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Local News: International Day of the African Child!
TORONTO, May 29, 2006 – Celebrate a very important day in the history
of the African continent with family-friendly cultural festivities on
Saturday, June 17.
This fundraising event features live performances
From some of Toronto's top artists (including youth) – as well as a large African Market, cultural cuisine and interactive children's games. For more info, call 416.636.4753 or visit www.8rooks.com.
Created by the former Organization of African Unity (now the African
Union) in 1991, the International Day of the African Child is an annual
event that honours the memory of the 200 + South African youth who were
wounded and murdered by police on June 16, 1976.
On that fateful day
in Soweto, South Africa, over 15 000 uniformed students between the ages of 10 – 20 gathered for an intended peaceful march – protesting the deplorable conditions of segregated schools and the (White) South
African government's forced imposition that only Afrikaans language be taught in all schools (instead of indigenous Bantu).
Intending to march to a local stadium to publicly air grievances, then on to Johannesburg's Transvaal Department of Education, the students began to move, en masse – only to be met by police officers who formed a wall and ordered them to disperse.
Met
with justified resistance, police then fired teargas into the crowd of
unarmed children, who responded by throwing stones – their only line of
defence. Chaos ensued, followed by more teargas. It was only after the
first shot was fired that everything changed.
Assaulted by the barrage of bullets fired at defenceless children by
grown
men, it is reported that 15-year old Hastings Ndlovu was the first
student
to be shot that day. 12-year old Hector Pieterson was also fatally
wounded, then picked up by Mbuyisa Makhubo – a fellow student who ran
to
Phefeni Clinic with his friend's lifeless body in his arms, accompanied
by
Pieterson's sister, Antoinette. The World photographer Sam Nzima
captured
Makhubo's desperate run to save his friend, with grief-stricken
Antoinette
screaming in agony while running alongside him. The photo became
famous,
as it captured the brutal horrors of the persecution that innocent
children fell victim to, in their attempt to defy the racist injustice
of
a cold-blooded government. It is reported that most of the children
were
shot in the back, while running for their lives – leaving them
crippled,
maimed or murdered. According to the Cillie Commission of Enquiry,
police
action eventually resulted in over 450 deaths, 2 389 injuries and 5 980
arrests.
Celebrate International Day of the African Child at Ryerson University,
in
the heart of the Student Campus Centre, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Hosted by
Nana Yeboaa, enjoy live spoken word, poetry, storytelling, drum and
dance
performances by EvE, Soul-R, Tiki Mercury-Clarke, Drum Theatre
Togetherness, H.I.M. Youth Ensemble and Maykah & Mahayah. Browse
through
the large African Market for beautiful handcrafted and imported
products
from a variety of companies – including I.S.I.S. CIRCLE, 8 Rooks Video,
For The People, Lite It Up Candles, More Love Essentials and more.
Admission is $10/adults, $5/youth and free/youth under 10. Event
proceeds
will go to the Comfort Foundation, helping children in need of
lifesaving
medical treatment. Event sponsors include I.S.I.S. CIRCLE, 8 Rooks
Grafix,
Lite It Up Candles, 8Rooks.Com, Ryerson Students' Union (RSU), Iyah
Roots
and United Black Students @ Ryerson (UBSR).
Ryerson University's Multi-Purpose Room is located in the Student
Campus
Centre at 55 Gould St.
Posted on Monday, June 05 @ 15:50:05 UTC by jcohen
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