The Halifax Race Riot. It DID Happen. I Know. I Was There.

****UPDATE****

I have been informed that the events which led up to the riot actually started at Bogarts.  THEN it went on to Rosa's.
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I was out with co-workers for dinner at The Keg last week. 

If you like steak, and you’re in Halifax, go to The Keg.  ‘nuff said.

From there, the group of us went to something called a ‘Captured Room’ for a ‘team play’ experience.  It was fun, but that’s not what this post is about. 

And we didn’t make it out of the room in the allotted time.  Damnit.

In fact, I’m writing this post from somewhere in the ‘1943 Halifax’ room.  I’m now a prop.

Over dinner, those of us at our particular table started discussing Halifax’s bar scene, ‘back in the day’.

Apparently, I was the oldest at the table, since the others had no idea about the majority of bars I brought up. 

Back in MY day, it was Bogarts, Scoundrals, JJ’s, Peddlers and Rosa’s that were the spots to go (among others like The Graduate, Split Crow, Your Father’s Mustache etc.).

None of these bars are here anymore, except the Mustache and Split Crow. Those two are still kicking around. 

Others have taken their place, but the ‘good old bars’, as I remember them, are now gone.

The local bar scene at that time wasn’t necessarily the ‘good old days’ for everyone, though.  The bar scene in the early 90’s in Halifax was racially charged and you could feel the tension on any weekend night, in any downtown bar. 

And so in the same conversation I asked, ‘Do you (looking at the one Haligonian at the table) remember the race riot back in the early 90’s?  It started at Rosa’s.’

Nobody, including the Haligonian, knew what I was talking about.

I haven’t heard many people talk about that riot over the years.

Keep in mind, social media wasn’t even a thought back then, so it wouldn’t have been blasted all over the internet. 

But although it wasn’t as huge as the LA riots, it was a big deal here, at the time.

It was a riot.  Crowds of angry people were swarming down Gottingen Street breaking windows.  Police in riot gear were everywhere. 

How do I know?

I was there.  Right in the middle of it all.

As our group left The Keg and was walking down to the Captured Room location on Barrington, we happened to walk by The Carleton Bar and Grill and I said to the others, “THIS was Rosa’s.  THIS is where the riot started!’

 Image taken from HERE 

I wasn't in/at the bar when it started, but I heard the commotion when they got to Gottingen St. because my boyfriend at the time (now ex-husband) lived only one block away, on Creighton, and we were at his apartment. 

We heard the screaming.  We heard the breaking glass.  We heard the sirens.

So, of course, being 20somethings with no fear … we decided to check it out.

Now, my memory from 26yrs ago is a little foggy at the best of times, but what I specifically remember from that night, aside from all the chaos, was running between the buildings to get down to the street, rounding the corner and coming face to face with a wall of police officers, in full riot gear.

I also remember very clearly what the one officer closest to us screamed at us… 

‘Get the Fuck out of here … NOW!’ 

Apparently he didn’t think two white kids should be running headfirst into a race riot.

Once I saw what was actually happening on the street, the destruction and chaos, I can’t say I disagreed with him. 

We ran.  In the opposite direction from all the craziness in the street.

Back in the safety of the apartment, we listened to all the commotion a block away.

It was the one and only real ‘riot’ I’ve ever been in, if only for a few minutes, but it was an experience, even with my shitty memory, that I never forgot. 

I’ve never really understood the racial tension that envelopes the city I’ve lived in since I was 18.

They, whoever 'they' are, say that ‘race relations have improved’, over the years.  But have they, really?

I’m a white kid from small town New Brunswick.  I grew up in a town that had literally only a handful of African Canadian families. 

To me, those few African Canadian kids were just other kids in school.  No different than the rest of us.  No hate. No racial tension.  None that I was aware of, anyway.

I guess that’s why I find it so hard to understand the racial profiling and racism that still runs rampant in Halifax today. 

People say its better.  They say there is no racism here, but … I suspect if you ask an African Canadian living here in Nova Scotia, they might have a different perspective.

I wasn't able to find much online about the night of the riot.  Like I said, it seems like people have either forgotten, didn't hear about it, or just don't discuss it.  At least the people *I'VE* asked.

I did find a couple of things...

"Twenty years ago, racial tension in the city reached its tipping point.

A Halifax bouncer turned away several young black men from Rosa’s Cantina for reasons they felt had more to do with the colour of their skin than the fact they had been involved in an earlier scuffle on Argyle Street.

The white men involved in that same fight were already inside. The fallout would come the following night..." 

You can read the rest of the full article here:

http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?30021-20th-Anniversary-of-the-Halifax-Race-Riots

I also found this video of 'How Things Have Changed Since ...' 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2052365689 

The Halifax Race Riot.

People may not remember, or may not talk about it, but it DID happen.

I know it did.  I was there. 

K.