The Smithers Bridging Committee (SBC) is celebrating Anti-Racism Awareness Week with a contest.
The SBC, the Bulkley Valley member of the Resilience BC Anti-Racism Network, has put posters up around town with anti-racism messages. Anyone who finds a poster and submits a selfie with it will be entered into a draw for prizes provided by business sponsors of the event.
Examples of the kind of messages on the posters include: “If you’re unaware of privilege, you might be privileged”; “We can’t tackle racism if we can’t talk about it”; and “Anti-Racism opens doors without closing any.”
People are also encouraged to submit selfies of themselves doing cultural activities to celebrate diversity and will also be eligible for the draw.
Anti-Racism Awareness Week, declared by the B.C. government for the week of May 23 - 29 kicked off Sunday with a message from Resilience B.C. of “Ending racism and hate is your right and responsibility.”
“There’s a long history of racism where we live and work with enduring consequences,” said Birdy Markert and Nancy Cody, SBC co-chairs. “We must take time to not only reflect on the racism we witness in everyday situations but also learn to speak out against it. Anti-Racism Awareness Week is an opportunity to spur the conversations at home, at work and all places needed to create a better and safer community”
The Smithers Multicultural Society has also gotten behind the SBC.
“It is more important than ever to build on raising awareness of cultural diversity, to celebrate rather than tolerate our similarities and differences,” the society said.
The SBC is also working to address racism through developing the Bulkley Valley Racism and Hate Response Protocol to enable anyone who has experienced or witnessed an act of racism to submit a written statement to smithersbridgingcommittee@gmail.com.
Visit the SBC Facebook page to enter the contest.