Reflections of a Community Storyteller
By Lionel Migrino
I was so happy to join the CDLI team this summer and to use my talents for content creation to contribute to anti-racism and decolonization work within the city. It is incredible to me that I started working in this role as a Community Development Storyteller a few weeks ago and how much work we accomplished in a short amount of time. When we began this new project, I questioned how we can empower change with all the limitations that COVID-19 brought; I was even unsure if I could help effectively with this anti-racism and decolonization project. I think having those barriers allows us to be creative and innovative with our approach for this project. I know the global pandemic makes it difficult for us to come together as a community. However, with the anti-racism and decolonization initiative, we will successfully showcase community spirit and keep everyone safe at the same time.
As a Community Development Storyteller, my role is to connect with different community members and interview them about their anti-racist and decolonization journeys. After the dozens of amazing people I interviewed, it got me to think that we should have challenging conversations frequently. As human beings, we cannot ignore systemic racism any longer. As residents of turtle island, we need to acknowledge that the land we live on was built on racism and colonization. We must not tolerate the injustices happening to the BIPOC population, especially the violent acts against Black and Indigenous people! It has been going on for so long.
The work I have been doing and the many people I interacted with made me reflect on my journey and helped me recognize my privileges. With this project and recent events happening in this world, I realize that I must BE BETTER! Even though I am a person of colour, I am still on my anti-racist and decolonization journey. Even though I have barriers in society for being not white, I know that I still need to keep educating myself and listen to more people who have different lived experiences than me. People need to understand that everyone is unique, and everyone’s experiences regarding racism are not the same. I need to aim to be a better community member so that people around me will feel empowered to get educated and take action against racism and colonization. That being said, I believe everybody must strive to be better at making a world a happier place for everyone to live. One person cannot do this work alone. It takes a collective of passionate people to make change happen because we are stronger together!
I am so thankful for being a part of this project and joining the CDLI team. I love working and collaborating with intelligent, passionate and positive people who want to change the community. Thank you so much, Amanda, Noor and Evert for making my summer so fun. Also, a big shoutout to the individuals I interviewed so far. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me and being so candid during the interview. I learned so much from each person, and it helped me understand anti-racism and decolonization from many different perspectives.