Local group strives to uplift minority voices, effect change

At the Canton ‘Stand-in Solidarity’ rally held in early June outside Town Hall, longtime friends Amber Carrington and Tamarra Auguste decided it was their time to be heard.

Neither very comfortable with public speaking, the two Canton High Class of 2016 graduates separately worked up the courage to take the microphone and, through tears, opened up in front of an audience of hundreds to reveal years of private pain.

Evelyn Carrington (right) consoles cousin Amber Carrington as she recites Evelyn’s poem. (Moira Sweetland photo)

“It’s just that so much in this country feels like it’s stacked against you … I’ve felt like this my entire life,” Auguste said, fighting to keep her composure. “We’re doing this for not even just us; we’re doing this for everyone who looks like us. We’re doing this not just for black people either; we’re doing this for all of the people of color in this country that are discriminated against and all the people of all religions that are discriminated against in this country.”

Earlier in the program, Amber Carrington, with her cousin Evelyn Carrington by her side, sobbed as she recited “Black Lives Matter,” a poem penned by Evelyn that touched on feelings of anger, fear and sadness in the wake of several high-profile instances of police brutality and racial injustice — the most recent at the time being the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The girls later invited anyone from the audience who was interested to join them after the rally in a march through Canton Center, and with a newfound confidence and sense of urgency, together they resolved to keep the conversation going beyond that night and to keep pushing for change.

Out of that resolve was born Black Voices Heard, a local collective led by several members of the Carrington family and Auguste that seeks to lift up minority voices and promote greater racial understanding through education and discourse. Their first planned event — a celebration of black history and culture intended to mark the emancipation of enslaved people on “Juneteenth” — had to be indefinitely postponed due to state and local COVID-19 restrictions. In the meantime, the group hosted a virtual celebration and they have been actively looking into a number of other programming options for the fall and beyond, ranging from a podcast to a possible collaboration with the Canton Public Schools.

Evelyn, for one, is excited about the potential of Black Voices Heard and the role that education can play in effecting change in her community.

“The teachers and parents of the Canton community as well as the surrounding towns could contribute to educating their children on racial injustices around the world so they can use their voices to help amplify our motive —  enact change within the system,” she explained via email. “We think it’s vital to educate our youth as well as the older population so that they don’t experience what we do in the generations to come.”

As for their own experience of growing up black in a mostly white town, all three who were interviewed for this story said they have encountered various forms of racism throughout their lives — everything from outright insults to more subtle remarks and “micro-aggressions.” The latter form of stereotyping, according to experts, can be unintentional and even well-meaning, but hurtful nonetheless.

Amber, for instance, said she has been called the “whitest black girl” more times than she can count, while Auguste has received compliments for speaking “properly” and for being different from “other black people.”

“This might sound strange, but a lot of the times, I feel like people forget that we’re black,” said Auguste. “Like with Amber especially, a lot of the times when she does speak her mind, and because she’s a Carrington and everyone just kind of associates her and her whole family with Canton, they forget that she is a black person who has a black experience and she’s going to care about these certain issues and have certain perspectives on these issues.”

At the same time, both Auguste and Amber said they are fortunate to have grown up in a town like Canton, and just as they want their white counterparts to recognize and understand the privileges they enjoy, they are more than willing to acknowledge their own.

“Yes, we’re obviously black in America,” said Auguste, “but we’ve had a way more privileged experience than most black people because we come from a predominately white, middle class town with a very good school system. So we are not going to have the same struggle that most black people have in this country.”

Despite the advantages of their upbringing, Auguste said they still have to be “hyper-aware” of their surroundings, particularly outside of Canton and when interacting with law enforcement. Amber said she has personally been in situations where she was not given the benefit of the doubt, and both she and Auguste said they have friends who have been the victims of mistreatment in other communities.

Members of Black Voices Heard at the Stand-in Solidarity rally

Together, the members of Black Voices Heard would like to see systemic change in nationwide policing practices, and while they are encouraged by the increased attention that such matters have received, they are not ready to declare any victories just yet.

“It’s kind of just like a wait-and-see [mindset] at this point,” said Auguste. “Because we’ve seen this before — we’ve had protests; we’ve spoken out about police brutality. These are conversations that black people have been having for years, forever, so it’s like until we see something actually happening you can’t really get your hopes up.”

“I’m hopeful that there can be change,” added Amber. “It’s just hard when some people don’t see a problem with the world. Like, there’s clearly a problem and I don’t know how people cannot see that.”

Amber said the killing of an unarmed George Floyd, partly because of the fact that it was captured on video and also because it came on the heels of several other high-profile fatalities, represented a “breaking point” for many black Americans. At the same time, she said, people began to reexamine some of the lesser known cases, and in the meantime new stories have surfaced — including the August 23 shooting of Jacob Blake, who was shot several times in the back at close range by police following a disturbance. The incident was reportedly witnessed by his three young sons and has touched off a wave of new protests in the Wisconsin city of Kenosha and across the nation. (State and local officials have launched an investigation into the shooting and the story is still developing.)

Auguste said the challenge they face when discussing issues such as police violence is that many misinterpret it as being inherently anti-police, or they see it as a political issue as opposed to a human rights issue.

“People don’t understand,” she said, “we’re not saying don’t arrest black people. We’re saying don’t unnecessarily kill black people. And police brutality can happen to anyone. Just the whole system is so messed up — there’s a problem going on and we need to address it.”

Because many of these issues do not touch Canton directly, Auguste said residents have the luxury of ignoring what’s happening around them in other communities and across the country. “But we want to make sure that in Canton people realize that [racial justice] is not just a trend. It’s something that truly matters to us.”

And while their group is called Black Voices Heard, the members want to be sure to extend a hand to other minorities within the community, including LGBT residents, Muslims, Jews and more. “We want to make sure every group gets a chance to speak on their issues,” said Auguste. “The point is to have our voices heard in this town.”

At the end of the day, said Evelyn, their hope is to not only change people’s minds but their hearts as well. “What we are going through isn’t black versus white; it’s good versus evil and it’s not enough to change a few racist minds,” she said. “We need the systems that are built against us to change how they view and treat minorities.”

“And we want to make sure the momentum in our town to make a change is going to continue,” said Auguste. “We’re still going to be here either way, so we are going to keep on pushing and striving for change.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on Aug 28 2020. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.