OKOTOKS, ALTA. -- About 150 Okotokians gathered Saturday to combat racism and participated in a march through the streets of the community.
Organizers made sure participants wore masks as the group gathered at a soccer field near Ecole Secondaire Foothills Composite High School, before marching through nearby neighbourhoods and over the Sheep River, spreading one message.
"I want them to understand that this is a hard conversation to have," said Brionnae Marillier-Phillips, organizer of the rally. "Most of the rhetoric we get around racism in this town, is that it doesn’t exist, which is crazy because so many of us and more couldn’t turn out today, it did happen to."
Okotoks is a town of about 30,000 people.
The Lynch family has lived in town for 14 years and for father Glenn, he believes this gathering shows a sense of unity.
"It's heartwarming," he said. "I’ve lived here for 14 years and (I am) not going to lie, (I) felt like the only black person in this town."
His two sons Jalen and Keegan also joined in on the march.
Jalen, 13, has grown up in Okotoks, and says for the most part its been a fairly positive experience.
"It's been pretty good," he said. "I’ve experienced some racial discrimination sometimes, but I’m glad that it's only been a few times."
He says there were incidents that happened to him at school.
"Someone didn’t want me to go into the bathroom because they said, 'No Black kids allowed.'"
Jalen’s younger brother Keegan, who is 10, says this rally is about paving a new path forward.
"It's been hard," he said. "I’ve heard a lot of bad things happen to my brother but I’m glad that people are trying to make a change."
Glenn says he feels its important to allow his sons to have an opportunity to know people care.
"When I was their age we didn’t have anything," he said. "To have them see that, yes, they may be coming up as Black men, (but) they have support from others around them."
Black Lives Matter protests and anti-racism rallies have been held across the globe in recent weeks following the death of an unarmed black man while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minn.
Their message is to fight against racial inequality and police brutality.
The event in Okotoks was meant to show solidarity with the BLM movement.
"We want to foster a safe space for Black and Indigenous voices to be heard and create an environment where each community member feels called to act. It has become clear we must be anti-racist," organizers wrote on Facebook.
