In a symbol of solidarity, a large crowd gathered just outside Morrison Hall on Oct. 26th to celebrate and to help officially inaugurate the newly installed Black Lives Matter crosswalk.
“Thank you for taking a moment to commemorate the Black Lives Matter crosswalk,” said StFX Black Student Advisor Akua Amankwah-Poku, the emcee for the well-attended commemoration ceremony.
The installation, she said, is a powerful symbol and it has great meaning for Black students, faculty, and staff both on campus, and in the greater community.
“Anytime you walk by this crosswalk, you’re reminded that the lives and humanity of Black people matter,” she said.
Ms. Amankwah-Poku thanked Dr. Wendy Mackey, a StFX education professor and an advocate for Black students, for her leadership in proposing the crosswalk, which recognizes and celebrates diversity within the university community.
StFX campus is also home to two other crosswalk installations, one in support and solidarity with the LGBTQIA2S+ community, located outside the Gerald Schwartz School of Business, and one an orange painted sidewalk installation, also just outside Morrison Hall, commemorating the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples, a visible reminder that every child matters, and that we are all treaty people.
Ms. Amankwah-Poku, StFX VP Finance & Administration Monica Foster, and members of the Black student body worked to create the crosswalk design, which features three colours—red, black and green—which combine to represent the Pan-African flag, a unifying symbol across the globe. The words ‘Black Lives Matter’ appear along with the three colours.
Together it forms a powerful symbol of support.
Among those in attendance at the ceremony were members of StFX’s Black Student Society, the African Student Society, Black Students Peer Mentors, senior administration, faculty, staff, and members of the student body.
