At Covenant House, we see many Black youth who have lived in the ugly shadow of racism. The impacts of racism and discrimination appear every day in the form of poverty, homelessness and human trafficking.
Our team strives to give the young people at Covenant House the unconditional love and respect that all young people deserve. These brave youth building their lives with us deserve to live in safety and with hope, as do all Black people and people of colour.
We spoke with Nene, who currently resides in our CIBC Rights of Passage program. Like many of our young people, she finds it hard to face the anti-Black racism and violence occurring across North America.
“After seeing the George Floyd video, I felt my heart fall out of my chest. I couldn’t even finish it,” Nene explains. “I kept asking myself, ‘How do the police feel about doing that – watching someone’s soul leave their body?’”
As someone who grew up in Nigeria, Nene rarely experienced racism. However, it wasn’t until she moved to Canada that she became aware of the racism and inequality that come with being Black. Coming to this realization, she got to a point where she decided enough was enough: