Greetings Brothers and Sisters

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

My name is Nathalie AKA Queen. I am a 34 years old Sister from Montreal, Canada. I am known to be militant and strong minded on certain topics. I will definitely help out my Brothers and Sisters in the community.

This is my view on what's been going on in the Black community in Montreal Canada for 2001. I'd like to mention that Montreal has a diversity in its Black Community. It's coming from every corner of the West Indies and including Brothers and Sisters from the Motherland.

We have our own radio station called CKUT 90.3 FM. We have the choice to listen from R&b to Calypso, Reggae. I have to admit that the people working on the shows deserve their props. We also have events promoters . This team is formed by a brother and sister that have been active in the community for years. They help not just to promote activities in the club scene but also community events.

Every year we have what's called "Jump-up". It is a community function which the main event is during the second w/e of July. This year was not the greatest for the parade. We were supposed to have the least 30 floats, when in the end we only got 15. The organization was lacking in this year's event. If you were to compare it to the Toronto Carnival held in August, ours is very minimal. We could have as big of an attendance as in Toronto if the committee was to focus more on the community then their own material needs.

The event of September 11 touched us as much as our Brothers and Sisters in the USA. Most of us have friends or family in the New York area. The stress have been felt ever since. A lot of us are still afraid to fly. I don't know if the cloud of fear will ever be moved.

One thing that still affects me to this day is the fact that even in a new millennium, we are still paying an immense importance to our skin complexion and hair texture. This is a plague that is there for decades. it's being taught from generations to generations. Also, another thing that really irritates me is the use of the "n" word by many of our Brothers. It seems to me that it is look at the same as any other word. By the same time, those same people would be beating the first White person to call them such a term. Where is the logic in all that????

Here is something that I deplore in Canada, especially in Montreal. We don't have enough Black teachers in our schools. Our history isn't taught and our young are lacking the knowledge about the ancestors. The majority of Brothers and Sisters in Canada are from Caribbean descents. A lot of our youth are screaming loud and clear their origins without really knowing where they're coming from. This isn't just about the African history but also about the Caribbean history and Canadian history. They don't teach about the slavery that occurred up here in the same time as the civil war in the USA. A lot of the slaves would take the underground railroad and come up here to be free. Also, this land was owned by Native Indians. None of that is mentioned in the books. All that we are teaching and I was taught back in my school years are about Christopher Columbus and his so-call discovery of this country.

There is a lack on the board of education for Black teachers. We are still seen as a minority. We don't have enough positive roll models for our youth. I do agree that as parents we have to teach our children about our history, but by the same time, the school has to reinforce it. I will make sure to be one of the loud voices representing the voices of our youth soon. I have a step-daughter in school and she is of Black and Native Indian decent. I will be going to her school, and demand an explication to why she is not taught about her history properly.

We need to make sure that our children know about their history, our history.

God Bless