Tamara Steele had no way of knowing when she accepted the role as president of the Black Cultural Society of P.E.I. in May that one month later her group would lead the largest march for racial justice in Charlottetown's history.
Steele has been involved with the Black community in P.E.I. for a number of years, participating in Black History Month and other events organized by the Black Cultural Society.
In early 2019, she started volunteering with the society, becoming its president one year later. In January, she will take on the full-time job as the society's first executive director.
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After the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, which accelerated the historic Black Lives Matter movement across North America, the Black Cultural Society in P.E.I. sat together and discussed the matter for weeks.
Members wanted to do something for the Black community in P.E.I, Steele said. That's when they started talking about how to put together a march during a global pandemic.
“It was a lot of work,” Steele said. “A lot of social media call outs for support and donations of supplies. The Facebook group that we started was really helpful in getting information out. The police were really helpful in organizing the route and also getting some information out. The media was all over it at the time.”
The society made sure to follow COVID-19 restrictions during the march, she said.
“People showed up in masks. We made sure we shared (chief public health officer) Dr. Morrison's guidelines at the time.”
The society has received support from the community in many different ways, Steele said. Donations came in from individuals and organizations across the Island by cash, e-transfer or cheque.
“For example, there's some businesses donating a portion of their sales or putting up a donation jar to support us around the time of the march,” she said.
About
- Tamara Steele, aged 39.
- Steele works as an administrative assistant at the Art Gallery in the Confederation Centre of the Arts.
- In May 2020, Steele became the president of the Black Cultural Society of Prince Edward Island (BCSPEI).
- She organized the historic June 2020 Black Lives Matter march in Charlottetown.
- Ceejay Amadi, vice-president of the Black Cultural Society, says: “Tamara Steele is a representation of what I call strength, advocacy, and awareness for the Black community."
Some organizations also reached out to offer event spaces if the group needed it.
When the first donation came, it was nice to feel trusted, Steele said.
“It's nice to feel that the community believes in the work that you do.”
That belief brought an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people to the streets of Charlottetown for the June 5 march.
The movement took a lot of work, time and effort, but Steele said she didn’t lead the march alone.
“I had some help,” she said. “The Black Cultural Society organized the march in partnership with BIPOC USHR, an organization that's been doing social justice work on the Island about anti-racism.
“Everyone was paying attention and it helped a lot.”
Steele said she was overwhelmed by the support of the community as a whole.
“We, as an organization, and as members of the Black community, felt supported,” she said. “We see that support from all as a community, not just from the Black community and that’s the best part.
“It felt like we were doing something tangible and really substantial towards making systemic change or beginning to make systemic change on the Island.”
Ceejay Amadi, the incoming president of the Black Cultural Society, says he's inspired by Steele, who worked at the Confederation Centre of the Arts for 14 years, starting as a coffee counter server and moving up the ranks to become an administrative assistant.
“(Steele) is not just a friend, but a mentor, a powerful woman,” he said. “She's a woman who leads, she's a woman who has so much strength, attention to details, her ability to get the community together is something I haven't really witnessed before.”
In November, the society held a town hall meeting at Confederation Centre, discussing many issues including business and entrepreneurship, financial well-being, mental health and community engagement. The event was a followup to the community needs assessment survey the group had distributed earlier.
“All the plans and activities we are doing are mainly based on the community feedback,” Steele said.
Steele hopes the town hall meeting will become an annual activity.
The society’s activities are constant reminders for Steele to not get complacent, she said.
“I believe our key message is it’s not just a march, it’s not just a day, it’s not just Black Lives Matter,” Steele said. “This is a conscious decision for us to be an organization that works towards social change and systemic change, to move forward, upward and onward.”
