Black Women’s Program at BWSS

When I was approached and asked if I wanted to create and coordinate a Black Women’s Program for BWSS, my initial feelings were a mixture of overwhelmed and excitement; however, my initial thoughts were of caution and insecurity. I knew I could do the work and put the program into practice, but I doubted that as a Black American woman I could connect to the priorities and perspectives of Black women living and raised in Canada. It was through conversations and encouragement from my ED that I realized the sad and wonderful truth; the universality of the Black Experience. It was clear to me that Black Women in Canada, including Vancouver, had the same abuses, marginalization’s, and invisibility as Black women in the US. And, the need was even greater because these issues went largely downplayed. Black Women in the lower mainland had a deep need for a space dedicated to Black Women and cultivated by Black Women; a place they could always go and see themselves represented.