For Carissa Gordon (ConEd’16), a member of the Kingston Black History Month organinzing committee and president of Queen’s University’s African Caribbean Student Association (ACSA), it would be great if Canada got to the point where Black History Month was no longer needed.

However, the reality is that the month of recognizing the achievements and history, both good and bad, of the black experience in Canada remains a necessity.

“I know there are people who ask why is there a Black History Month or what is the point, but to be honest Black History Month should be every month,” she says. “But until we can actually reach that stage it’s going to be necessary to have that month because it gives a platform to talk about it. That falls on people of the black community and people not of the black community to talk about issues. So I should be talking about issues outside of February and not just wait for February to start raising issues that I may have.”

For Ms. Gordon the importance of Black History Month became clearer once she arrived in Kingston and at Queen’s. Having grown up in Mississauga, she found that there was not nearly the same emphasis or learning opportunities for black history.

It quickly brought a focus for her and she became involved in ACSA and in supporting and organizing local events for Black History Month. 

Along with the Queen’s Black Academic Society, ACSA is one of two Alma Mater Society clubs represented in the organizing committee for Kingston Black History Month. As ACSA president, Ms. Gordon is directly involved with planning and organizing.

Throughout the month a series of events are being held at Queen’s and in Kingston to highlight the key moments and people in black history as well as to provide platforms for discussion on where we stand today and where we need to be in the future. One such event is the panel discussion “Unity Within the Black Community” on Feb. 29. The open event is being held at Robert Sutherland Hall, Room 202, starting at 6 pm.

Through her participation, Ms. Gordon has seen a mutually beneficial relationship develop between the Kingston and Queen’s communities over the years. It has been a key connection that has resulted in greater outreach, participation and awareness.

“I think the students bring in maybe the newer side – we do a lot of the graphics and utilize the social media platforms to reach more of the student population,” she says. “I think the community members bring in a lot of things we didn’t think about, such as helping us get a grant from the City of Kingston. I feel like if we didn’t have community members that wouldn’t have been something that came to our mind, applying for a grant, as well as finding more events that are going on in the community.”

Through her role on the organizing committee she says she has gained some very valuable experience, such as time management and public speaking, while she has also had the opportunity to meet a wide range of people, like Queen’s alumnus Desmond Cole, a journalist and social commentator who was the keynote speaker at the Jan. 31 opening ceremony. 

One of the things that Ms. Gordon says needs to improve for progress to be made is the inclusion of more black history at all levels of education, and not just in history class. As a Concurrent Education student it is something that she feels is very important.

“I’ve said this multiple times, but black history can be included outside of history class. So you don’t have to be taking the history course code in order to study (black history), you can incorporate that into all other courses. You can bring in key figures or prominent black figures in mathematics or science. Or even touching upon a lot of the incidents that have been going on, especially in 2015-16,” she says.

For further information about Kingston Black History Month, including the schedule of events, visit the group’s Facebook page.