Fondé en 1983 --Unis pour la diversité et l'égalité raciale

DRIVING BLACK, PROUD AND FREE: CRARR JOINS CONVOY AGAINST RACIAL PROFILING



Montréal, July 5, 2020 — CRARR joined many groups from the English-speaking and French-speaking Black communities in organizing a convoy with Black drivers driving luxurious cars to protest against racial profiling in the Greater Montreal region.

Under the slogan, “Driving While Black, Proud and Free / Noirs au volant, fiers et libres”, the convoy passed through Montreal’s major arteries. The rally was organized in anticipation of the SPVM’s release of the street checks policy on July 8.

More than 200 cars participated in the convoy. They gathered at two starting locations:

• The starting point for Anglophone drivers, at the St. Charles Walmart in Kirkland, located in the West Island of Montreal, and
• The rally for Francophone drivers rally, at the East End at the Metro Radisson Parking. Several Black elected officials at all three levels of government, including Frantz Benjamin, MNA; Councillors Josué Corvil and Nathalie Pierre-Antoine, and an assistant of Emmanuel Dubourg, MP attended this rally.

Councillors Corvil and Pierre-Antoine joined the drivers in the convoy afterwards, which was guided by the Hilarious Riders, a group of Black motorcyclists.

The closing rally was held at the Namur Parking (near Namur Metro Station). Local artist Erich Preach was the MC. He was joined by Miss Haiti Canada 2019-2020 Soukaïna Tropnas-Lahens and Mme Haiti Canada 2019-2020 Maddana Calix-Antoine of the Du Jireh Gospel of Montreal, who sang the national anthem.

City Councillor Marvin Rotrand, and EMSB Commissioner Julien Feldman joined convoy spokespersons Tiffany Callender, Executive Director of the Cote-Des-Neiges Black Community Association, and PIerreson Vaval, Executive Director of Équipe RDP, spoke on the need for broad-based community mobilization against racial profiling. Many speakers stressed the need to reclaim Black Montrealers' constitutional rights and freedoms, including the freedom to own and ride any car and go anywhere they can without being harassed and profiled by the police.

Approximately 300 people attended the closing rally.