CHLOE COOLEY MARCH 14-1793

Murphy Browne © March 8-2018

On March 14, 1793 Chloe Cooley, an enslaved African woman in Queenston, (Upper Canada) Ontario was brutally beaten by three White men, (including Vrooman, her enslaver) thrown into a boat, taken across the Niagara River and sold in the United States. She was loud and physical in her resistance but she was vastly outnumbered. This woman did not go quietly. She resisted so fiercely that Peter Martin, a free African Canadian man took note of her screams and struggles and made an official report to Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe and the members of the Executive Council of Upper Canada. To his credit, on hearing of the atrocity, Simcoe made an “attempt” to abolish slavery in (Upper Canada) Ontario. He was unsuccessful because many members of the “Family Compact” including William Jarvis, Peter Russell, Alexander Grant, James Baby, Richard Cartwright and Robert Hamilton – were slave holders. These powerful slave holders and politicians were members of the Executive Council of Upper Canada on March 21, 1793 when Peter Martin made his report about the brutalizing of Chloe Cooley.

On July 9, 1793 “An Act to Prevent the further Introduction of Slaves and to limit the Term of Contracts for Servitude” was passed in the House of Assembly of Upper Canada. Chloe Cooley was not saved from slavery but her resistance was the catalyst that led to the first piece of anti-slavery legislation in Canada. The legislation did not free any enslaved African but at least it gave them hope that their descendants would one day be free. Life did not change for those enslaved Africans living in Upper Canada (Ontario) but the passing of the Act meant that any enslaved African who escaped slavery in the U.S. and made their way to Ontario was a free person.

That was 225 years ago when many African Canadians were enslaved by White people throughout this country. At that time slavery was a “legal” institution throughout Canada, just like hanging which was the fate of enslaved African woman Marie Joseph Angelique on June 21, 1734 in Quebec. Today in March 2018 slavery is no longer legal in Canada, abolished on August 1, 1834 (almost 184 years ago) and hanging abolished 42 years ago in 1976. Incidentally one of the last persons hanged in Canada at the Don Jail on December 11, 1962 was 54 year old African American Arthur Lucas. The man was an American citizen but he was African American and that was 1962. Lucas born in Cordele, Georgia, USA was convicted of killing an FBI informant despite lingering questions about his guilt and his mental impairment. Many legal minds question the legality of his trial and sentencing.

In 1793 when Simcoe unsuccessfully attempted to end slavery in Ontario he was blocked by other powerful White men who were slaveholders. In 2018 when African Canadians are mistreated or victimized by the normalized White supremacist culture there are always voices raised to defend the indefensible. Very recently an African Canadian television personality wrote of a heartrending, traumatic incident of her encounter with police racial profiling. Shortly after her article was published a White journalist wrote an article minimizing this African Canadian woman’s experience. This White man who will never experience what it is like to be confronted by an armed police, with the history of members of your race and gender as examples, thought it was appropriate to weigh in. As a White man or woman the history and experiences are so different from that of any racialized person and especially an African Canadian woman, he has no clue because he does not live in our skin. Yet there he was defending the racial profiling of this African Canadian woman. To add insult to injury he wrote: “Like with the Hijab Hoax, racism allegations must be fully vetted.” Is this man really suggesting that the trauma this African Canadian woman experienced at being confronted by an armed police on the driveway of her house is a “hoax?” I surely hope not! Then in his White skin privileged position and arrogance he continues that although “An investigation could happen” it would be “his preference” to have the offending police officer, the African Canadian woman who was confronted by said officer on the driveway of her home and the chief of police “hugging it out — with lessons learned.” This man seems to have written this “advice” without an ounce of sarcasm, with a straight face; he sat at a computer, wrote this and sent it off to be published! Was this the mindset that justified slavery, colonialism, Residential schools, the 60s scoop?

On Thursday, March 8-2018 as the world celebrates International Woman’s Day (IWD) I cannot help wondering how many African Canadian women will be confronted by armed police as they just breathe. How many have to attend at their child’s/children’s school to deal with racial bullying by White “educators” or other adults in the school? These are just some of the daily racist micro-aggressions and not so “micro” that many African Canadian women live with daily. This is the daily lived reality of many African Canadian women. This can affect emotional health, mental health and eventually physical health not only of the women who experience these aggressions but their families and their communities. Recognizing IWD has to be more than marching for one day.

Murphy Browne © March 8-2018