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One year after five young London women organized one of the largest protests ever held in London, what has changed?

We asked several Londoners who were at the June, 2020 rally and march, organized in the wake of the murder of American George Floyd by police, to reflect on the last year.

We built a community for BIPOC people. Before this, I just didn't really know how to make my voice heard or how to make changes. Having such a big platform, I think it's a lot easier to bring things to light, the things that we need to change here in London and in the community as a whole. I now know that I can make a change if I try to make a change.

I think since last year, after George Floyd's death, people became more aware of the injustices in the Black community. Before, it was a handful of people, but since last year, there's been momentum. People have been posting about it, they've called out racism when they see it and acknowledge it when they see it. The job isn't done but educating people is the first step.

There's still a lot of education required, from younger individuals to older people, on issues of people of colour and the Black community. The march was a good start, but it's still a work in progress, and it can't be just one day.

There's a stronger sense of allyshipthis past year. A lot of people are more comfortable speaking on issues. People are more outspoken and less fearful of calling people out. Before, you'd have people who weren't public about it, but people are more outspoken than they have been before.

Ultimately, not enough has changed. It's hard to not to come off as impatient but it's been a long enough wait. It shouldn't have taken a death to be caught on camera and broadcast for the world to see to get people moving.

As far as the reforms locally, there's been some positive changes, or at least talk of positive changes that seem to be accepted by the public in general, but any of the major reforms, or the substantial ideas that come across the table, they get pushed to the side, and that's where my frustration lies.

More people are bringingup racism. More people will ask me a question about racism. They'll try to find a way to segue into a conversation about racism. I didn't realize how little the people who grew up with me knew about my experiences. There's definitely more awareness and more interest to discuss it, but just talking about it doesn't mean they've changed their attitude.

I'm always hopeful. I'm a hopeful guy. I think things will change and can change.

It's changed conversations and how conversations go in terms of applying an equity lens in terms of building policy. It opened up people's minds to the way that things were and it has shifted and adjusted things for the better. There's a long way to go, it's unreal. But it at least has opened the conversation up.

I wish everything was different and that everyone had heard the rallying call. The hardest part is being so vocal, have so much strength come fromthe community, and then be met with a hard break when it comes to working with the city or school boards. The policies get in the way of everything, but we make those policies, so why can't they just move out of the way? What I'm most proud of is the trust thatcommunity members have put into BLM and in the work. There's so many people who say 'I've wanted to say this, but I haven't had the courage or the backing or support,' and we're able to be a catalyst for their voice, and that's what ultimately is my driving force.

I've kept on educating. We've never seen so many people gather from all backgrounds, to support one cause. It's been a year, what really did happen from that? I would say, nothingon a grand scale in the city,but I know that individually people are working differently after seeing what London as a whole can do. People are more aware, I'm not sure if they're receptive.

It's an individual thing. We, ourselves, really need to be educating. It's not the only cause in the world, there's lots going on, but it's something we need to keep talking about. The only frustration is that I'm only one person. Seeing so many people, and I'm just me. A year later, a percentage of those people, for them it was just a parade. I wish I can do so much, but I can only do so muchas one person.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

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A year after 10K marched through London chanting 'Black Lives Matter,' what has changed? - CBC.ca

A look at the notable changes that took place in Guelph since the Black Lives Matters protest on June 6, 2020

Its been exactly one year since the streets of Guelph were flooded with thousands of people marching for racial justice in Guelph.

They called to defund the police, they called for accountability and they called the names of lives lost to police brutality around the world.

A lot of change can take place in a year. But the fact is, a year is not enough to undo decades if not centuries worth of systemic racism.

Kween, executive director of the Guelph Black Heritage Society who helped organizethe Black Lives Matterprotest, said when she stood in front of over 5,000 people on June 6, she was angry, frustrated and heavily grieving.

But standing there that day, she also felt overwhelmed with joy that the city was celebrating its diversity.

That was just really outstanding, and a really good place to leave us at the end of the protests because I know for so long, so much of this work is so heavy, and we need a space for us as well to feel great about ourselves. We're so much more than this work of anti-racism and anti-oppression. We all have stories, we all live lives, we all are artists, she said.

What happened that dayinGuelph igniteda conversation. It got the ball rolling toward change.

People started to look at things differently. Businesses, cities, schools, organizations began to have conversations uncomfortable conversations about the reality of racial injustice of BIPOC people.

Following the protest, the Upper Grand District School Board called for the formation of a task force to investigate the School Resource Officer program in schools, which was removed months later due to an overwhelming response of negative experiences from members ofthe BIPOC and LGBTQ+communities in schools.

The University of Guelph committed to an anti-racism training module for all incoming students and released an action plan to address discrimination for BIPOC after students called for a full anti-oppression course.

The City of Guelph reopened its community plan developed over a year prior to the protest with a renewed equity lens. Part of that was kicking off a local survey to examine residents lived experiences of discrimination to make Guelph and Wellington County more welcoming. A new park and trail in the south end were named after local Black veterans who fought during the First World War.

The GBHS launched a #ChangeStartsNow education campaign in collaboration with the city last summer to present educational resources on Black history and culture for the community. It also launched a four-day anti-racism summit early this year.

A Waterloo teacher launched a Black heritage educational curriculum in collaboration with the Guelph Black Heritage Society focusing on positive aspects of Black life and culture available for teachers to use province-wide.

In January, Guelph became one of 82 municipalities in Canada to join UNESCOs Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities which seeks to bring together cities to improve their policies against racism, discrimination, exclusion and intolerance.

Chief Gordon Cobey said this includes a commitment to provide police services that serve the community so Guelphcan be anexamplefor other cities.

This is not the type of thing where we're ever going to be done, said Cobey in an interview about making change.

I think this is about constantly learning and growing together andcreating a new normal.

In the police board meeting in May, Cobey said the GPSrecognizesthat every individual or group has their own unique thoughts, feelings and lived experiences and no one person can represent the experiences of Guelphs diverse community.

"We have worked really, really hard to, listen, learn, grow and evolve, so we can understand the needs of our community," said Cobey

"I think from the very beginning the community together created a very aspirational goal that we want to be the community that leads by example and shows other communities what's possible."

In the last year, GPS has held numerous sessions for diverse communities in the region to share their lived experiences and perceptions of police and police interactions. For the first time, they began live-streaming their monthly board meetings on YouTube to ensure transparency, they launched a mandatory in-house diversity training video put together by BIPOC leaders in the community, that showed an unfiltered view of BIPOC people in the community and a bias awareness training for all GPS members.

They also enhanced diversity police college training for new recruits and set a goal to develop an in-person training program by 2022 to enable in-person conversations with members of the community. Public members joined the community policing community, the GPS began meeting with representatives of the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition Group to identify opportunities where they could improve servicesand even developed a system to track theirinvolvement in public and volunteer events.

Mayor Cam Guthrie said the city had three main priorities after the protest.To listen to the community to make it more inclusive, to ensure the growth of the cityas an employer and to improve engagement and interaction with citizens.

I feel like there is a renewed focus or even a new focus on using an equity lens on everything that we do, said Guthrie.

Guthrie said in the past year, he himself has had respectful and difficult conversations for change to take place around issues he didnt know existed.

He gives the example of traffic issues. He said in the past year, local immigration partners identified areas that have a low engagement rate with city hall when it comes to asking the city for traffic safety measures. He said either those areas dont know how to engage with city hall or the city is not doing a good responding to traffic concerns in those neighbourhoods.

So now we're looking at how can we be better asacity to help with traffic safety through an equity lens to help people engage with city hall, and if there are issues or barriers that are in their way from engaging with us so that we can help them in those areas," he said.

Guthrie said what makes Guelph stand out is that it has taken a community-led approach rather than relying on city hall or city council to tell its citizens what to do.

We have flipped that, and now it's community-led, and at the end of the day the changes that are made from andbythe community are only going to happen when something like this is community-led, said Guthrie.

My job is to make our city better and better and better every single day. If we can be a city that is a better city when it comes to equity issues, stamping out systemic racism, upholding acceptance and diversity for all individuals, that's the type of city I want to live in, said Guthrie.

Now with all these changes in the past year, have we gotten a lotcloserto where we need to be?

Kween says she already feels the passion behind calling for change is dying down.

I look at some of the places and the spaces that we're at, and I don't see change, I see a lot of performative action. I don't know if that crowd of 8,000 people, we would ever get again, I think that that was part of just what was happening at the time andit was what was cool, said Kween.

For us, it's not what's just cool. It's like our everyday living experience. So we need people to get energized again, feel that momentum again. Stop with complacency and really step up.

Kween said shes seen a lotof Black people put in leadership positions by organizationsto quickly show they're taking action.

She said there is no solidarity and Black Lives Matter without support for the entire community. We have to all work towardracial equity because it's affecting all of our community, she said.

Community leader Marva Wisdom, who has been at the forefront of creating change in the UGDSB andthe citys community plan in the past year, said she can see changes in everyday interactions when people askquestions on how to do things right, but the burden should not always fall on the shoulders of the BIPOC community.

When we're talking about systems change, we're talking not only abouteducation, we're talking about awareness, and we're talking about action because people have a difficult time understanding what equity is, and why to have the same level playing field still will not work for those who are marginalized and seeking equity because of historical issues, said Wisdom.

And so those conversations are ongoing and sometimes it takes action from those who are elected."

She said while some things have to do with regulation and legislation, others have to do with attitude and behaviours and for her, the most significant changes are when organizations complete an introspectiveexamination of themselves to make themselves more equitable.

I know the city is doing some work now. And I know there are some other organizations that are doing some work. I think it needs to be continued to be at the top of everyone's agenda, said Wisdom.

And my suggestion to people to make really lasting change is if you have staff meetings, start with a conversation about how are we breaking down barriers today? What are some things that we did yesterday that we're proud of? And what are we going to do today to make progress toward a more equitable organization, a more equitable society.

Now reflecting back on the year, Wisdom says she feels almost the same as she did last June 6 because racial injustice still exists.

Wisdom recalls a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King where he says we are all wrapped in asingle garment of destiny.

I keep wondering when are we going to understand how interconnected we are as a world? she asks. Brutal incidents of police brutality in America still take place and it affects us the same she says.

Why do others have to make an assumption that because you're not practicing exactly as I am, whether it's your faith, or whether you have a different colour skin or an accent, different hair texture, the person that you love, your abilities. Why does that make you less?

She said while she doesn't want to just talk about the great things that are happening, she does see a shift, one that she calls thepre-George Floyd and the post-George Floyd conversation.

People are recognizing that they need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, said Wisdom.

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One year Later: How the Black Lives Matter protest changed Guelph forever - GuelphToday

Today is theanniversary of Ada's seminalBlack Lives Matter rally and march.

As I prepared to cover this event, I had some vague ideas about how our Black Lives Matter march would play out, and felt like I was ready. In addition to my wide angle and telephoto zooms and my phone, I mounted an extra phone on the hot shoe of my wide angle camera for video, which worked pretty well.

A lot of journalists had been caught up in violence connected to those events, and my wife and a couple of coworkers were nervous about my presence, but I could already feel in the air that it was going to be a positive, peaceful, and meaningful event.

Of course, we waded through some rumors. Busses of white supremacists were supposedly on their way. A pickup full of people with guns was supposedly seen driving up and down Main Street. A sniper was supposedly spotted on a rooftop above the march. I didn't see any evidence of any of these things.

The march started at Ada's famous whittling tree, but as I explained this to my coworkers, they all seemed dumbfounded. Am I the old man who remembers stuff from back in the day? You can see the whittling tree in the early parts of the video I shot that day.

It was very hot and humid out. I wore shorts and my The Ada News shirt with PRESS on the back. As I worked, I would stop and make photos and video, then, because the march was moving at a fair pace, I would run a block and a half to catch up and get in front of it, and do the whole thing all over again. Despite the heat and being loaded with gear, including wearing a Rona mask, I was very pleased with how easy it was, and how quickly my heart rate went back to normal. I was 56 that day, so this is significant.

How I felt once it got going really took me by surprise:at one point during the march, with hundreds of human voices, many my friends, crying out in unison for justice, I felt like I was going to break down and cry. I had to take several long, deep breaths just to keep myself in the game.

It was also a moment of self-doubt: am I getting too old, too emotional, too vulnerable to do the job of news photographer? As journalists, we strive to be both connected to the events we cover, yet remain able to step back and see the situation from as many points of view as we can.

In the end, I found the experience to be one of the most moving and significant I have ever covered.

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Picture This: Black Lives Matter anniversary | Local News | theadanews.com - Theadanews

A Black Lives Matter rally is coming to North Hudson for the second year in a row tomorrow afternoon, an event organizers have been promoting for weeks.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

The event is scheduled to begin at 79th Street and Bergenline Avenue at 12:00 noon Demonstrators will march in unison down Bergenline Avenue to an area near Celia Cruz Park in Union City.

HudPost founder James de los Santos, began working to organize the protest in partnership with prominent community leaders in an effort to create a space for Hudson County residents to support the Black Lives Matter movement and other issues affecting the North Hudson Community.

I hope that this demonstration serves as a model that cities are able to come together to enact real change when utilizing activism and effective community organizing. Last year, this event set the precedence of fostering meaningful relationships between local authorities and the community at large, he said in a statement.

Open dialogues were initiated and must continue in order to address and improve the community and how it is governed and policed. The residents of the North Hudson County region want to continue to see tangible changes in local policies and politics. This is just the beginning.

Dozens of community leaders are expected to make participate, including state Senator (D-33)/Union City Mayor Brian Stack, Progressive Democrats of Hudson County member Hector Oseguera, Black Men United Founder Nevin Perkins, Black Lives Matter representatives Kason Little and Zellie Thomas, CAIR New Jersey Executive Director Selaedin Maksut, and Dennis Febo of Amend the 13th NJ.

Furthermore, the organizations that helped organize the rally are the Hudson Partnership CMO, Amend the 13th New Jersey, American Muslims for Palestine, NJ-08 for Progress, Hudson Pride Center, ICNA Council for Social Justice, Black Men United Jersey City, Black Lives Matter Paterson, Elizabeth.

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Black Lives Matter rally coming to North Hudson for second year in a row tomorrow - Hudson County View

Posted: Jun 5, 2021 / 04:57 PM EDT / Updated: Jun 6, 2021 / 10:13 AM EDT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Fort Waynes ChangeMakers hosted a Protest Reunion celebration at the Allen County Courthouse on Saturday. The event marked one year since the Black Lives Matter protests downtown that were held in response to the murder of George Floyd.

This event is kind of like peaceful environment, said Slayla Marie, one of the hosts. And its a fun environment and its an environment where we can be like okay, this happened a year ago and it wasnt all that great, you know, we were protesting and fighting but today we can celebrate.'

This event was originally scheduled for May 28th but was rescheduled due to inclement weather. The organizers re-scheduled for June 5th, which would have been Breonna Taylors birthday.

We just want the community to know that there can be peace in the middle of a storm, said Julius Pressey, one of the speakers. Were in the middle of a storm of fighting for voting rights in America. Were fighting for our policing legislation. Its a battle, but in the middle of it, we can come together as a family and enjoy one another.

The Protest Reunion will took place on Saturday from 4:00-7:00 p.m. The organizers listed this as a family-friendly event and was hosted by Six 8, Slayla Marie and Tricey Lafaye. Other speakers that were listed include:

They also hosted a clothing drive by AlienNature Supply and passing out 300 free meals in partnership with Big Mommas Kitchen & Human Agricultural Cooperative for the Community Curbside BBQ Giveaway.

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Groups gather downtown to mark anniversary of George Floyd protests - WANE