HEAL GROW GLOW

Shared by Vanessa Smithers (via LinkedIN) #BlackWritersInCanada

Growing up in a busy immigrant household, my sister and I learned early how to survive complexity. She became the analyst—studying long hours, making sense of people and systems. I became the regulator of the environment—finding peace through sports, summer school, being obedient and moments of freedom when the house finally emptied during https://abanyakigezi.org/ conventions.

Those small strategies helped us function. They allowed me to appear “well put together” in community spaces and later in corporate environments. But survival strategies eventually meet reality. For me, that moment came after my grandfather Ezra passed in 2019. I was working for $21 an hour, carrying student debt, and facing a gap between what immigrant parents believed about opportunity in Canada and what many of us—Black children raised here—were actually experiencing in schools and in the workplace.

In June 2020 – an Aurora childhood friend of my sisters passed away by suicide while my sister was completing her Masters Thesis on ‘Uncovering the Core Self: Listening to Black Adults in Canada Who Attended Predominantly White Schools‘ Mulera, G. K., McDonald, M., Aladejebi, F., & Chimbganda, T. (2021)

This research explores the experiences of Black adults in Canada who grew up attending predominantly white schools, examining identity, belonging, and the long-term impact of those environments.

🔗 :.://arcabc.ca/islandora/object/twu:782

That is why stories like The Square resonate so deeply.

This documentary explores the history of Africville and the enduring spirit of Uniacke Square in Halifax—one of Canada’s most resilient Black communities. From the historic Black Tournament to the new Square Town Courts, the film shows how a community continues to rebuild and carry its history forward despite displacement and hardship.

What moved me most is the storyteller herself—a creative Black Nova Scotian woman who grew up in foster care. Her perspective carries both vulnerability and strength. Our skin tones may differ, but the depth of her reflections reminds me that—contrary to Tupac’s line “the darker the skin, the deeper the roots”—many of us carry deep roots, regardless of shade.#ShawnIrvine #RaisedBesideBlackCulture

Across Canada and the diaspora, those roots appear through resilience, storytelling, art, and community memory. Watching The Square reminded me that many of us are still navigating multiple histories at once—immigrant expectations, Canadian realities, and the long-standing Black histories that existed here long before our families arrived.

I highly recommend watching this documentary and supporting the Black Nova Scotian storyteller who shared it. Black Nova Scotians are part of one of the oldest Black communities in Canada. As a Canadian-born child of immigrants, their story resonates with me in a different way—my sister and I can trace our paternal roots back to Kahondo in Uganda and further into Rwanda and Congo. I’ve never needed a DNA test to know where I come from, which makes learning about Black communities in Canada whose histories were disrupted even more powerful.

Just imagine how deep their history and their ancestral search is!?

This is Vanessa Smithers: https://www.vanessasmithers.com/

▶️ Watch and share: The Square

Picture of Vanessa is from:https://torontolife.com/life/this-consultant-makes-65000-a-year-she-went-on-a-bit-of-a-spending-streak-during-the-pandemic/

Heal, Grow, Glow;

with Kabasigyi-Bakahondo ✨