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In Dec 2018 @TheTorontoSun referred to @DesmondCole as "angry past-his-15-seconds-of-fame”. Hmm. Roughly 51 million seconds later, Des is one of Canada's best-selling authors. Meanwhile the SUN continues to rank as Toronto's least-read paper, an outcast within a dying sector.
I mention this because I’ve been thinking a lot about Des over the last few weeks. As an organiser/ activist, I’m always trying to figure out what sparks action. What makes a movement suddenly come to life, and surge forward?
From #IdleNoMore to #MeToo 
to #BLM, frustrations and anger that had been brewing for decades suddenly exploded into mainstream awareness. As waves of protest against anti-black racism continue to cascade, the question has to be asked: why now?
to #BLM, frustrations and anger that had been brewing for decades suddenly exploded into mainstream awareness. As waves of protest against anti-black racism continue to cascade, the question has to be asked: why now?
Many point to George Floyd. But we all know that every single month, unarmed black men are murdered by armed white men with no public outcry. Sadly, this was nothing new. https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/know-their-names/index.html
Others point to @Kaepernick7. Four years before politicians, police chiefs and white allies starting taking the knee in droves, Kaepernick ended his own career with a simple, civil and thoughtful act of resistance.
Kaepernick took a knee, not because there was a bandwagon, but precisely because there wasn’t. He bravely filled a void, despite the cost. But identifying him as the sole spark is lazy. Kaepernik isn’t the answer. He simply offers us a glimpse of what was happening all around us.
Every city, every town, every community has its Kaepernicks. People who have been taking risks, unapologetically, and making sacrifices in order to be heard. Here in Toronto, for example, we have leaders like Desmond. Three years ago, Des took a knee. https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2017/04/20/carding-protest-derails-toronto-police-board-meeting.html
This graceful and defiant act cost Desmond his job as a columnist, and set him up as a target for abuse. He was labelled radical, unruly, confrontational and intimidating. He was mocked and ridiculed by the press and by those who should have been allies.
But this is why we are seeing an uprising, an awakening. People people like Des raised their fist. They blocked intersections. They shut down highways. They even briefly stalled the Toronto Pride Parade, "to make space for ourselves in a place where we have been erased”.
They tirelessly challenged those who hold power, face-to-face, demanding to be heard at government meetings despite endless procedural attempts to thwart their participation.
In Toronto, their names are Alexandria Williams, @AndreaVasquezJ, Gita Madan, @janaya_khan, @katie_german, Melanie Wilson, Michelle Erin Hopkins, @DiverlusPascale, Ren Niles, @rodneydiverlus, Sabrina “Butterfly” Gopaul, @sandela, @syrusmarcusware, Yusra Khogali, and so many more.
Wherever you live, find your local risk-takers. Follow them. Amplify them. And thank them.
If you're looking for leadership, these are our heroes. Our mentors.
