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Tamale redefines Black History Month
At an assembly on February 1, Selwyn House prefect Israel Tamale (Gr. 11) made it a personal project to re-imagine Black History Month, to “move beyond the negative aspects of black history in North America and focus on the positive,” trading images of slavery and oppression for a more positive celebration of Black culture.
Not to take anything away from heroes like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks, Israel’s aim was, rather, to celebrate people of colour—especially Canadian ones—who have made beautiful contributions to Canadian culture. His examples included pianist Oscar Peterson, concert singer Portia White, and Viola Desmond, the first woman (other than Queen Elizabeth II) to have her face on Canadian currency.
He also mentioned Jean Augustine, the first African-Canadian woman to be elected to the House of Commons, and the person who, in 1995 was “solely responsible for the unanimous vote to officially recognize Black History Month in February in Canada.”
Israel would also like to celebrate the Black students at Selwyn House, which he says make up only four per cent of the student population but have made a very large contribution to the school’s achievements.
Israel introduced guest speaker Lateef Martin is a graduate from the Illustration and Design program at Dawson College. He describes Martin as “a multi-disciplinary artist, working in music production, cosplay and graphic design. At the core of it, he is an illustrator with a taste for video games, comics, sci-fi and 80s Saturday morning cartoons.”
Martin founded his company Miscellaneum Studios in 2013. Its goal is to deliver great entertainment while representing people of color, women the LGBTQ community and other marginalized communities in a positive light. Miscellaneum’s first project is called Z’Isle, a comic book series set in Montreal seven years after a zombie apocalypse. Presently on issue #5, a video game and soundtrack are presently under development.
The students were fascinated by Martin’s stories about video game development, engaging him in a Q&A session that would still be going on now if the students had had their way.
