February 14th

FF-WPR talked with singer, song-writer, activist and inspiration, Faith Noalan. Faith talked about her personal journey as an artist and activist. She addressed the challenges many artists face to tailer their art to the demands of capital and commercial interests, in order to make it. She asserted her personal philosophy that wasn’t concerned with making it, as she chose to stay with her people and sing about the issues that mattered to her community and came from personal experience. She talked about her work with the prisons, with the Women Of Colour Collective and the upcoming event (Blaq, Queering Black Liberation Month) that sought to reclaim the concept of black liberation month. She talked about the prison industrial complex, the racialization of poverty, Canada’s role in present-day colonialism, the adverse impact of the Olympics and several other issues. Faith was both enthusiastic and passionate, well-informed and inspirational as she wove together many different facets of activism and the feminist, black liberation and freedom movement and a message of solidarity in various struggles. Visit www.faithnolan.org for more information!

We also reviewed a book, Missing Sara: A Vancouver Woman Remembers Her Vanished Sister (2003) by Maggie De Vries. The book chronicles the life and words (mainly poetry) of Maggie’s younger adoptive sister, Sara De Vries. Sara was adopted into a white family. She, herself, being of African-American dissent, alone faces racism and racial harassment. Unknown to her family, her troubled childhood leads to a downward spiral and Sara ultimately winds up on the streets in Vancouver`s down-town east side, where she is employed as a sex trade worker. When Sara goes missing, her sister Maggie attempts to track her down. After Sara`s DNA is discovered on Robert Pickton`s farm, Maggie continues her enquiries. Her investigations lead to this compelling and heart-rendering book that offer a rare glimpse into the person, Sara, through her poetry. Sara talks about life on the streets, about her experience in kindergarten, her aspirations and determination. The book points out the ongoing racism in our communities, the plight of women in the DTES and elaborates the contradictions and conflicts of the white author who grapples with her sister’s formerly unrecognized realities and life. The book made for an excellent prelude to the Fifth Annual march to remember our missing and murdered sisters organized for later that afternoon by No More Silence (we spoke to Doreen Silversmith from No more silence last week).