The global anti-racism movement got started by a peaceful rally that went wrong, so Prince George residents are invited to a peaceful rally to mark that anniversary.
The Sharpeville Massacre took place on March 21, 1960 in South Africa when a crowd of demonstrators gathered to protest the government's race-based apartheid system. Police opened fire on the gathering, killing 69 people.
"We felt it was most appropriate, to pay respect to those peaceful demonstrators who were killed, to hold a peaceful rally here on that anniversary," said Daniel Gallant, the main organizer of the International Day For The Elimination Of Racism Solidarity March.
Gallant is a student in the First Nations program at UNBC but he was formerly an active white supremacist in the Western Canadian skinhead and white power movement. He sees signs of racism in Prince George that the common resident may not be aware of, and recent events are giving him concern.
"The latest is some graffiti," he said, referring to the racial and anti-Semitic vandalism at Masich Place Stadium over the weekend, and some anti-gay slurs written at the UNBC Pride Centre earlier this winter. "Others are some locals seen wearing white power clothing around town. Without naming or describing who, I have information that there are some white supremacists in Prince George that I've personally known and others I have seen around who hold these beliefs."
However, racism needs to be opposed on a number of fronts, and the rally is just as much about the more subtle but more damaging kind as well.
"Since becoming a First Nations student I have had my eyes opened about the systemic racism, built into government policy, that exists particularly towards Aboriginal people," he said. "Couple that with social marginalization and attacks on visible minorities of all kinds in Prince George. It was actually an attack on a Saudi student that motivated me in the first place to start speaking out about this."
The rally will have guest speakers and what Gallant hopes is the atmosphere of solidarity against racial intolerance that comes from a united crowd speaking as one.
Although no particular society or agency is directing Gallant, he was thankful for the help he has received from UNBC's First Nations department and some other parts of the university community. The Third Ave. Collective has also been helpful, and a number of individuals who will be named at the rally, he said, because the team continues to build as the date approaches.
"The whole point is to say 'no more' to some of the events [that have happened] lately in P.G.," he said. "I know the majority of people in Prince George oppose racism. The collective voice of P.G. is in opposition to the institution of racial discrimination and of racists' actions."
All those who share his anti-racism view are asked to go to the front steps of the Prince George Courthouse at 4:30 p.m. The peaceful rally will be followed by a march to the Civic Centre.
