Black History Month sheds light on immigrant experience
Asked what comes to mind when she thinks about Black History Month, Zimbabwean ex-pat Tabitha Phiri thinks about slavery, but also about the people who persevered and fought for black rights during the 20th century.
She cites American gospel singer and renowned civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson as an inspiration. Prior to her death in 1972, Jackson sang at a concert in Montgomery, Alabama in 1956 at the invite of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Phiri, now a Program Coordinator with the Central Alberta Immigrant Women’s Association in Red Deer, immigrated to Canada in 1997. She assists black immigrants in becoming accustomed to and comfortable in their new home.
“It’s more about recognizing it, and why I say that is, when it comes to discrimination, I feel like black people have faced more than other immigrants,” she says about Black History Month. “When I’m thinking about the history of black people, the slave trade, to an extent I can say it’s only kind of a celebration because things have changed.”