Vol. 7 No. 1 (2020): “Its smoke must make it blind” : Fire and a commitment to regeneration

The COVID-19 pandemic has made visible some of the most problematic elements of modern society. People and communities that have been made most vulnerable throughout history are being impacted much more severally by the disease itself, but also by the impact of isolation, job losses and the additional mental and physical stress. The deaths of George Floyd, Tony McDade, David McAtee, Chantel Moore, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rodney Levi, among countless others, at the hands of police are (yet another) wake-up call to the ongoing systemic oppressions that are part of a living reality for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. In Canada, there is a particularly nefarious history of Black and Indigenous people being disproportionately killed by police, incarcerated, and treated as second class citizens. The burning that is so apparent in this moment is not an explosion that incinerates everything in its path but a slow burn that has been in motion for hundreds of years and is only increasing in intensity. What we are seeing and experiencing today are the implications of capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and settler-colonial systems and structures that have been intentionally established to benefit those in power at the expense of the majority of the world’s population. (Photo: Alexia Moyer).