‘Someday, I’m going to dance en pointe’: Chilliwack girl’s speech rings out in legislature

The words of a Black 11-year-old Chilliwack girl rang out in the BC legislature this week and drew a roar applause. After Eevah MacDonald’s mother wrote online about her child’s struggles in school, the posts came to the attention of Chilliwack MLA Kelli Paddon, who invited Eevah and her mother to visit the legislature this week. Paddon also invited Eevah to write a speech, which Paddon read this week in the legislature (only members can speak in the legislature).

You can read her speech below. You can also view the video of it, as read by Paddon, here.

Eevah’s speech

“They said because I am Black, I should go kill myself, that I should be an example for other Black people to do the same. They said that I am like a dog. It’s kind of like when a tree gets cut down and just left there and forgotten. That’s how I felt. Left there with damage, by myself.

“It’s like some people think that because I’m Black, because I’m not white, I am just something. An object. But what’s real is that it doesn’t matter what your skin looks like. You’re beautiful just the way you are. The most important things about me are my funniness and my kindness. I’m proud that I stick up for people. I speak up for people. I’m a safe place for someone.

“Someday, I’m going to dance en pointe. Someday people are going to see me — that I’m brave and I’m smart and I’m good and I’m strong, that I’m a sister and a daughter, that I’m sensitive and I’m funny, that I like to laugh, and I like to make people laugh. That I’m more than Black. But there’s nothing wrong with being Black. I’m happy that maybe this doesn’t happen as much anymore, that maybe some people don’t know it still happens.

“It’s not funny. It doesn’t matter where you heard it or who said it or if you read it on the Internet. It doesn’t matter how they meant it. It’s racism. It hurts. I’m a person, and I matter.”