Speech at A Progressive Niagara: Why We Engage in 2020

Speech Representing Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association at A Progressive Niagara: Why We Engage in 2020

I'm Saleh Waziruddin from the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association

Though I'm a Canadian I got my start in activism while I was living in the USA, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

I was working there as a Canadian and so wasn't a US citizen so was very careful not to get publicly involved because I was afraid it would affect my work visa.

Then 9/11 happened – some of you may be too young to remember what a change that brought about. Among many things there was a big rise in open racism that went hand in hand in support of war, similar to the rise in open racism we've seen over the last few years.

There were many civil rights and anti-racism organizations in Pittsburgh but almost each month after 9/11 one person had been arrested as a terrorist in Pittsburgh without any evidence. These were people whose lives were being destroyed but their whole communities were also being cowed into silence and fear. I reached out to them to help but they were too scared, until the 3^rd person who had no choice but to accept help from me as he had no one else.

But I still didn't want to be public. We organized a press conference and I refused to give my name to the media. A journalist laughed at me saying how can I give a press conference but not give my name.

I realized at that moment that he was right, no one else was helping these people who were arrested and so I had to do it, and if I was going to do it I had do it all the way and do it right, and be public.

I didn't do it alone, we approached all the existing organizations and made a big coalition that got the person freed after a year-long campaign and that stopped the arrests in Pittsburgh of people made out to be terrorists. It was a victory for the BIPOC communities and for everyone, but it took stepping forward where no one else was.

Fast forward to you in Niagara in 2020. I have some good news for you that doesn't sound very good: we are behind in Niagara. We are behind many of the places right next door.

With the police, they are still clinging to racial profiling, which they call street checks or collection of identifying information. This is disgusting and was one of the first things other police forces said they would stop doing. Toronto and many other cities across Ontario and Canada, and now the RCMP, are adopting body cameras, not because some study says they work or because the price is right, but because they decided they would listen to the communities that are asking for them, Do we in Niagara deserve any less?

It's not just the police but we are behind on the Opioid crisis and in many other areas.

But the other side of this is that there is a big hunger for change. Not just among the people in general but even those in power, governments including elected officials at all levels, business, institutions are reaching out looking for ways how they can be part of the solution.

You are in the right place at the right time!

Remember that we're living in Harriet Tubman's home town, a woman who took initiative to fix what was wrong without worrying about limited by conventions or obstacles or what was acceptable to those who had power and wealth. Today in Niagara we are not too small or too far removed from what's happening in the world to be pioneers and show the way forward.

So if you see something wrong that needs to be fixed, and no one seems to be doing anything about it, now is a great time to step forward all the way and to gather all the support that is around you and take it on, make a difference for your community. If you're not sure how to take the first step then reach out to one of us or another activist or leader in your community for advice.

And if you don't see anything you can do that no one else isn't already doing, then the answer is pretty simple: join in with those who are already working to break down inequality and patriarchy and racism and the power of the wealthy and add your full voice, one of the pieces we need to make our efforts stronger.

Your community is waiting for you to add your missing voice.