BY: ZAARA MAZZUCA
The Oxford Dictionary definition of discrimination is “Treating one or more members of a specific group unfairly as compared with other people. Discrimination may be illegal on the ground of sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability, or nationality.”
People from not just Canada, but the US and around the world are protesting racial discrimination and violence related to racial discrimination. The death of George Floyd, BLM movement, the discrimination of East Asians, the murder of the Muslim family in London, Ontario are just a few examples of racial discrimination that have happened all over the world. This type of discrimiation is not new and has been going on for a very long time. March 21st is International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and there is a lot that the Downsview area can do to help end the violence.
The Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) started in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin 2012 after someone used the hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter”, according to Howard University. There have been many protests, like the ones after the George Floyd shooting that took place all over the world, including Toronto and other cities across Ontario and the country.
There are many ways that you can help, like donating to organizations, like BLM, that work to fight against racial discrimination. Black Lives Matter Canada is a “...platform upon which Black communities across Canada can actively dismantle all forms of anti-Black racism, liberate Blackness, support Black healing, affirm Black existence, and create freedom to love and self-determine. The Black Lives Matter movement has a website in Toronto, https://blacklivesmattertoronto.ca/demands/, that you can donate to or find out more information.
The first step to ending racial discrimination is educating not just ourselves but people around us. People have the right to be free of discrimination against their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. We can make a change if people are entirely aware of the violence that is happening around us.