BLM
TALKING ABOUT RACISM
Calgary activist Taylor McNallie encourages conversations about racism within Canadian communities SYDNEY KLASSEN-ROSEWARN sklassen@cjournal.ca
T
aylor McNallie was 11-years old the first time she was called the N-word. The scene took place at a bush party, in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of kids from Cremona, Alta., having bonfires and drinking alcohol. Years have blurred the memory, but McNallie remembers the boy who said it. He was a few years older than her, and he was very well known and popular. McNallie can’t remember the exact reason why the young man directed the slur at her in that moment, but she says it was commonly thrown around by kids in an attempt to look cool. This moment stands out as McNallie’s earliest memory of racism. Years prior, when McNallie and her young, White single mother arrived in Cremona, they immediately felt the unwelcoming embrace of some of the locals. McNallie’s mom had grown up in Southern Alberta and it was a friend that drew them to the small village, which can be found north of Cochrane and west of Carstairs. It was hard for McNallie’s mom to relate to the long-standing members of the community that made up Cremona’s population. And, according to McNallie, the fact she was Black didn’t help. After all, in Cremona, there were little to no people of colour, other than newly arrived McNallie. “It was a shit show,” McNallie remembers. “It was not fun, I definitely learned a lot and I grew up really quickly in that town.” After living in Cremona, McNallie and her mom eventually moved to Didsbury. When McNallie was 16, she moved away and relocated to Calgary, near Southland station, where she lived with five friends in a bungalow. McNallie still lives in Calgary with her ten-year-old daughter and boyfriend. Nevertheless, the experiences of racism in small-town Alberta have stuck with her — leading her to co-found the anti-racist group Inclusive Canada. But her work as an activist has led to an increase in racists targeting her and her family.
6
MARCH/APRIL 2020 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA
As a well-known activist, Taylor McNallie uses her platform to shift Alberta’s communities towards being anti-racist. PHOTO COURTESY OF TAYLOR MCNALLIE
“Why are we letting this die? This is our time, this is our moment. We want to see these changes happen and this is the time to do it.” > Taylor McNallie
