February282012
racismfreeontario: Farrah Khan. At the age of 16, Farrah Khan picked up a microphone to speak out about sexual assault and has not put it down since. Named by the Toronto Star as one of 2011′s “People to Watch,” she has spent the last sixteen years working diligently to raise awareness of gender-based violence through art creation, counseling and community development. Farrah holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto and supports women who are survivors of violence as a counselor and advocate at the Barbra Schlifer Clinic. The Clinic provides legal representation, professional counselling and multilingual interpretation to 4000 women each year. At the Clinic Farrah is currently is coordinating Outburst, Young Muslim Women Safety Project looking at ways social services agencies and institutions can be more accessible to young Muslim women. Farrah is an artist who uses prose, video and craft to explore the intersections of migration, faith and community. Deeply disturbed by the 2007 murder of teenager Aqsa Parvez, Farrah recognized that young Muslim women needed safer spaces to connect. She co-founded AQSAzine, a grassroots award-winning art collective. The collective published four issues of an internationally-distributed magazine celebrating Muslim youth writing and art. Her writing has been featured in AQSAzine and Feminism for REAL edited by Jessica Yee. Farrah’s short films have been screened at the Art Gallery of Ontario, as well as at festivals in New York and the UK. Currently she is working on her first graphic novella with illustrator Somya Singh and a play with The Beekeepers Society. Farrah is an emerging leader in grassroots equity movements and has been presented with numerous awards, including the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Women Who Inspire Award and Urban Alliance Relations Community Award. follow @farrah_khan Day 76 of Racism Free Ontario’s100 People of Colour Spotlight. Follow our facebook fanpage , tumblr, twitter and website for daily updates.  (via Farrah Khan)

racismfreeontario:

Farrah Khan. At the age of 16, Farrah Khan picked up a microphone to speak out about sexual assault and has not put it down since. Named by the Toronto Star as one of 2011′s “People to Watch,” she has spent the last sixteen years working diligently to raise awareness of gender-based violence through art creation, counseling and community development. Farrah holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto and supports women who are survivors of violence as a counselor and advocate at the Barbra Schlifer Clinic. The Clinic provides legal representation, professional counselling and multilingual interpretation to 4000 women each year. At the Clinic Farrah is currently is coordinating Outburst, Young Muslim Women Safety Project looking at ways social services agencies and institutions can be more accessible to young Muslim women.

Farrah is an artist who uses prose, video and craft to explore the intersections of migration, faith and community. Deeply disturbed by the 2007 murder of teenager Aqsa Parvez, Farrah recognized that young Muslim women needed safer spaces to connect. She co-founded AQSAzine, a grassroots award-winning art collective. The collective published four issues of an internationally-distributed magazine celebrating Muslim youth writing and art. Her writing has been featured in AQSAzine and Feminism for REAL edited by Jessica Yee. Farrah’s short films have been screened at the Art Gallery of Ontario, as well as at festivals in New York and the UK. Currently she is working on her first graphic novella with illustrator Somya Singh and a play with The Beekeepers Society.

Farrah is an emerging leader in grassroots equity movements and has been presented with numerous awards, including the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Women Who Inspire Award and Urban Alliance Relations Community Award.

follow @farrah_khan

 (via Farrah Khan)

(via fuckyeahethnicwomen)

Farrah Khan activist canada 

February32012
racismfreeontario: Rukhsana Khan is a well-known Canadian children’s author who focuses on telling tales of diversity. Since she was a child, Rukhsana Khan dreamed of being a writer. There was just one catch: “I thought writers were white, and I was brown,” the now 46-year-old Khan recalls with a laugh of her days growing up in small-town Dundas, Ontario, in the 1960s. Faced with racism at school, Khan, an avid reader, turned to books for comfort and scribbled her own stories. Rukhsana  sold her first two picture books, Bedtime Ba-a-a-lk and The Roses in My Carpets, to Lester Publishing in 1997. Lester folded soon afterward, but the manuscripts ended up at Stoddart Publishing, which put out both books in 1998. While Bedtime Ba-a-a-lk was a straightforward kids’ picture book about counting sheep, Roses, aimed at a slightly older audience, was Khan’s first book to focus on stories of Muslim children. Inspired by Khan’s visit to her own foster child in Afghanistan, it’s about a young Afghan refugee who finds solace in the colourful roses in the carpets he weaves. The book received glowing reviews for balancing poetic storytelling with stark realism, and continues to be featured on the curriculum in elementary schools across Ontario as an anti-racism resource. She has appeared on television and radio numerous times, has been featured at international conferences in Denmark, Mexico, Singapore, Italy, and South Africa, and has presented all across Canada and the U.S. She tells tales of India, Persia, the Middle East, as well as her own stories. Rukhsana is also a member of SCBWI, The Writers Union of Canada, CANSCAIP, and Storytelling Toronto. Writings: Multicultural Backlash Of Politics & Children’s Books Voice Appropriation & Writing About Other Cultures (via Rukhsana Khan author profile | Quill & Quire &  RukhsanaKhan.com) Day 34 of Racism Free Ontario’s100 People of Colour Spotlight. Follow our facebook fanpage , tumblr, twitter and website for daily updates.  (via Rukhsana Khan)

racismfreeontario:

Rukhsana Khan is a well-known Canadian children’s author who focuses on telling tales of diversity. Since she was a child, Rukhsana Khan dreamed of being a writer. There was just one catch: “I thought writers were white, and I was brown,” the now 46-year-old Khan recalls with a laugh of her days growing up in small-town Dundas, Ontario, in the 1960s. Faced with racism at school, Khan, an avid reader, turned to books for comfort and scribbled her own stories.

Rukhsana  sold her first two picture books, Bedtime Ba-a-a-lk and The Roses in My Carpets, to Lester Publishing in 1997. Lester folded soon afterward, but the manuscripts ended up at Stoddart Publishing, which put out both books in 1998. While Bedtime Ba-a-a-lk was a straightforward kids’ picture book about counting sheep, Roses, aimed at a slightly older audience, was Khan’s first book to focus on stories of Muslim children. Inspired by Khan’s visit to her own foster child in Afghanistan, it’s about a young Afghan refugee who finds solace in the colourful roses in the carpets he weaves. The book received glowing reviews for balancing poetic storytelling with stark realism, and continues to be featured on the curriculum in elementary schools across Ontario as an anti-racism resource.

She has appeared on television and radio numerous times, has been featured at international conferences in Denmark, Mexico, Singapore, Italy, and South Africa, and has presented all across Canada and the U.S. She tells tales of India, Persia, the Middle East, as well as her own stories. Rukhsana is also a member of SCBWI, The Writers Union of Canada, CANSCAIP, and Storytelling Toronto.

Writings:

(via Rukhsana Khan author profile | Quill & Quire &  RukhsanaKhan.com)

 (via Rukhsana Khan)

(via espritfollet)

Rukhsana Khan author writer canada 

January62012
racismfreeontario: Sunera Thobani is Associate Professor at the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of British Columbia.  Since her appointment at UBC, Dr. Thobani has been committed to using an interdisciplinary approach in her teaching and research, and to maintaining her involvement in community and social justice activities.  Dr. Thobani’s academic publications include articles in journals such as Canadian Woman Studies, Atlantis: A Women’s Studies Journal, Journal of Canadian Women and the Law, Refuge, Feminist Theory and Race & Class. Her research focuses on globalization, citizenship, migration and race and gender relations. Her book, Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada, was by the University of Toronto Press (2007), and her current research projects focus on Gender, Race, Globalization and Media Representations of the War on Terror.  Dr. Thobani is also past president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), Canada’s then largest feminist organization (1993-1996). The first woman of colour to serve in this position, Ms. Thobani’s tenure was committed to making the politics of anti-racism central to the women’s movement. In her community work she has written and spoken on many issues, including the impact of globalization on women’s citizenship; Canadian immigration and social policy; new reproductive technologies; violence against women; and women and APEC. She has been invited to help organize and give addresses at numerous international conferences, including the NGO Forum at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China (1996), the First International Women’s Conference on APEC in Manila, Philippines (1996), and the National Association of Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority Councillors in Manchester, Britain(1998). She is also a founding member of the cross-Canada Researchers and Academics of Colour for Equity (RACE) network (2000). “One of my major goals is to reach young women and to teach them about women’s activism, historically,” says Dr Thobani. For her, women’s empowerment is about “creating real material options for women to end poverty and violence in their lives.” As a Muslim woman and scholar, Dr. Thobani is at the forefront of educating people about Islam and its values. She challenges women to achieve more and sets the record straight on the stereotypes surrounding Muslim women. “It is very important for young women to think critically, to feel the power that women have and to join forces with those who want a world based on justice.”  Day 12 of Racism Free Ontario’s 100 People of Colour Spotlight. Follow our facebook fanpage , tumblr, twitter and website for daily updates. ( Videos and more @ Sunera Thobani)

racismfreeontario:

Sunera Thobani is Associate Professor at the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of British Columbia.  Since her appointment at UBC, Dr. Thobani has been committed to using an interdisciplinary approach in her teaching and research, and to maintaining her involvement in community and social justice activities.  Dr. Thobani’s academic publications include articles in journals such as Canadian Woman Studies, Atlantis: A Women’s Studies Journal, Journal of Canadian Women and the Law, Refuge, Feminist Theory and Race & Class. Her research focuses on globalization, citizenship, migration and race and gender relations. Her book, Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada, was by the University of Toronto Press (2007), and her current research projects focus on Gender, Race, Globalization and Media Representations of the War on Terror. 

Dr. Thobani is also past president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), Canada’s then largest feminist organization (1993-1996). The first woman of colour to serve in this position, Ms. Thobani’s tenure was committed to making the politics of anti-racism central to the women’s movement. In her community work she has written and spoken on many issues, including the impact of globalization on women’s citizenship; Canadian immigration and social policy; new reproductive technologies; violence against women; and women and APEC. She has been invited to help organize and give addresses at numerous international conferences, including the NGO Forum at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China (1996), the First International Women’s Conference on APEC in Manila, Philippines (1996), and the National Association of Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority Councillors in Manchester, Britain(1998). She is also a founding member of the cross-Canada Researchers and Academics of Colour for Equity (RACE) network (2000).

“One of my major goals is to reach young women and to teach them about women’s activism, historically,” says Dr Thobani. For her, women’s empowerment is about “creating real material options for women to end poverty and violence in their lives.” As a Muslim woman and scholar, Dr. Thobani is at the forefront of educating people about Islam and its values. She challenges women to achieve more and sets the record straight on the stereotypes surrounding Muslim women.

“It is very important for young women to think critically, to feel the power that women have and to join forces with those who want a world based on justice.” 

Day 12 of Racism Free Ontario’s 100 People of Colour Spotlight.

( Videos and more @ Sunera Thobani)

(via brownpeople)

Sunera Thobani canada academic feminist 

December192011

Hodan Ibrahim - Letters to a Young Rebel II

(Source: statichijabi)

spoken word poetry performance Hodan Ibrahim performer canada 

May272011
mllanders: Vancouver street artist Indigo’s contribution to Sand, Sea, & Spray. (via streetartnews.net)

mllanders:

Vancouver street artist Indigo’s contribution to Sand, Sea, & Spray.

(via streetartnews.net)

street art Canada 

April22011
somali-jasmine: ayaanrawr: This is what somali kids do in toronto when they are bored, and all they got is tape, smh. POOR GIRL!  This is so cute.

somali-jasmine:

ayaanrawr:

This is what somali kids do in toronto when they are bored, and all they got is tape, smh.

POOR GIRL! 

This is so cute.

(via naimaelsomali-deactivated201109)

Canada children 

February212011
abudai: (photo credit: john lucas/edmontonjournal.com) a muslim community in edmonton hosted a “purple hijab day” to raise awareness abotu domestic violence:  “This isn’t just a fight against domestic violence itself,” said Sanaa Tariq, 21, who hosted the event. “It’s a fight to show that we care about it. If someone is bad in one group of people, it doesn’t mean the group will be. Domestic violence has nothing to do with race, religion or sex, it has to do with mental health.”

abudai:

(photo credit: john lucas/edmontonjournal.com)

a muslim community in edmonton hosted a “purple hijab day” to raise awareness abotu domestic violence: 

“This isn’t just a fight against domestic violence itself,” said Sanaa Tariq, 21, who hosted the event. “It’s a fight to show that we care about it. If someone is bad in one group of people, it doesn’t mean the group will be. Domestic violence has nothing to do with race, religion or sex, it has to do with mental health.”

(via shergawia-deactivated20121108)

canada 

December282010
Somali-Canadian Pop Artists Sweet Rush Their song with Akon is annoyingly catchy…  Not exactly my cup of tea, but whatevs. Kinda impossible to get out of your head.

Somali-Canadian Pop Artists Sweet Rush

Their song with Akon is annoyingly catchy…  Not exactly my cup of tea, but whatevs. Kinda impossible to get out of your head.

(via natural-hair)

sweet rush music musician somali canadian somalia canada 

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