Fight for justice, by Black Women United YEG

"Black Women United YEG is a collective of: professional, blue-collar, academic, activist, artistic and immensely proud Sisters of the Diaspora residing in Edmonton, AB. We are mothers, daughters, sisters and wives. We seek to disrupt the colonial divide-and-conquer and love on one another. We seek the healing and uplift of our families and communities.

We seek equality & freedom. Black women in Edmonton began to hear allegations that a young woman was attacked in a vicious sexual assault. Meanwhile, we discovered on Sept. 30, thousands of Black Women were convening in Washington, DC, for the March for Black Women. They were demanding an end to the mistreatment of Black Women. We decided to stand in solidarity with our sisters and lend our voice to the same demand. However, we face grave injustices right here in our hometown. We are being targeted for incarceration and filling the jails. Black Women & Girls are being sexually abused and even trafficked. We face underemployment and suffer racist hiring practices and racism in the workplace. We remain stoic while living with domestic violence; our commitment to our families is very strong.

However, it's all too much and we're breaking down. We decided to wrench off the hand of silence that grips our collective throat. The March for Black Women YEG rally was the first step towards that end and it was a historic one. We came together - for the 1st time - to articulate our own issues and solutions in public.

We called on our Sisters, supportive Black Men, other Women of Colour and Allies to stand with us and learn how they can take part in change initiatives.

We busted the secrecy and suppression of these issues wide open!

We had less than a week to raise $1500 to cover materials, a sound system, speaker honoraria and a forum for discussion and self-care. We were given great, step-by-step advice by Chuffed.org on how to mount a successful campaign and we followed it.

Not only did we meet our goal in 3 days, we exceeded it. The event went great, all costs were covered, and we have the beginnings of an engaged support base as we craft our next steps forward.''

Check out more about the awesome Black Women United YEG on their crowdfunding campaign page: