Black History Month: Black in Sask, with Christian Mbanza, Danielle Apakoh, Jennifer Wani, Muna DeCiman, and Vibya Natana

Feb 21

We had an inspiring conversation with five members of the Black in Sask team to hear their experiences and stories. They were such an insightful group to listen to, and we look forward to seeing them continue the amazing work that they do for Saskatchewan’s community. We spoke to Christian Mbanza, Daniell Apakoh, Jennifer Wani, Muna Deciman, and Vibya Natana, and here is their story.

Tell me about yourself.

Jennifer Wani: My name is Jennifer, most people call me Jenn. I am a third year student completing an undergraduate in international development and globalization at the University of Ottawa. I’m super passionate about community development, community wellness, and creating and enabling environments for youth to carry out their initiatives that are for youth, by youth. [I am passionate about] creating intergenerational change within communities and households.

Christian Mbanza: My name is Christian Mbanza, I am the community outreach director. I’m a fifth year educator at Ecole St Marie. My work is founded through the history portion of black people in Saskatchewan, and connecting our community with the local community.

Vibya Natana: My name is Vibya Natana, I am also part of the leadership team at Black in Sask. I am a recently graduated student of the University of Regina in Social Work, as well as Non-profit Leadership and Innovation. I currently work with different organizations both professionally as well as volunteering. [I] advance their missions by bringing communities together, putting on different programming to educate not only youth but oftentimes equity deserving groups. Primarily, my work deals with the black community, as well as the youth community; bringing people together again and addressing issues going on in the community with community led solutions.

Danielle Apakoh: My name is Danielle Apakoh. I am a recent graduate from the University of Regina in Philosophy and Justice Studies. I am super passionate about culture and cultural preservation, and embracing culture in many different ways, whether it be hair or expressing through music. I am focused on people being able to embrace their culture in any way that they can. I don’t have a specific role in Black in Sask but I am part of the co-founding team.

Muna DeCiman: I am Muna DeCiman and I have lived in Regina for 27 years. I have a masters in social work and currently I work as a youth counselor. I am very involved within community advocacy to bring communities together. I am involved in Black in Sask, in the community development area. I believe in the community's capacity to bring people together and maintain a relationship within society.

What led to the creation of Black in Sask?

Vibya Natana: The creation of Black in Sask came from recognizing that there was anti-black racism taking place within our community that had no framework or no direct solution. We were seeing that even before June of 2020, which was the height of publicization of police brutality and anti-black racism was really on screens everywhere around the world. At the beginning of the year, here in Regina, we were seeing students that were experiencing harassment and anti-black racism posting about their experiences online and receiving no support within the school system. [They were] receiving no clear lines on how it was going to be dealt with. Many of us who were speaking out about these issues were coming together informally and talking about how we couldn't believe this was still the situation in the school system for students younger than us. Spaces that we had left were experiencing [racism]. For many of us we were [asking ourselves] what do we do? We realized a big part of it came from the education sphere. People need to be educated about what’s going on and the roots of what they're saying and that impact words can have, and the ways in which they are able to address these issues. We were thinking that this might be a long term plan with the education piece, but the urgency kept increasing as we were seeing these instances of police brutality. From there it went on to connecting with each other as individuals that were prominently speaking out in the community about these issues. That led to organizing an anti-black racism rally in Regina, bringing people together to not only raise awareness of the issues we were seeing internationally, but also shed a light on local experiences. People were dealing with anti-black racism in the healthcare system, in schools, with police and so much more. We are showing people that anti-black racism isn’t someone else's issue far away, but a Regina issue, it’s all of our situation.

Christian Mbanza: The idea that black people haven’t been in Saskatchewan for a very long time, it’s only a short history of our people being here. Part of our work is to increase the education on that aspect, because there have been people who have been here, who have helped establish what this province is today, not only our province but the country. The idea that black people haven’t been here for a very long time is a myth, and we are denouncing this, and educating people about the different aspects of the culture, and that it has been here for a very long time and is vibrant. Ultimately, increase the representation needed in the city to show people that.

Jennifer Wani: I will say that what’s unique about the conception of Black in Sask was creating a link between movements, decision making processes, and influence is understanding that we wanted it to be a youth centred program. Our key ingredient in how we operate is meaningful youth engagement and as opposed to conforming to traditional ways of a non-profit working system. We are really committed to what works for us [so] we can all meaningfully engage. We mentioned before we are all engaged in different advocacy in our personal lives so how are we able to combine that energy and harness it in a way that doesn’t take from us but really adds to the value to who we are as individuals, and ultimately who we are as a community.

Muna DeCiman: I will add a little bit of what Black in Sask [is]. Youth of our community were sick and tired of society constructing stories. They decided to tell the stories of us. They want to tell their own stories, and take their place in society. We came up with advocacy to tell our own story, to provide resources and tools to tell, to work in the community to tell our stories and the truth.

Danielle Apakoh: To add onto what Auntie Muna said, I think what is really unique about our approach in Black in Sask is definitely our prior experience in Regina directly impacts the work that we do. For example, a lot of us come from first generation backgrounds and that is foundational to how we have experienced life in Regina. It’s understanding that a lot of these youths have had the same experiences we have had. It's really important to them to create a bridge that connects the two: older youth and younger youth. Understanding that our experiences are not that different, and because our experiences are not that different, that is a problem that needs to be fixed.

How did you all become involved in Black in Sask?

Danielle Apakoh: I would like to say I was suckered in, I’m joking. Honestly, it was a natural occurrence, among all of us we have a connection, in terms of our community. We are so deeply connected and came together to fight the issues within our community that need to be resolved and there was no necessary framework to have it resolved, so we came together [asking ourselves], “what can we do?”. For me personally, I was just plunked into a group chat and we decided what we should do about this. Around that time, May 2020, was the George Floyd situation. We were thinking to ourselves, “how we can involve ourselves?”, [to] really being part of a movement, then being able to jumpstart something from the movement. That’s how I became involved, we were planning to do something like this, so let's actually plan, which is what we can do together.

Muna DeCiman: For me personally, people of African descent [faced] challenges at the time of George Floyyd. It was the moment and the right time, and I felt a social obligation because it is for our youth of tomorrow, and they deserve better. That’s what gave me the urge to continue the work.

Jennifer Wani: Like Danielle, everything in regards to involvement felt very organic and it came first from conversations, and that is who we are as an organization. I remember showing up in these spaces that we were having these conversations and in those spaces we were defining our ambitions and our next steps. You get wrapped up in wanting to be there and be involved and engaged in the next steps. Especially with the height of the pandemic and lock down, a lot of opportunities had diminished. In that space it really shows what matters to you, and where you want to be putting your energy. Black in Sask became that platform. A space where I can engage with what really matters and what is really in front of me. Especially dealing with some of the issues that came from the pandemic, creating local solutions became a huge part of the narrative. I saw Black in Sask as my way to engage with these intersecting issues of race and violence going on in the community. Black in Sask became where we were able to identify what that looked like in our community and it gave me the opportunity to engage. It happens that you engage and it’s really hard for you to leave Black in Sask. Even to this day it became my centre. It was finding space for me; [it is] where I realized where my passion was lies in the bottom up approach and community development, and before looking into other community’s really looking into [if] my community is well, can I contribute? Auntie Muna has been an amazing mentor in this space, pushing us to volunteer, pushing us to be part of the solution and to fight problems in your peers first, and making sure that the people around you are good. The beautiful thing about Black in Sask is within different members we are always taking care of each other so that we can ensure that we can take care of the other youth that are not in our direct space, but who we feel is our social responsibility not only as an organization but as an individual who sees value in community. Black in Sask is the space that formalizes our passion and our social responsibility.

Christian Mbanza: Danielle was joking that she got pulled in but for me that was the situation because it was my second or third year teaching and I was happy doing the status quo and living my life that way. The George Floyd incident happened and alongside me getting racially profiled coincided with the rallies. Auntie Muna had messaged me asking me to speak about the incident and talk about what had happened but initially I was hesitant about it and I didn’t want to do it. She has a way of making you do things that you don’t think you should be doing, but really empowering you. I realized that when I spoke, it wasn’t anything new but more people came out and started telling their story. As black people we know all the incidents and microaggressions we have to deal with on a day to day basis but it empowered more people to use their voice and you start to realize that the power that you have. Reading throughout history, like in Alexander talking about your duty is not to be average or Fredrick Douglas using his voice as a means to talk about slavery and educate people, so all of those history perspectives became a reality for me. I had to face the very thing they were talking about where there comes a crossroads in your life where you have the opportunity to speak out against something and change the status quo or societal norms in terms of what we have started to accept. The more I started to do it, the more I realized that it became a safe space, it gave me more power not only to believe in myself more but to connect with other black people who were trying to navigate their passions and the things they found purposeful in this life along being black in a society. How [do] you navigate those two lenses, [when] your cultures are basically at odds against each other. How are you able to carry both and move forward in that. Those sorts of things create more confidence in yourself, and it gave me a different lens of who I was and my role in society. I got involved after the first rallies, connecting more and more with everyone else in Black in Sask. As time went on it grew in the sense of work and everyone’s capabilities but also relationship wise as well.

Vibya Natana: I am extremely emotional hearing everyone speak about it because every time I hear us talk, whether informally or formally about how this work came to be, it is still like an out of body experience. When you ask us how did you get involved in Black in Sask, it’s like we were born Black in Saskatchewan, so we were Black in Sask from the jump. Nobody asked us to do this, that’s the funny thing too because at some stages there were people telling us “why?, don’t do it”. People who are close to us, whose opinions we respect and have our best interest in mind, and are asking us if this was truly something we wanted to pursue. There are a lot of challenges and many of them are deeply personal because when you are doing advocacy work for the community, we can talk about the community in a broader more removed sense that can often take place with advocacy work and nonprofit work. For us, that responsibility in calling it Black in Sask is the fact that it is us, it is not for someone else, it is the experiences we had had and are experiencing, that others in our community are going through. That’s why we are showing up, that’s why this group was formed. For myself, something that we talked about from the beginning from our group formalizing along the way is that we continue to say yes with our arms outstretched, sometimes not knowing exactly what is the next step. Saying yes, with our ears open to what our community is needing, what are people saying, what are people going through and being able to use that as a guide. We are consistently learning, and I don’t want to say that it’s a process to ever be completed, but for myself, [it is] being able to say yes alongside amazing people who are bringing so much from their own personal journeys to the work that we're doing in Black in Sask. That’s how I got involved, by me saying yes, and seeing other people say yes, despite what they’ve gone through, despite being profiled in your own community in a very public way. [We have to] not only to go through it but to have to speak about [the] trauma and intellectualize it in a way to get people to recognize that this is wrong. Us doing that in different settings, for different institutions was extremely traumatizing, to the point that many of us were grappling with the question of is this ethical anymore to be putting ourselves through this for the sake of education or for the sake of change. [We are] recognizing the larger impact it could have in changing the course of society, but the reason I was able to get involved was seeing the strength in the people around me, in our community, and the strength of the individuals who aren’t in our leadership team. [They] are still a core part of the work that we do just by living their lives in the community. Seeing them show up, going to their workplaces where they are experiencing racism, doing jobs that they aren’t passionate about but are doing it to take care of their families, moving across oceans to make a better life for children, seeing the strength of those people, how could I not continue to show up.

What are the missions and values of Black in Sask?

Vibya Natana: With Black in Sask our formal mission is being able to support the black community in a holistic way, and address the black community issues and connect individuals within our community to networks that can be impactful to them, and meeting them where they are at in that process. [We aim to] be able to celebrate blackness and celebrate our contributions to society. [We want to celebrate] ways in which individuals are making an influence on a scale within their circles and community that isn’t necessarily going to make it into the history books. It matters a lot to the advancement of our community on a very local scale. Our values are very much a reflection of the kind of world that we want to see. When we talk about being able to put the ideas and the perspective of the community first. A huge part of our value is in ensuring that we are a space for community members to reach out to us. That [community members] are able to speak directly to the individuals involved and drive the mission of Black in Sask forward. Using those ideas to be able to come back to the drawing board and be flexible in a way that many formal organizations struggle to, and using those experiences to guide what exactly we should be doing.

Christian Mbanza: With that, I think it was important for us to bring up the black community to the outside community. For a long time there has been a misconception of what it means to be black from a media perspective. I remember growing up and people were like “you don’t act like the black people I know, you don’t talk like a normal black person,” and it comes from that miseducation and what it means to be black. The diversity within Black in Sask was important to show to people, just because you are black doesn’t mean there is one way to be black. There is a diversity within our culture and group. People who may come from the same continent but have different cultures or ethnicities or traditions. It was opening up our world to people in our community and showing them what it truly means to be black.

Jennifer Wani: To follow up on the point about diversity, as I mentioned before, our work is youth cultured even though we share a lot of the same experiences, there is a diversity in our experiences, there is diversity in our personality. In learning that, our goal is to be listening and not assume, but to have an open ear and customize the approach. We customize the experience based on the community or individual that we are dealing with. One thing that I really love about the work we do at Black in Sask is we truly believe that every young person is worth it. There’s no going the easy way of doing things, our ethics and morals truly govern who we are and believe every young person is worth it and we believe in the innocence and potential of young people to change and be the change we need in the community. Alongside changing systems, policy and advocacy, this is very tasking work. It is dealing with trauma and very sensitive vulnerable areas of our lives. Alongside working with young people and wanting to change their experience, we also prioritize healing and that it is okay to not be okay. Even at our Gala, when Doctor Salua was speaking such an impactful message of it being okay to just be existing and being a human being and being a part of the community. We want young people to know that by being a part of our community their value is there and recognized. They don’t have to prove themselves to us, and they deserve our service as an organization. Part of our mission is allowing young people to feel empowered in who they are because they are by just being. Every young person is worth it.

Danielle Apakoh: More on the note of addressing social issues. Our team is very unique in the sense that we kind of come from two different worlds in a way. We can understand that there is one world that we are a part of in terms of culture, in very diverse worlds in different ways to be black . Inserting ourselves into a completely different world can be very taxing. It can be very intimidating. Having the will to fight for these social issues is super important for us. Having the opportunity to give people a voice when they feel voiceless is extremely important. That is one important thing about our mission: understanding that some people within our community don’t have the will to fight their own battles and that’s where we step in. We understand that we are not fighting their battles because we feel superior, but rather we are collecting their experiences in a comfortable way that they are willing to express and bringing it into larger issues to be resolved. That is why it is really important to understand our team is so diverse that we are able to understand two different worlds and connect the two

Muna DeCiman: The only thing that I can add to what has been said already is that we all speak as one voice even though we are all from different countries. When it comes to advocacy work or work with community people we see the child as an innocent one. We work as one voice with the strength that we all have.

Can you discuss some of your events?

Vibya Natana: When it comes to the events, some of the events that have gained the most attendees and numbers have been the gala. We're really looking forward to the upcoming event on the 17th, which I will come back to. I would say that all the different events that we have been able to contribute to over the last few years have definitely come out of the same focus on addressing social issues, or being able to connect different individuals to networks that could be beyond the scope of Black in Sask, like it could be professional networks and that kind of thing, and also being able to celebrate blackness. With the Gala, you could see how that celebrates blackness, and celebrates individuals within the community. Some of our other initiatives have included more educational types of programming, whether that’s presentations and workshops with different institutions that we have been able to do work alongside, such as school systems, other organizations that are doing amazing work such as the Movember team. Christian and Tobi were able to connect with them this past year, and [were connecting with] more topical events that are focused towards different parts of our community. That's a huge part of the work that we do. At the same time, when some of our events have been taking place, they have been a reflection of the values in our community as far as collaboration. We’ve been able to have a number of events in collaboration with other groups in our communities such as Afro Mentorship Initiative, SACHM and many more. In terms of being able to show our community, not only the black community but the larger Regina community the diversity within our thoughts, being able to have conversations on important topics such as at the Kwanzaa events that was held in December, one of the main topics of conversation was what should the name be of Black History Month in Saskatchewan, and that brought out conversations of what does it mean to call yourself black, is that appropriate, does that stand for everybody? There’s so many different thoughts and views on that but when we were able to bring each other together with Black in Sask our goal through our events is being able to address a lot of the different issues we are seeing in our communities in different ways. Even with celebrating history, being able to connect with Hampton Hub and have the amazing event that they were spearheading on their block, making it a block party, inviting people from the community to come out and learn about history, learn about the culture, and the people who are making our community and how you can support them in a helpful way. Our event on the 17th is focused on community investment and being able to have conversations about community investment and what people are doing in that regard. [We are] able to then provide opportunities for people to discuss how they can invest in our community and connect with the people that are able to make that happen.

Muna DeCiman: I think you covered everything well, the other thing is we have been working closely with the Regina Services cultural unit in doing a celebration and that will be an event on June 27th.

Christian Mbanza: I’m a little surprised nobody said the rally. The rally was one of our biggest events because of the way it came about not only individually for us, but bringing us together. The logistics and complications of making that happen during covid and all that was going on during that time, and it was such a huge moment for all of us in terms of what we could do and speak about in front of the legislative building, in front of a lot of people. We were able to have conversations that for years and years have happened only behind closed doors. For me, I think the gala was awesome, and the community stuff we do, but the rally for me was such a big moment for us.

Jennifer Wani: It’s nice to be asked these questions because we begin to reflect upon different initiatives that we carry out. I just wanted to highlight some youth programming, we have been having basketball programming that we collaborated with Sask Home Court. We were able to get children in some skills training, working primarily with basketball. We had Christmas events where we would invite families and their young children to engage with different activities that we were hosting for families. On what Christian said about the rally, which was definitely an exciting moment but a conflicting moment because it is not the easiest topic to engage with. Another area of events is that we engage with very difficult areas of topic but we understand that our community has experiences in all areas, including mourning. We had the Samwel Uko Memorial Walk to honour the lives in our community that have been taken short. Those are the events that I think about that are most difficult but are important that we allow our community that space to grieve and engage with these very difficult moments that we deal with. We want to do it in solidarity and recognition of that, although there are joyful moments in this process, there are moments that really ground us and remind us that we have many moments that are between life and death as a community. That’s definitely a moment or event we look at the moments we have had with community, mourning is something that we have engaged with, and even remember Kaleab Schmidt in those moments and the lives taken too early from our community. We recognize that it is important to create those safe spaces that enable space to be black and feel whatever we're feeling due to the racial injustices that our communities face.

What was the most inspiring moment you have seen with Black in Sask?

Chrisitan Mbanza: The most inspiring thing I would say is the way a community is able to come together and support a group of people for a cause. I think back to the rally and how many people came out and supported us, made signs, stood outside during covid. I think of the initial meetings with city officials, with the mayor, with the Regina Police, with the education system, with the health care system. It’s amazing to see when a community cares about a cause and the efforts they're willing to go to, to not only support the cause but to see people be successful and overcome the struggles that they are facing. That is what continues to motivate me is that people come back with success stories of how us speaking out or advocating for them in different ways has honestly changed their lives. I think of even my students and their parents, and how they are able to come to me with different stories and issues that they are facing with the school system and the education system, and how to navigate that. You see that it is not only an individual effort in order to change things but it becomes a collective effort on the part of many. Then you look back again at historical moments during black history, the African Kingdom, the civil rights movement, the abolition period, and it’s always been a group of people that come together and fight for the cause of change. The lunch counter sit ins is a perfect example of that where a group of people were willing to go to jail, get hosed down, and bit by dogs just so that a group of people could vote and have human rights. Being able to see those examples come to life in the work that we do is the most inspiring thing.

Jennifer Wani: The most inspiring thing, especially as someone who is very passionate about global issues and studying international development is the direct impact we have. We are able to see it not only in the lives that we are engaging with but our own lives and the direct impact we have in our relationship. With the Gala, being able to have a space that I can bring my mum and create that environment for her, and have those moments that no one else can create for us. I can’t even go to Calgary and have these experiences, like these are my people, this is my community. Even when I’m here in Ottawa, I can’t believe I’m talking about Saskatchewan and saying back home, and I never thought I would say that as a way to express my endearment for a location but it is truly because of the people that are there, and the people that know me, and the people who I care about. In everything that I do, regardless of what space I take up, Black in Sask has defined what home is for me, and created that community for me. The ability to create that direct impact and in my venture into international development and learning more, you realize that local solutions are the key to the world's largest problems. Being able to carry that out in my own practice as a community leader, as a young person, the most inspiring thing are even those small wins. When you have the Gala, and have that experience and you know the impact that it makes on the community and people are asking when is the next one. When we are having a homeless crisis in Regina, and us as Black in Sask are able to get together and say how can we provide our time and our resources to provide meals and relief to these communities. That is important, that satisfaction that you are benefiting by being a service, [and] the people around you are also benefiting. You're creating that culture that Christian mentioned, that you're changing people's lives and peoples perspective. It changes how people engage with their local communities, their friends, and their families but it also changes how people perceive humans. That projects how people see humans across the globe, that we all have our communities that we are fighting for, that we all have lives that are valuable, and young people are the key to seeing that sustainable change. So how do we harness this energy? I am inspired because I have direct access to the change I want to see, not only in Regina, but across the globe.

Danielle Apakoh: To further add on to what Jenn said about having direct access to the change that we want to see. The most inspiring thing for me is my community having direct access to me. In the point of crisis or in times when people are really needing community support, it is so inspiring that people feel comfortable sending us an email or message on instagram, to be there and make it seem like we are friends or family. [People] contact us in that way, and that is what our community is about. That is how we address people in our community and it’s really important to see that in real life be presented as a non-profit. We're not far in reach, I feel like there is so much of that I have experienced in Regina. Not being able to connect when I needed help and Black in Sask changed that narrative. Even if you don’t have a connection to us, we are easily accessible, more than you think. That’s what is so inspiring to me, that people are comfortable to connect with us.

Vibya Natana: I agree, that’s definitely it for myself as well. I love everything that has shared, and for myself one of the most inspiring things that I have seen with Black in Sask so far is definitely people embodying the idea that what more could we want as individuals, for formality sake we are a registered organization, but more than that is that we are a community. This provides a formal hub that allows you to know this group, but at the end of the day, beyond the group we are just individuals part of the same community. It is so inspiring seeing people see themselves as Black in Sask. They don’t have to do anything formal, but when they are Black in Sask too. Being able to see that take place in so many different ways has been really cool and something that really shows that it is beyond the individuals in this interview. Black in Sask’s mission is being achieved not only in our organization, but through other organizations that have preceded us by doing the work of addressing anti-blackness but also advancing the desires of our community in all different types of ways. We can’t even take the glory for the amazing progress that is being made for our community because there are so many individuals trying to better themselves, trying to check on those who matter to them in their life. That is Black in Sask, that is individuals from the community stepping up for each other, for their neighbours, for their larger community, their kini that don’t look like them, for indigenous communities and showing solidarity to other marginalized groups that are going through similar issues but in a different shape, that’s Black in Sask and that is extremely inspiring to me.

What do you want Regina to know about Black in Sask?

Danielle Apakoh: What we have been discussing here is understanding that we are not a closed off group that people don’t have access to. Us as people who have formulated Black in Sask are not ‘black in sask’, our mission is that the larger community is black in sask. When I see someone on the street who is black, in sask, they are also part of Black in Sask. What I do, or what we're doing collectively is for all of us. It is important to understand that even inside of that our commitment of advocacy for other marginalized groups is also just as important. Understanding that youth, not only in our community, but it is so important for us to connect our youth with the larger youth community and create a larger community where we can actually help each other. It’s so important because when I was younger I was not fortunate enough to learn that my community goes so much farther than me and my black community. These are very valuable lessons that we need to teach youth, in the long run is that at the end of the day we all need each other and need to support each other. It’s really important for [youth] to grasp at a young age that their community goes beyond them as a black person.

Vibya Natana: That’s what I would say too, so I am kinda speechless right now. I would want Regina to know that we're here and we are listening both through the good times and the crises as well. That being said, I want Regina to know that regardless of the way in which you are approaching us, if through the lens of an institution looking to connect or an individual feeling the need to approach us in a particular way, that they can leave that behind. That’s not how we came into this work, it was mentioned and for the record [Black in Sasks] was started in a group chat. This group was started by individuals who were seeing issues within the community, [you can] come as you are. I want our community to know that we are reading to connect, ready to hear your experiences, and especially they are experiences of criticism as to how this work can be advanced in different ways or there is more to be done, or a way in which their story could influence this work on a larger scale. Those are the people that we want to connect with, we want to connect with individuals who have a passion and desire to see greater change, and greater support for all people in our community. Reach out to us, even if you feel like your idea is half baked. In our group, we encourage people in our group to come forward even if you feel like you won’t be able to carry it across the mission line. We're not meant to be carrying ideas across by ourselves, that’s why we are here as a community. Come with the pieces that you have and we can further that into something greater.

Jennifer Wani: Me personally, I have nothing to add. That is what I want the people to know.

Christian Mbanza: Everyone articulated that really well, and for me simply putting it in other words; for people to understand that when they see us or Black in Sask, there is a larger narrative being told in the work we do is for other people so that kids going through the education system don’t have to through the same oppressions that we did, and people going through the health system and justice system. The work that we are doing is not just so that we receive any of the glory, we want to tell the larger story and be a part of that. It is for people to be inquisitive of what the story is of what we're doing and the why behind our organization.

What has your experience been living in Saskatchewan?

Vibya Natana: It’s been complex in a lot of ways. I feel really fortunate to grow up in a community that was extremely rooted in making sure our connection to back home, which for me is South Sudan, was stronger than ever. Being able to have that sense of belonging to a people [is a privilege], and I recognize the privilege in that, because not everybody has that same opportunity. Being part of the black community as well, recognizing that as strong as my connections back home is, I am not physically there. The community that I am a part of is the larger African community here, in Regina, that has so many shades and so many different experiences of people coming to this place as refugees, as immigrants, as skilled workers, as entrepreneurs, and the list goes on and on. My experience in Regina has been and continues to be a story of understanding myself in new ways. There have been a lot of challenging moments in terms of identity and understanding my blackness. That came from being part of the school system and recognizing the ways in which I was othered. That was my first experience with blackness as a negative thing, because within my home blackness is celebrated, being who I was was celebrated, my culture, my features. I would say that wrestling with the beauty of it, as well as the way it was received in the world and then coming into my own and recognizing that there is a gap between what I know to be true [and what the outside community thought]. I know that culture is beautiful, that my people have amazing contributions, intelligence and value, but for some reason it is not being reflected in the school system. People aren’t recognizing that, and seeing me through the lens of stereotypes and misunderstandings about who we are. Within that gap is opportunity. Opportunity to connect with people, the opportunity to educate and be equipped with the education and opportunities with this group. Being educated and having the tools to be able to walk into spaces and be received as someone who can connect with people and share some of these stories. It has been a great opportunity to continue to change my experience in Regina and not just being on the receiving end of this being the City and I can’t do anything about it, but have that direct impact on what I want my experience of Regina to be, and doing something about it.

Jennifer Wani: I resonate so much with what Vibya was speaking about. School was also the first place where I felt othered and what ended up happening was I made sure my home life and school life were very distinct. I never let them mesh. Friends didn’t come home to visit me from school, I didn’t bring my culture into the classroom, I wanted to keep it simple. I didn’t want to confuse my parents and the culture that they established at home, and I didn’t want to confuse my peers and the school and the culture they established for me there. My whole life I’ve been in management of different spaces because I never believed that there could be the nexus of the two. In doing that I confused myself, and who am I, because I worked so hard at adapting to different environments in different spaces with different expectations, and I am a master cold switcher. I enter a space and my first instinct is looking at my environment and changin how I speak, how I respond, my body language, how I address people, how I interact with people on the basis that I don't want other people to other me. I want to keep my discomfort at a minimum because the minute that someone others me I feel so small. My biggest way of doing that was managing my spaces. Even now that Black in Sask has become that space where my friends have entered my home, my culture, and who I am. I never really experienced that before where my friends could know my parents, and my parents can know my friends. My experience in Saskatchewan has been one in which I made it such a duty for people to understand me and the way that they could receive me, but in doing all that I confused myself. Now with Black in Sask, it is about finding who I am and being bold in it and understanding that people are going to adapt to who I am, and I can’t compromise the authenticity of who I am as an individual on the basis of wanting other people to be comfortable. I realized that I was uncomfortable in all of these spaces and the beauty about Black in Sask is it never defines who you should be, it creates an enabling space regardless of who you are, we're going to make it work. We're going to learn you, what you like, what your interests are, how you speak, and we're going to adapt to you and make that space for you because there is nothing that you have to do to prove that you are a part of this community. That goes back to what I was saying before, I truly believe in Black in Sask, my existence is enough. My experience in Saskatchewan has been confusing, but because of my interaction with Black in Sask, [I] solidified who I am as a person, what my values are, the different identities I hold. It has made moving across the country to Ottawa a beautiful experience because I get to see who I am in a different environment, but never once have I felt like I have to compromise my authenticity because Black in Sask has taught me that people who matter will adapt to who you are. Saskatchewan for the longest time didn’t teach me that until we created that enabling space, and now as a goal, wherever I go and interact with people I want my presents to be an enabling space for people to just be themselves with me. What I don't know I can make known, so I can learn and I am on that journey of being a student and a service for my community.

Danielle Apakoh: I couldn’t resonate more with what Jenn and Vibya said. Growing up in Saskatchewan has been a struggle with acceptance. It’s been figuring out what spaces I’m allowed to be in or allowed to be comfortable in. For me, I grew up part of my life in a very multicultural environment where even though there was a majority that didn’t look like me, I had pockets of my own community in school or when I went home or played outside. All my friends came from a similar background from what I did. Growing up in two parts of the world, it became really confusing and I felt like being a part of Black in Sask I was feeding what my younger self experienced. I am in a space where people look like me, and are very accepting, and understand my experiences as their own, even if they weren’t their own they made a point to understand my experiences. It’s a confusing situation to be in because if you don’t have the experience, you can only sympathize, you can’t empathize. It’s weird because I feel like I seek environments that make me feel comfortable in who I am, before when I was a teenager I would be in an environment knowing full well that I was not comfortable in that environment. Now I make it known that if I am not comfortable in certain environments, then I shouldn’t be there. That transcends into my work, my education, and the type of requirements that I look for in spaces that want to try to accept me. You kind of wrestle through having no requirements to these spaces to put requirements on how I enter a space and make sure that I am comfortable to express myself fully in that space. Black in Sask is such a unique space to just be [myself]. A lot of us didn’t have that opportunity to just be, a lot of us had the pressure to be extraordinary and to completely stand out, but at the same time be like everyone else, be understood by everyone else. It is so important to have Black in Sask in place for our larger communities so we have the opportunity to different types of black people because at the end of the day we are such a diverse group with diverse interests that it is important to recognize that.

Christian Mbanza: I’ve been trying to think of a word that hasn’t been used. They said it all, with the word confusing. On one hand you realize you're an individual with your own purpose, goals and desires, but at the same time you're forced to fit into this narrative of having to be something that maybe doesn’t necessarily fit you. For a lot of us it is confusing in the sense that you may want to be something, but only certain people are accepted in certain spaces. I think of me wanting to be a black teacher when 2% of Canadian teachers are black, so what does that mean for someone like me that wants to be a teacher? Does that mean that I shouldn’t be a teacher or that I have to try and break the mold of that narrative that already exists. That is the struggle that exists, you either have to choose to be something that you're one of the few in or you're going to go into spaces and feel the perspective that society has told you to go to. It’s confusing in the sense of do I do what I want to do, or do I do it my own way or conform to society's demands of what it means to be black in these certain spaces.

What do you think the community can improve on?

Jennifer Wani: This is a great question. Like I said, I believe that youth are the most important part of a community. What I’ve been encouraging people to do outside of Black in Sask, is have the same values as your organization. Having the power to engage with young people and meet young people where they are at. There are always barriers. Some young people don’t even know about certain spaces and opportunities. Among young people there may be a language or communication barrier, there’s so many reasons why a young person would have issues engaging with certain opportunities or really reach their full potential. Especially in the case of Saskatchewan, and Regina as it is growing, meet young people where they are at. Find where our young people are and listen to them, have an open ear and be willing to adapt. Don’t be afraid to give young people power, and resources, and believe in them because that’s a very fruitful investment. There’s no one way a young person can be. I had a question this past week regarding youth engagement, and someone asked “how do you deal with passive youth?” and I don’t personally believe that youth are passive individuals. They can be passive, but creating an enabling environment where they can confidently and safely communicate to you where they are so that they can tell us what assistance they need, as opposed to us telling youth what they need. Youth so easily absorb what is around them, and they respond so quickly and immediately. We don’t even know the levels of how young people absorb, whether it’s negativity, or trauma, or joy and happiness. We don’t know what level they absorb these emotions, so engaging with them in dialogue and in different forms of communication whether that is drama or art or any form of expression that you meet young people. You need to [acknowledge that] everyone has a voice, and I am someone who is willing to listen, and willing to be a part of their growth. It is so important that young people are in those enabling environments where they can confidently be themselves because oftentimes the experiences of young people are truly a reflection of our environment in our communities. We need to harness the truth that young people hold in who they are and their experiences, and also give them the space to express themselves and their ambitions, then fund them and their potential. All young people are deserving of those opportunities, and we shouldn’t let the things that divide us create barriers. We need young people to know that first you're a human being and recognize that, and these are your rights and what you are entitled to, and this is what you deserve. Empower them with knowledge and opportunity. I find in these spaces young people often surprise us and they even give us solutions to the problems that older folks have. The solutions and future proof of change that we want are in young people. I wish that a lot more changemakers would seek local solutions in young people.

Vibya Natana: I would say the community needs to improve on relationship building. When it comes to Black in Sask we can guess what the busiest month is for us when it comes from getting requests from groups, it is February, it’s Black History month. That’s fantastic, as we mentioned before, in many ways we are extremely excited to be an organization in which people feel that they can reach out to us and we want to connect with people. We want to have difficult conversations so that we can begin to do the work of uncovering what those solutions are, and bringing the right people to the table for that. It’s not always individuals that are in this interview, sometimes it's individuals within our community that can’t pick up the call because they are busy doing the work, in whatever spirit it is. [Black in Sask] is able to be that linkage and bring different people together. Aside from the requests of service or a particular task, being able to build relationships is a two way street, it needs to be reciprocal. Asking for labour or contributions in one way is great, and it can be impactful for completing specific goals, but then being able to show up for those same communities year round, like when we are putting out events and asking all community members to show up, are they there and amplifying that work? If you're looking at mutual aid requests for communities, and community members going through hard times, are you able to contribute to those efforts and initiatives? It is in those ways that, being able to check in and ask what you are doing and how you can support, and truly being able to build that relationship can go a lot further. Sometimes there is no answer from our side, and that’s sometimes a conversation that could be had from which we could then discuss opportunities that we might have never thought of before, but we can’t do that when we don’t have individuals that are willing to cultivate those relationships. It can become very static, so being able to reach out that hand and work to build those relationships we can come up with creative solutions for local issues is a huge part that community members could ask themselves how they are really contributing to that.

Danielle Apakoh: There are so many things that I could say about this specific topic, I’ll narrow it down to one answer. It’s important to note unfortunately how political our city is in terms of leadership roles. If we capitalize on how truly important diversity is in those leadership roles, it will better serve us and our larger community. A lot of these institutions are comfortable slapping a diversity, equity & inclusion committee onto their organization and making it seem like it's all good. Unfortunately what that does is creates a narrative that we are comfortable with working with people of colour, but are not comfortable answering to people of colour. It’s important to understand how important representation is in executive roles and not tokenizing on the fact that representation is important and plugging someone into a role just because they're a person of colour, but they are very qualified people that deserve to be in these roles. You can only find those people through relationship building, understanding that there is a larger community that can be included in these very important decision making roles.

Christian Mbanza: It is the education part of it. Understanding the history of black people globally, within our country and how the effects of what is going on today in our society is a direct result of what has happened in the past. Continuing ourselves on what’s happened and where we are today will only help people understand and continue to empathizing with the work that we are doing.

What do you think can be done about racism and prejudice in Saskatchewan?

Christian Mbanza: That's why I really like history and what’s happened in different parts of the world because those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. I learned that in high school and went on a deep dive into understanding the context in which we are living. Most people when they want to study Black History they start with the civil rights movement, or Jim Crow or slavery but you have to gain a further deeper understanding of what happened before that in order to understand how we got to the place that we got to today. For me, that is a good direct result of addressing that issue.

Danielle Apakoh: For myself, taking it back to my roots, understanding what it is to be a person in a philosophical framework. A lot of the time when we understand what it means to be human, we don’t think about it in a philosophical way, as in personhood and selfhood, and how we understand each other in relation to each other. It’s important to understand how we as humans really relate to each other and how we see our personhood in someone else’s personhood. If we understand racism in the simplest way of treating someone in a way that you would want to be treated, we can actually move forward in treating people as respected humans in society.

Jennifer Wani: In knowing that a human is a human is recognizing the international use of race as a divider and tool to diminish the value of human beings. When it comes to education as well, what we are saying is that there is an intersection of how to educate the reality of what we normalize as a society. Where does this idea of race really come from? What does it look like in the context of how I understand it? How does it show in television or music? We need to create a society that is more critical of our environment, that begins to start asking questions instead of just assuming, and questioning our own biases. This requires systemic support, institutions first have to recognize and define these issues within our community and understand that individuals are just recipients. This reality of the divide of race [institutions] needs to begin to facilitate the education process in the workplace, and in the school system. An important thing about Black in Sask is that we are here as collaborators to be complementary to our community, to be part of that facilitation with a genuine care for everyone in the philosophy of being a human. It’s important to understand that it is going to take collaboration, and it is ultimately going to take love. We love one another and care for one another, and that is important as we continue to dismantle what race means. Recognizing people who actively work to perpetuate this violence, which is racism, and beginning to not accept and challenge ideologies. Being able to unravel these experiences through education and facilitation, and ultimately as a community at the core we have to have love for one another and genuine care for one another. Especially with the pandemic we like to say that we don’t need each other but we need each other. We needed the health care system, we needed health care workers, we needed spiritual guidance, we needed mental health support, we needed food support. Human beings are built in a way that we do need each other, and if we're going to reject each other on the basis of race, it has more to do with an unnatural choice. Racism is unnatural. It’s realizing that we can make a choice to do better and be better.

Tenille Bryan