Kincardine celebrates freedom with raising of Black Liberation flag
By: Liz Dadson
August 3, 2024
Members of Kincardine council and the community gathered in front of the Kincardine Library, Thursday afternoon, to raise the Black Liberation flag, marking the start of Emancipation Month.
“We’re here today to celebrate freedom,” said mayor Kenneth Craig. “None of us here has any idea what it’s like not to have our freedom. However, the African people who came here had no freedom.”
He added that the Municipality of Kincardine recognizes this, and celebrates the changes that brought the right to freedom for everyone.
Councillor Mike Hinchberger echoed those sentiments, saying slavery, as an institution which dated back to the dawn of agrarian societies and relegated human beings to that of property and robbed them of their dignity, is difficult for many of us to comprehend.
“I have the utmost sympathy for those who were the victims of slavery, the condemnation for those who perpetrated slavery, and the highest admiration and respect for those who struggled in the face of often violent opposition to see it ended in the eyes of the law here,” he said.
“Yet, while the law can prohibit an act, it cannot necessarily address on its own the underlying causes of that act, such as attitudes of oppression and discrimination. These attitudes are like viruses which do not disappear, often lie dormant, but are only kept at low levels through vigilance and action.
“I stand with you today, as a member of council, committing myself to this vigilance and action, and moving our community forward, toward the ideal and example that it can be.”
Craig was joined by Hinchberger and councillors Rory Cavanagh and Beth Blackwell, in raising the flag.
The Black Liberation flag was also raised at the Davidson Centre in Kincardine.
Kincardine mayor Kenneth Craig (left) and councillors Beth Blackwell, Rory Cavanagh and Mike Hinchberger raise the Black Liberation flag at the Kincardine Library, Thursday afternoon
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