Open House 2008

On April 30th, 2008, the Health and Racism Working Group held an Open House for service providers, community members and anyone interested in finding out more about the group's work and how to get involved.

We celebrated a year anniversary for the core membership with the display of artwork created by the women of the group. The artwork was a piece of healing, a piece of advocacy, and a piece of community development. The core membership went through a day-long workshop through the adaptation of a technique called Body Mapping. We borrowed the technique from a fantastic organization based in Kenya called Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TICAH).

Body Mapping was used to work through the impact of racism on our bodies and our spirits. Body mapping gave a voice to the stories that often aren't told, or validated, or are given space to be connected to our health and well-being. The body maps tell a story of impact, coping, and self-awareness.

The Open House continued with a fantastic guest speaker, Blakka Ellis, who gave an energetic and engaging talk on Misogyny and Jamaican Dancehall Music. Blakka explored the impact of music, words, and sentiments in some dancehall music that is anti-female and promotes violence against women and girls. Blakka Ellis is currently a Master's student at York University in the Faculty of Environmental Studies.

Our Open House concluded with a recognition of the hard, dedicated and passionate work that brought us to a one year anniversary. Members of the working group and committed to active, action-oriented, and leadership-based work.

Anyone is welcome to contact us concerning membership by emailing us at healthandracism@googlegroups.com

More information on membership will be posted shortly.

Thank you to all those that attended the Open House, we look forward to working with you in solidarity in the future!