Martin Luther King memorial march Friday in Stratford aims to inspire
Organizer Katia Maxwell hopes legacy of 1963 event will inspire community support
A march planned for Friday afternoon in Stratford will commemorate the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Although anniversaries are typically celebrated on the five and 10 year anniversaries, organizer Katia Maxwell said this felt like a fitting year to commemorate the march's legacy.
"Considering what's going on in Stratford and worldwide right now with anti-racism and all the discussions around white privilege and allyship, I thought this is the year I should be doing something here in Stratford," said Maxwell.
The planned march comes after a summer of heightened attention to systemic racism across North America, and Ontario's smaller cities have been no exception.
Earlier this summer, Stratford Police opened a hate crime investigation after an online exchange about a Confederate flag led to racially charged insults.
"For members of minority communities in Stratford it was — not shocking, because we are aware of racism, we face it pretty much every day — but I think to see it typed up and posted for all to see really caught me off guard," said Maxwell.
Maxwell said that spurred her to take action.
She noted that the 1963 March on Washington drew hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life and hopes that legacy will inspire people in the Stratford community to show up support the current civil rights moment.
March route goes past Stratford Festival
"I wanted to find something that everybody could associate with, and that could be the base for everyone to come together and march in this community against some really ugly stuff that's going on right now," she said.
The march will start at William Allman Memorial Arena in Stratford around 5:30 p.m. Friday.
It will go down Lakeside Drive and past the Stratford Festival.
Earlier this summer, the festival's artistic and executive directors issued a statement about the festival's own "complicity in unjust systems."
"I wanted us to pass that theatre … and recognize that they've recognized themselves as part of the problem, and so they want to be part of the solution," said Maxwell.
The march will then go down Queen Street and along Ontario Street, before finishing at city hall. A short program, including speeches and a moment of silence, will follow.
So far, Maxwell said the response to the march has been "very positive." She hopes people will leave the event feeling uplifted after a summer of heaviness.
"I'm hoping that people walk away saying, 'I felt seen. I felt heard. I felt held up by my community for just a little bit.'"
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
