speak out: To be black in B.C.
Nadine Chambers, Special to the Peak

It's 2003 at the SFU Human Rights Conference at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. I am in attendance, checking in to see what the community wants to bring to the table now that the Human Rights Commission has been disbanded for the second time in about 20 years. This is serious business for brown folks.

A black man and woman are sitting behind me, and I greet them with a nod and smile. As the day proceeds, they ask me in soft voices with hints of French accents, " What's it like to live in Vancouver - in B.C.?" I know they are not posing a question about the price of living in a town that boasts about its high real estate costs, while hiding the fact that its income is based on resource extraction that reads like an example from developing nation economies. No, what they want to know is what the cultural climate in B.C. is like for those of African descent.

Where does one begin when faced with that question? Perhaps, my dear reader, your face is blank . Your mind is drifting off. The question hasn't even passed through your mind. I am a familiar person to you, even though there seems to be only a small collection of people like me. How many times do I get a clear sense that you feel you've known me for a long time in the landscape of Vancouver, though you don't know my name? Do you need to? Or, do you just need me to stand there while you let me know just how much you know about hip-hop until you find out I am not American? Relay to me how much you know about reggae until you find out I don't know anybody related to Bob Marley. Or, maybe ask where you can go to get fabulous dreadlocks like mine until you find out there is no where on earth I can point you to because I didn't pay anyone for them - it's my genetic inheritance, and you can't copyright them. Maybe enquire about where the best night spot is for the best hip-hop, reggae, and house, or how to find a good bag of dope until you find out I've never smoked the stuff.

Is this the stuff I want to relay to a nice black couple wondering about how I, and other black folks, have experienced life in B.C.?

After living in Vancouver for 13 years, the question surfaces every Black History Month: What is it like to be black in B.C.? It's clear to me what it's like in Montreal, Toronto, Truro, and Winnipeg's North End. I'm happy to answer this reoccurring question with one word - Bluesprint. Got that scribbled on your Palm pilot or in the palm of your hand? Good. It's a book you need to read. But don't head for the Bennett or Belzeberg libraries just yet. I still haven't given you the name of the nightclub with the best in house, hip hop, and R&B.

Let's go downtown, down to 868 Granville. Yeah, you know the space - the Commodore. Is it the best club? Just a second - imagine standing on the sidewalk between Robson and Smyth with me checking out its lights. If you're over 19, I know you know the bounce and sway of that sprung dance floor. I know you've tripped out to Snoop Dogg, the Beastie Boys, and Dr. Dre. This Commodore has been part of transporting people on a musical journey for 70 years, but it ain't the original Commodore. That's the one you really need to know about, because the first Commodore is about blacks in B.C.

It began in 1858. Were your ancestors here yet? Maybe not, but I can tell you that that was the year the Commodore sailed up the coast, surging and swaying through the Pacific Ocean as it carried black folks seeking a free life - a decent life outside of the repressive state of California - bound for New Caledonia, as B.C. was then known. The rush was not just for gold, but also about getting away from the pressure of the U.S. Southern powers that made that part of the wild west a slave state. They settled in Victoria and Salt Spring Island.

Before you smile kindly and assure me that this isn't important because it happened too long ago, let me remind you that it adds to over 150 years of black folks moving across this landscape - and that's not trifling. It took a fabulously dedicated SFU student moving slowly and methodically through the B.C. archives to piece together a his and her story that moves from the archives right into the present day lives of B.C. blacks.

Wayde Compton's book 49th Parallel Psalm, as well as a book he edited called Bluesprint: Black British Columbia Literature and Orature, can set you straight and get you hip to BBC facts. Check them out in Bennett library and in the bookstore. Now that you've been educated a little, I know the best black nightclub in Vancouver cannot be the most important question on your mind. Now you know, and as my urban African-American cousins would say, "You've been served."

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