian communities living in Toronto. These focus groups were led by community facilitators with lived experience, conducted in their respective languages which were transcribed and shared with the creative team,” according to the Jaberi Dance production website. 

It’s Black History Month! February is a special time to celebrate Black history, honour those who fought inequities and those who continue to break through systems that have been traditionally exclusive. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’re familiar with my own experience as a Black woman in Kingston. I shared back in 2020 what it can sometimes feel like to live here. Since then, I’ve found a stronger sense of community and belonging and much of that has been thanks to the Black Luck Collective, a community group of Black Kingstonians that share resources, support and opportunities to connect with each other and celebrate our respective cultures.

In light of Black History Month, local brewery, Something in the Water, is launching an Imperial Stout called Black Waves to recognize and celebrate the local Black community. They will be launching the stout this February 17 with events on the 18th and 19th. A portion of the proceeds will go towards Black Luck Collective to create future opportunities and support growth. On Saturday, February 18th there will be a mixer for the Black community to gather from 3-7pm and a food pop-up on Sunday the 19th.

We welcomed a new baby recently (our second, we have a toddler) and we were so incredibly lucky to have friends and family source delicious foods from locals spots to keep us nourished as we took in fresh cuddles and kept our toddler well-fed! I really benefited from having this blog because many friends tapped into it to pick from our favourite shops (best humans). This post is a shout out to friends who fed us for the first few weeks of baby’s little life. It’s also a guide for anyone who wants to bring new parents nourishing food from local spots while they settle into the chaos and unpredictability of life with a newborn.

Bread and Butter
So many great items to grab from this sweet and savoury heaven on earth! A few friends brought us their quiche, cinnamon buns, chocolate croissants, sourdough, carrot salad and ratatouille. All of it served our family well during the early, foggy days.

The Grocery Basket
Our favourite item from Grocery Basket was the shepherds pie. It was so rich and delicious and huge! It created many leftovers. I still have a couple of personal-sized items in our deep freezer from the Grocery Basket that I haven’t even broken out yet! Love having frozen items on hand for hectic days.

We are weeks into more discoveries of mass graves at various residential schools. It’s no longer enough to react to these repeating headlines with shock. There are things we can all be doing to support the communities that carry the trauma we read about. See below for a few ideas on how to show up and show support.

Learn and Unlearn:

• There is a free online course at the University of Alberta on Indigenous histories.
• Read the Truth and Reconciliation report that was released four years ago and the calls to action (a small percentage of items promised in this report have been completed)
• Read Indigenous authors and storytellers. I recommend Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese and Our History is The Future by Nick Estes. But there are many more!
• Listen to podcasts created by Indigenous communities

Support:

• Buy from Indigenous owned businesses
• Donate to charities that support Indigenous communities: The Legacy of Hope Foundation, True North Aid, Indian Residential School Survivors Society, Native Women’s Association of Canada, First Nations Family and Caring Society
• Listen to Indigenous artists on Spotify and add them to your playlists.

Please note that if you’re sharing traumatic news headlines to also share the number for the national Indian Residential School Crisis Line that has been set up to provide support for residential school survivors and others affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.