Big Cover Story

My first cover story for Halifax Magazine, about corporate conglomerates in the funeral industry in Halifax, has generated some interesting responses.

Like this one: a few days after the article came out, one of the locally-owed funeral homes in Halifax posted this ad in the obituaries section in the Chronicle Herald:

And although it's a bit ominous-looking, Atlantic News has dedicated an entire window to displaying this month's issue of Halifax Magazine:


If you haven't read the article, you can still pick up the magazine during the month of March at newsstands around Halifax.

Or you can go to my writing page, here: http://angmombo.com/writing/

Hope for Healing

The final week of February was busy with events of great significance to all Nova Scotians, particularly Nova Scotians of African descent.

The news was a mix of good and bad.

I’m not sure words can begin to describe the anger, shame, and disgust I felt when I heard about the cross-burning incident outside the home of Shayne Howe and Michelle Lyon in Hants County. It made me feel ashamed to be a Nova Scotian, ashamed that anyone, anywhere in this province would be ignorant enough to resurrect that kind of deeply hateful symbolism.

But the public response to the incident has been encouraging. Many people have offered their support to the couple. For once, it appears that a Facebook group has actually had an impact, at least for Howe and Lyon. I hope that the many messages the couple have received, and the public march in Windsor, have made the point that most of us abhor the kind of cowardly act that this family was subjected to.

It was also the week that, at long last, the Halifax Regional Municipality apologized to the former residents of Africville and their descendents, and offered a compensation package to help right the wrongs committed upon the people of that community.

“It is an apology that you are owed and deserve,” said Mayor Peter Kelly. “We apologize to the community elders, including those who did not live to see this day, for the pain and loss of dignity you experienced. We apologize to the generations who followed, for the deep wounds you have inherited and the way your lives were disrupted by the disappearance of your community.”

As I watched the coverage of the mayor making that apology, and I saw the reaction of relief and forgiveness from some of the people in the audience, I felt a wave of hope that this gesture could be the bridge to a new phase in Halifax’s history. Honestly, would that not be fantastic? There’s no way to erase the past, but there are ways to move beyond it, and HRM’s apology is absolutely essential to beginning to overcome some of the psychological barriers to equality that exist in this municipality.

We know that there are no magic solutions, and clearly there are people who feel that the settlement, which doesn’t offer individual compensation, falls far short. I understand why they feel that way, given that so many opportunities for personal success were probably lost in the upheaval of their community. Mayor Kelly’s apology alluded to this loss. “The repercussions of what happened in Africville linger to this day,” he said. “They haunt us in the form of lost opportunities for young people who were never nurtured in the rich traditions, culture and heritage of Africville.”

But it is a victory, and one which, for me, felt distinctly therapeutic. As Reverend Rhonda Britton, pastor of the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church told the crowd: “There are some among us who are wounded. …But in spite of all that, victory has been won.”

This is our golden opportunity to embrace the spirit of change. My hope is that the apology, and the city’s positive actions toward remediation, can unite the people of Halifax, and of this entire province.

As for Shayne Howe and Michelle Lyon and their family, I also hope it’s been made abundantly clear that the outrageous actions of a few individuals speak for no one but the criminals themselves.