July 22, 2020 • 39 mins
If you're not from Nova Scotia, you may have never heard of Africville -- it was a small community in Halifax. The larger government of Halifax seemed content to pretend Africville simply didn't exist. After the infamous Halifx Explosion of the early 1900s, the government changed their tactic, and aggressively conspired to erase Africville from history.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of My Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome back to
(00:25):
the show. My name is Noel, our writer Dike and
patriot Matt Frederick is on adventures, but will be returning
post haste. They called me, Ben. We're joined as always
with our super producer Paul mission controlled decade. Most importantly,
you are you, You are here, and that makes this
stuff they don't want you to know. Peek behind the
(00:47):
curtain here as we begin mission control. Noel and I
have all returned from a vacation of sorts. Now, as
you know, no Uh, despite our constant haranguing, Mission Control
prefers to be the uh non audible power behind the
(01:07):
stuff they don't want you to know. Throne. But Ben,
that phrase literally flashed across my mind before you said it.
Paul is indeed the power behind the throne. I love
that you said that. That's you read my mind. Amazing.
So we want you to know that. Paul has assured
us that he had adventures of his own. Stories for
another day and Nola wanted to check in with you
(01:29):
before we continue. How how is your time? How's your time? All?
It was good? Thanks Ben? Yeah. I mean, like I've
mentioned before, I just moved into a new place and
had been kind of uh, you know, doing it in
dribs and drabs getting it all set up and got
some furniture delivered. But I was able to really focus
and get the majority of the place really livable, and
I'm I'm speaking to you from my now fully ensconced
(01:51):
studio with all my little toys and guitars, and I
got a drum kid in here now and a couch
and a living rooms nice. My bedroom still full of boxes,
but yeah, no, I just go in there to sleep.
So it's like it's I don't feel compelled to to
hurry along with that one. How about you, Ben? Yeah,
I've I've had some you know, like Paul, have had
some story for Another Day adventures, some of which might
(02:14):
come into play in future episodes. I don't want to
spoil quite yet, but it's all. It's all fine, because
everybody emerged more or less. Okay. One segue I was
thinking about for this episode is that when when we
move physically, we also move symbolically, and it's a powerful act.
(02:35):
It makes us aware of how much stuff we have
and how much stuff we've lost. And as any long
time listener of our show knows, fellow conspiracy realists, you
are aware by now that the human species has a
profound and troubling history of losing communities, cities, entire civilizations sometimes,
and these sometimes become the subject of later legends and myths,
(03:00):
only to be rediscovered centuries or millennia later. Today, we're
exploring something different because our collective history is also full
of cities or communities or neighborhoods that went missing, not
due to pandemics, not due to natural disasters or so
called acts of God, but instead due to purposeful acts
(03:21):
of human beings. This is the story of a destroyed community,
and unlike the story of the c Tech CA or
the City of Troy or other communities of old, this
story is much much more recent than most people would
like to admit. And odds are uh, it's safe to
assume that a lot of people haven't heard of this.
(03:42):
We we didn't hear this story, no, until we received
an excellent email from fellow conspiracy realist Looping Band. Yeah
so why don't we get right into it. Yes, here
are the facts. So, as you hear Ben say at
the beginning of every one of our episodes, we know
and have seen firsthand that history has riddled with unexplained events.
(04:04):
Uh and and often UM, history is also riddled with
uh kind of crappy, obscured events. UM, things that authorities,
people in power, from the federal government to your local school,
you know, superintendent, would rather keep you in the dark about.
(04:25):
In the United States, a great example would be this
idea of black Wall Street, um. And the Tulsa Massacre
of nineteen twenty one. Um. Ben, this is something that
you turned me onto, this idea of black wall streets,
and something I was very much not familiar with. But
a lot of people across the planet in the US
itself only learned of this massacre because of the series
(04:48):
Watchman on HBO that we've talked about at length on
the show. UM, and the Tulsa massacre plays a very
important role in the story. Ben, Can you tell us
a little bit about what went down? Yeah, and I
think this is a great way to get into the
crazy part of today's topic. So here's what happened on
a high level. After World War One, Tulsa, Oklahoma, became
(05:12):
known for its affluent African American community. This community thrived
against massive brutal, systemic oppression. Most of the ten thousand
black residents of Tulsa lived in one neighborhood, the Greenwood District,
and because of its incredibly successful business district, it became
known as Black Wall Street. But astute listeners, you'll notice
(05:36):
that we are speaking in past tense. So no, what
happened to Black Wall Street? Why aren't we speaking in
present tense? Now? Yeah, it's exactly what you described at
the top of the show. Ban. It was essentially eradicated
from existence, um, because of the influence of those that
would prefer it have never existed in the first place.
(05:59):
On May, a young black man named Dick Rowland was
writing in an elevator in the Drexel building at Third
in Maine. Um there in Tulsa, along with the elevator operator,
because that was a thing back then, and that person
was a white woman by the name of Sarah Page Uh.
And the actual details of what is alleged to have
(06:21):
occurred between these two people very um. There's a lot
of hearsay, um, But Ultimately we are told of accounts
of some sort of incident. Uh and and this spread
like wildfire within Tulsa's white community. Uh. And it's the
same way like you see now, you know, especially when
(06:43):
it's negative, people are so quick to spread uh these
fake news stories. And I say fake news, not in
the loaded way that maybe is used rhetorically by certain
members of of of our government, but actual fake news
that's written and intended to obscure or to uh to deceive. Um.
(07:03):
And if it's negative or it's about if it's something
that supports your narrative, people are very quick to just
boom click share. You gotta really careful, You gotta do
your homework before you become that person. You don't want
to be that person. But a lot of people here, untulso,
were that person and spread this story all across the community.
And um, every time it was told, like a just
like a sick game of telephone, it became worse and
(07:27):
more exaggerated and more egregious, the details more lurid um
and the police White of course, arrested Dick Roll in
the very next day, and that same day mate the
Tulsa Tribune ran an absolutely bonkers, uh, and of course
biased a report of the events, right. Yeah, So in
(07:49):
the elevator incident, the the bare bones reports seems to
be that this young man could have done something as
simple as accidentally bump into the elevator operator or he
stepped on her foot or something like that. But as
you said, Noel, over a span of just a few hours,
(08:10):
really this turned into like a full on lurid story
of assault. And this sparked a confrontation between armed groups
gathered around the courthouse. The local authorities barricaded Roland at
the top floor of the courthouse, and these groups, as
you can imagine, were divided by race, but they were
(08:30):
also divided by aim. The white mob, which was getting
bigger and bigger as time went on, wanted to murder
Roland that day, but they were met by a group
of twenty five armed black men, many of whom were
veterans from World War One. These veterans were not antagonizing
this mob, It's important to note this. Instead, they were
(08:53):
going to the local authorities, the sheriff, and they said,
you know, there's a very real and immediate threat of
the this mob taking this kid and torturing him and
then killing them. We are here to help you. The
sheriff said no, And then I hope that we can
only imagine this sheriff had to eat his words because
(09:13):
that white mob turned their attention away from the courthouse
and they tried to break into the National Guard armory nearby. Yeah,
and then you have these two kind of contingents colliding.
When a reformed group of seventy five armed black men
returned UM, the white mob, which was about fifteen hundred strong,
clearly outnumbering the black group. UM and the group seeking
(09:37):
to protect Roland had to retreat to to the Greenwood District,
that area where many of these affluent black members of
the community lived. UM. So in June one, members of
the white mob, along with so many hangers on and
opportunists and looters UM white looters, sacked the Greenwood District
(09:58):
and attempted to completely eradicated, burning into the ground. The
governor at the time, Robertson, declared a state of martial law.
This is all sounding early familiar. Unfortunately I'm given the
current state of of of of events here in the
United States. UM. The National Guard was called in. They
(10:19):
assisted fireman and putting out the flames. They arrested some
of the African Americans from these absolutely you know, bloodthirsty
vigilantes what they referred to themselves as, as though they
were seeking some sort of out, you know, wild West
outlawed twisted justice. Uh. And then they imprisoned every single
(10:42):
black resident of Tulsa that hadn't already been arrested. Uh.
That's over six thousand people who were held against their
will for up to eight days at a convention center
on on the fair grounds of of the of the town.
That's right, and needless to say, these people who were arrested,
(11:03):
who were, you know, innocent of crimes, were denied, you know,
the basic things one would expect incarceration in theory, you know, food, water,
restroom facilities, and so on. Let's look at the aftermath.
All of this means that within only twenty four hours
after this pandemonium erupted, thirty five city blocks were in
(11:26):
total ruin. Over eight hundred people were treated for injury,
which means of course that many more were injured and
unable or unwilling to seek medical attention. The death toll
was estimated at the time to be thirty six, but
today historians believe around three hundred people died, if not more,
(11:47):
thousands lost their livelihoods and homes this massacre. Oddly enough,
even though thousands of people were had their lives are
preparably damaged, this massacre was not really reported in the
national media, definitely not inaccurate way, and today it remains
one of the worst again officially acknowledged incidents of racial
(12:08):
violence in US history. But it's just one example. Yeah,
and and there are others U and one of them
is is the topic of today's episode, um and it's
something we like we said at the top of the show,
neither of us were familiar with a community in Halifax,
Nova Scotia known as Africaville. So what happened to Africaville?
(12:31):
Will explore this after a word from our sponsor. Here's
where it gets crazy. If you were like us, then
you're from the United States. Odds are you may have
never heard of Africaville. Like you said, No, this community
(12:52):
was located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was founded in
the early eighteen hundreds. It's often described as one of
the first free black communities outside of the African continent.
By nineteen sixty it was raised to the ground. Seriously,
(13:13):
it didn't happen as quickly as the Tulsa massacre, but
it happened. So what what gives? What what's the what's
the history of this community? Yeah, I've seen it referred
to as well as as like a settlement um, which
is interesting because I mean, it really was sort of
a very self sufficient community, but they did depend on
(13:40):
some services from the City of Halifax. We'll get into
what that relationship kind of deteriorated into in just a second.
But Um, from eighteen forty to eighteen sixty, Nova Scotia
was actually the last stop on the underground railroad. Uh So,
while Africville was certainly a better place for many and
where they had come from, uh, it was still poor
(14:03):
and still quite oppressed. The local government never provided them
with basic amenities, uh, sewage, you know, water, electricity, and
snow plowing, because let's not forget this is in the
the Great White North. Um and the community reached its
population peak by nineteen seventeen, only about four hundred people
(14:24):
lived there um during the time of a very important
event in the history of of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the
Halifax Explosion, which took place on December six of nineteen seventeen.
Oh yeah, this is this is insane. So it's a
tale of two ships instead of a tail of two cities. Right.
The S S Multi Blanc is a French cargo ship.
(14:47):
It's carrying has met hazardous materials we call them today.
It's it's carried a bunch of explosives. It collides with
the Norwegian vessel called the S s Imo or Emo.
I m O. I hope it wasn't the email, but
that would be funny though. What happened though, was anything
but humorous. When this friendship collides with this Norwegian ship,
(15:10):
it happens in a straight connecting Upper Halifax Harbor to
something called the Bedford Basin. A fire breaks out on
the French ship. It ignites the cargo and this causes
a massive explosion, the equivalent of two point nine killer
tons of T and T. It kills around two thousand
people and at least nine thousand other people are injured.
(15:33):
Africville is located on the southern shore of the Bedford Basin,
and due to topology in the area, it's partially shielded
from the direct blast. But that doesn't mean it's completely shielded.
Multiple structures in this area are destroyed or so heavily
damaged that they're unusable. And you know, to the point
(15:55):
about self sufficiency that you made earlier, noal Uh, it
makes sense because a out of these buildings were constructed
by the people who were living in them. That's right.
And um, I saw a great documentary if you just
google Africville on YouTube, it's the longest thing that comes up.
It's like thirty five minute documentary that the Canadian Broadcasting
Service UH made. Um it feels like it was in
the seventies or something. It's got that look, but it
(16:17):
starts off interviewing like multi generational families that lived in
Afforcville and like grew up there. Because again it was
nineteen seventeen. It had a history. And people say, when
people when people ask you the question put to these
these former residents, when people ask you where are you from?
What do you say? And they say Africville. They don't
say Canada, they don't say Nova Scotia, they don't say Halifax,
they say Africville. Because it really had this identity all
(16:41):
of its own, and they were proud of of it.
They were proud of their community. They, like you said, Ben,
they did the best that they could with what they had.
They built their own homes. UM. But in the greater
community outside of Africville, it was unfairly characterized as a slum. Uh.
There was this kind of notion that it was hated
(17:03):
by the members of the community. But when you actually
talk to people, and the people have seen interviewed in
this documentary, no one says that it's just the people
in power that say that. It's a narrative they tried
to create to justify what they ultimately what they ultimately did.
Um which will will get to. So the local government
UH in question here had already begun arguing the community
(17:25):
should be destroyed to make room for industrial development. Oh,
all of a sudden, they realized they've got some prime
real estate and something better to do with it that
could maybe enrich the community more in their eyes in
a way that was meaningful. And so in the wake
of this disaster, UM, the people of the community didn't
get anything in the way of recovery assistance. They also
(17:47):
got no police or fire protection, and they still had
to pay taxes and other parts of the city. Yeah,
received tons of help in terms of like, you know,
recovering from this horrific event, and after the explosion, the
city of Halifax itself continued what you could describe as
systematic efforts to make Africville a bad place to live
(18:07):
and then demonizing it, you know, with this rhetoric and
this idea of it being a slum and we have
to do something about it. But it was basically like
them commenting on what they themselves had wrought upon this community,
right yeah, Yeah, I'm being too charitable with could be
described as just systematic effort there, because uh it is,
(18:29):
and it was to to the dovetail in the earlier
point we were making about the discrepancy between what the
people who lived their experience of what the city's official
line was and had always been. Uh, just follow the money,
you know what I mean, whether it's a war, whether
it's a moral crusade, follow the money. Ultimately, there's a
(18:53):
financial motive there, and this was this was an opportunity.
I want to be very clear, No one say that
the Halifax explosion itself was planned or you know, even
meant to in any way affect the people of Africaville.
But the City of Halifax certainly took advantage of the opportunity.
(19:14):
They started aggressively making this a bad place to live. Beforehand,
they were they were um degrading Africaville through what I
would describe as willful, purposeful neglect. But now they started
being more aggressive, an assertive, and belligerent about it. They
(19:36):
built a hospital for World War two veterans, but not
just any World War two veterans, specifically World War two
veterans with various contagious diseases and there's no real hygiatic
practice at the time, so this exposes the community to this,
but that's not the only thing they were exposed to. Yeah,
it's like adding insult to injury. Halifax decided, oh, this
(19:59):
would be a site for a toxic waste dump. Wow. Um,
they're really laying it on thick and the the You
can see the residents, uh, one of whom will meet
later in this episode. The residents often had to go
through this dump for honestly discavenged to find things to sell.
(20:24):
You know. It's it's very rough situation, that's right, And
there actually is footage of this all of this in
the documentary that I mentioned. I highly recommend checking it
out because it's all you know, you can see the dump.
It's this is not hyperbole. It's literally a sludgy, toxic,
you know mess. Also, you know, it's it's sort of
a catch all dump. You got your toxic stuff, you
(20:44):
got your like you know, scrap metal, you know. But
you're right. I mean they were so um put upon
and unable to earn a living, and people were you know,
there's a there's a there's a gentleman in the in
the in the in the dock who says, I was
seeing my brothers, you know, avenging in the dump every
day and it was just you know, painful, and that
level of pain. Uh lad to folks starting to just
(21:08):
leave it time to move on. Um, And you know
it was it was when the rats started showing up
that things really took a turn. The gentleman you mentioned
ben Eddie Carvery, who grew up there, um, he had
there's a quote we have from him that is is
pretty disturbing and it really gives you a sense of
what it would have been like to live in this
(21:29):
place at the time. Yeah, Eddie Carvery, who is in
you can see a multiple documentaries. He he grew up there.
As you said, no, and he witnessed firsthand the successful
efforts of Halifax to depopulate Africville. In this quote describing
(21:49):
the rats, he says, the hospital would just dump their
raw garbage on the dump, bloody body parts, blankets and everything.
We were subject to that. And then they would burn
this dump every so often. There would be walls of
fire and toxic smoke. And we used to run through
that fire to get the metals before they melted because
we scavenged the dump. We had to. You had to
(22:12):
do that to survive. In a way. You know, what
this reminds me of is the practice of ship breaking.
There are places in you know, we everybody's kind of
aware of large water going vessels, cargo ships and stuff.
When those things are decommissioned, sometimes they are physically broken
down by people who like the boat is run aground
(22:37):
and then uh, people have to go through and scavenge
and break it down, and they're like paid per kilo
um and and typically will end up contracting horrible medical
conditions from exposure to stuff like this. I mean, this
may be even worse because of the burning, right, Like
the smoke means that you don't have to be at
(22:58):
the site. Yeah, in case of tetanus or or worse,
you know, um and yeah, like we were alluding to earlier,
the rats just became an absolute nightmarriage and an utter
infestation that the population just ballooning, and Halifax was having
none of it in terms of helping. Um. The residents
(23:20):
of Africkville found themselves in just an absolute, like nightmarish
perfect storm for a plague, I mean really just absolutely
biblical horrible stuff when the rats began to infiltrate white
neighborhoods night. Mind you, the city finally stepped in to
address the problem by dousing the dump at Africville in
(23:44):
in rat poison. Cool, But now it's like, how how
do you make a toxic waste dump worse you cover
it in rat poison? I don't know. This is just
this is a real, real saga here. Meanwhile, the the
larger government of Canada is completely ignoring what's happening here.
(24:04):
By the way, and we're not unless we sound like
we're picking on Canada. This isn't a more obscure case,
or was at the time. But make no mistake, things
like this are happening in multiple countries around the world
right and and to your point, Noll, the population is
breathing this poison in Uh. You know, numerous people are saying,
(24:27):
like even if we even if we try to avoid
the dump, this is still getting all over our air,
our clothing. And now we see something that happens in
a lot of small communities with exposure to these kind
of chemicals. Uh. The real dangerous effects are things that
people might not have seen at the time, even the
people spreading the rat poison. It's it's a it's a
(24:50):
problem that crops up like agent orange years after the fact,
right years after exposure, we start noticing people getting cancer. Yeah,
it reminds me of the sand A Susannah, uh nuclear
research site in the episode we did not terribly long ago. Um. Yeah,
you don't find that about that stuff until a way later.
At the time, you don't really associate it with with
(25:10):
that with your with your at with your environment at
its time especially might not have even something that people
were widely aware of. But there it is. And so
when the rats and the toxic dump weren't enough to
get residents to leave, Alifax decided that the area was
officially an uninhabitable slum, which is a term that they're
(25:33):
already using just in in you know, passing referring to
the place like with with these meetings, and the city
began to just tear the neighborhood down and forced the
remaining residents to relocate. Uh. In sixty four, the neighborhood
was entirely demolished and members of the community received You know,
it's like if if if a developer comes in and
(25:57):
wants to buy your house, you know that might be
one deal. Uh, this is gonna be you know, based
on all kinds of factors, and it's going to be
a variety of different amounts of compensation, likely not fair
at all. Uh. And some of the houses were bulldozed
with people still inside them. Yeah, think about that. So
(26:17):
we always hear that old that old figures speech in
real estate. What matters location and location and location in
that order. So the City of Halifax has done everything
it can to make this location terrible. So if they
pay people or compensate them for their property based on
the market value of the property, well that market value
(26:40):
has been destroyed. And bulldozing houses with people inside them
doesn't sound like something that should be happening in the
nineties sixties. But there we are. This has been the
here's where it gets crazy part. But this is all factual.
None of this is speculation zero percent. We're gonna pause
for we're from our sponsor, and then let's explore the
(27:02):
aftermath because the story of Africaville is not quite over
and we're back. Uh. Since Africaville was destroyed, UM, Eddie Carvery,
former resident, began protesting. He started his protest on the
(27:25):
original site of the neighborhood in nineteen seventy um, living
in what later was renamed to Seaview Park UH and
he stayed there on and off for over twenty five
years before making international news. When G seven visited Halifax
in nine, the city tried to get rid of him,
(27:49):
as well as his brother Victor. Yeah. Yeah, So the
Carvery brothers, Eddie and Victor have been have been struggling
with a lot of things. You know, if you see them,
if you see some of the video footage of the
Eddie is definitely sort of the last man standing in
(28:10):
the protest, and it has been waging this protest for,
as you said, in old decades and at times he's
been sleeping rough just in the area because he wants
to keep it there, uh, in the in the location
the former location of Africaville. And eventually the brothers did
move and lived more off of the site of Africville,
(28:35):
but they continue to travel to the community and protest
like literally pretty much every day where the community school
once stood. If you want to learn more about Eddie Carvery,
you can check out these documentaries we've mentioned. You can
also check out John Tatary's work. It's called The Hermit
(28:56):
of Africville. It was published in two thousand and ten.
And that's to me, that's one of the craziest things.
The timeline about this history tried to forget this for
a long time. Uh. You know, we're looking back at
at the turn of the nineteen century and now we're
well into the twenty one century, and this is this
(29:19):
is still continuing. People haven't been compensated for their lands,
let alone their medical conditions. Uh. Eddie Carvery was for
a large part of his entire life, he was just
trying to get people to listen to what was happening,
which speaks to I know, I think it speaks highly
to his character. But it is a resounding condemnation of
(29:43):
the government of Halifax. I just want to restate too.
I think we we said it at the top pretty well,
but just when these black settlers came over, um, you know,
to to this part of Canada, it wasn't like they
immediately you know, created this settlement. They were forced to
because they weren't accepted in in the in the rest
(30:03):
of the community, in the surrounding area, so they had to, uh,
they were kind of pushed onto what would be considered
less desirable land um. And then of course when the
tide turns and all of a sudden, you know, there's
a use for this land. It's like, okay, sorry, I
know we're the ones who put you here in the
first place, but you know, you're you're we need what
(30:25):
you're living on and we're gonna make your life a
living hell. And there's really great writing about this as
well in Canadian Museum for Human Rights website, just kind
of a timeline and the story of Africville. And you know,
I just want to pay a picture too of like
what life really was like when it was at its best. Everyone.
You know, again, this is like a long standing community
(30:45):
and people described it as you know, feeling uh, no
sense of isolation. There's a quote on this Canadian Museum
for Human Rights site from a former Africville resident um saying, quote,
you weren't isolated at any time living in Africa. Well,
you always felt at home. The doors were always open.
That is one of the most important things that has
stayed with me throughout my life. And you know, you
(31:08):
can see photographs of like the country Store, and it's
like it just seemed kind of like, at the time,
an idyllic situation that they kind of had to create
for themselves. And yeah, some of the houses are kind
of ramshackle and look a little bit like shanty kind
of houses um, but it was obvious that they took
great pride in it and that they did the repairs
(31:30):
with everything they had at their disposal and did the
best they could. And then the idea of demonizing it
as being some kind of slum is just a real
misnomer to me. M hm. And you know, Halifax has
acknowledged Africaville after its destruction, primarily in two the same
(31:51):
year the Hermit Africa of Africaville published, the Mayor of
Halifax officially apologized to the former residents of the neighborhood.
You know, this is this is an important active symbolism, right.
This was Mayor Peter Kelly. He said, you lost your homes,
your church, all the places in which you gathered with
(32:14):
your family and friends to share and mark the milestones
of your lives. For all of that, we apologized. But
here here's what he did. So they did put some
money behind us. The government of Halifax promised three million
dollars to build a replica church and what they called
an interpretive center. But the people who are at the
(32:36):
crowd when this apology was you know, presented, and this
funding was announced, they were loudly complaining. They said, you know,
nobody asked us we were residents of Africville or we
were descended from people from Africville. Uh, this settlement, I
don't know. It seems like too many people. It was
a token gesture because nobody who lost their home is
(32:58):
getting any further competence asan for that loss. You know,
I can see that being a valid point. I think
it's all too easy for people who aren't involved in
a situation to say, well, acknowledgement is important and something's
better than nothing. But is that a symbolic statement, you know,
more than an actual one. No, I absolutely think you're right, Ben.
(33:20):
It's also to kind of too little, too late, you know,
and you know, in a lot of ways. Um, but
in uh again, there is sort of a silver lining
here even beyond that, in the Africa Filled Church was rebuilt,
and Carvery moved his protest to that area. Uh. And Carvery,
against all odds, continues his protest today. Yeah, and UH,
(33:45):
to be fair, we don't know how long this will last,
but at the time of this recording, he's still protesting.
The takeaway from this is that not every conspiracy is
you know, someone trying to hide space each technology. Not
every conspiracy is necessarily you know, like a secret uh
(34:06):
genetic research program or or cryptic or paranormal activity. All
too often conspiracies are real, and they're motivated by things
like racism or real estate. Right, they're motivated by a
profit of some sort, and that seems to be the
case with Africville. And as we said at the top,
(34:28):
at this point the story continues. We don't know whether
there will be further action by the government of Halifax, uh,
you know, the president administration or a future administration. And
we don't know whether there will be any sort of
further compensation for the survivors of the neighborhood of the community,
(34:49):
and we passed the toworchs to you. Thank you as
always for tuning in what other cities or communities have
been destroyed in this manner let us know about the
hidden history in your neck of the Global woods, because
one of the strangest and most disturbing things about these
sorts of stories is we can guarantee you most people
(35:09):
have not heard of them, and that's probably by design. Yeah,
I mean, you know, let's not forget that. Like the definition.
I had to kind of look this up because we
get so wrapped up in the buzzwordiness of conspiracy. And
again the way uh, it's all it's been demonized and
he used as kind of a thought terminating cliche as
you say, Ben, But a conspiracy, at the end of
the day, is a secret plan made by a group
(35:29):
to do something unlawful or harmful. Uh. And that's that's
what this is. This is, you know, cut and dry conspiracy, uh,
not theory. Um. And but you know, is that then
that you have to bring up the question of what
is lawful? If they voted unanimously to do this, you
know on account on a city council, a government body.
(35:51):
Uh is it lawful? Whose laws? You know? I don't know.
I don't want to feel like I'm grandstanding here, but
I certainly think that if a moose or look was
was paid to this, you could definitely find some evidence
of wrongdoing and of of this not being lawful. Uh.
It reminds me of the way Native Americans were treated,
you know, like they're they have this land that they
(36:14):
settled and then all of a sudden, oh, sorry, we
own the land. There's notion of owning the land is
such a you know, capitalistic kind of idea, and and
it's something that's just doesn't feel very natural. But yet
here we are. Um, so yeah, I don't I don't know.
I'm interested to see where this goes. I'm not particularly
(36:34):
hopeful that anything positive is going to come of it,
but I'm really glad we found out about and want
to thank the listener for letting us know. Because you
don't think about this stuff happening in Canada. You think
of Canada as being like this, you know, really positive
honky Dory Place, neighbors to the north, the kinder gentler,
you know, weed smoking, you know hockey players, but there's
(36:57):
tons of racism in Canada, you know. I mean you
can look it up and see, Like I saw a
video of someone being attacked on a bus in Canada
by some racist gentlemen, and it's everywhere. It's insidious and
it's not something that is going to go away without
you know, shedding the light on it. The Highway of tears, uh,
(37:18):
the force dissimilation of First nations people's Yeah, the list
goes on. You know, no country is perfect, and it's
our It's part of I think our purpose as people
living today, regardless of what country we live in, to
hold those in power accountable. We would like to hear
(37:40):
your stories. Let us know about your local hidden history.
Wherever you're at in the world. You can find us
on Facebook. You can find us on Instagram. You can
find us on Twitter. We like to recommend our Facebook
group Here's where it gets crazy, where you can find
our favorite part of the show, the most important part,
that's your fellow listeners. You can also while you're online,
(38:01):
find us as individuals. Yeah, you sure can if you wish.
I am at how Now Noel Brown on Instagram and
you can find me on Twitter at ben Bolland hs W.
You can also find me on Instagram at ben Bolling.
And of course, if you have complaints, corrections, or general gripes,
we have a dedicated email line for that. That is
(38:22):
Jonathan Strickland at iHeart media dot com. But we also
have a phone number, don't we we do. It's one
eight three three st d w y t K. Leave
us a message. You might be surprised to hear that
this segment of our show it's gonna be making a
stunning reappearance in a very real way very soon, meaning
(38:43):
that you you could be your voice could be a
part of stuff they don't want you to know. Episodes. Um,
it's a three minute time limit. You can call back
and continue and we just stitch them together. Uh and
just you know, if you don't want us to use
your name, just make sure to let us know. But
we uh, we up to hear from you. And I
really enjoyed doing the listener mail episodes and looking forward
(39:04):
to bringing that back very soon. And as I like
to say, if none of that quite back, your badgers,
you can only send us an email. It's a good
old fashioned one. We are conspiracy at iHeart Radio dot
Com Stuff they don't want you to know. Is a
(39:34):
production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of My Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome back to
(00:25):
the show. My name is Noel, our writer Dike and
patriot Matt Frederick is on adventures, but will be returning
post haste. They called me, Ben. We're joined as always
with our super producer Paul mission controlled decade. Most importantly,
you are you, You are here, and that makes this
stuff they don't want you to know. Peek behind the
(00:47):
curtain here as we begin mission control. Noel and I
have all returned from a vacation of sorts. Now, as
you know, no Uh, despite our constant haranguing, Mission Control
prefers to be the uh non audible power behind the
(01:07):
stuff they don't want you to know. Throne. But Ben,
that phrase literally flashed across my mind before you said it.
Paul is indeed the power behind the throne. I love
that you said that. That's you read my mind. Amazing.
So we want you to know that. Paul has assured
us that he had adventures of his own. Stories for
another day and Nola wanted to check in with you
(01:29):
before we continue. How how is your time? How's your time? All?
It was good? Thanks Ben? Yeah. I mean, like I've
mentioned before, I just moved into a new place and
had been kind of uh, you know, doing it in
dribs and drabs getting it all set up and got
some furniture delivered. But I was able to really focus
and get the majority of the place really livable, and
I'm I'm speaking to you from my now fully ensconced
(01:51):
studio with all my little toys and guitars, and I
got a drum kid in here now and a couch
and a living rooms nice. My bedroom still full of boxes,
but yeah, no, I just go in there to sleep.
So it's like it's I don't feel compelled to to
hurry along with that one. How about you, Ben? Yeah,
I've I've had some you know, like Paul, have had
some story for Another Day adventures, some of which might
(02:14):
come into play in future episodes. I don't want to
spoil quite yet, but it's all. It's all fine, because
everybody emerged more or less. Okay. One segue I was
thinking about for this episode is that when when we
move physically, we also move symbolically, and it's a powerful act.
(02:35):
It makes us aware of how much stuff we have
and how much stuff we've lost. And as any long
time listener of our show knows, fellow conspiracy realists, you
are aware by now that the human species has a
profound and troubling history of losing communities, cities, entire civilizations sometimes,
and these sometimes become the subject of later legends and myths,
(03:00):
only to be rediscovered centuries or millennia later. Today, we're
exploring something different because our collective history is also full
of cities or communities or neighborhoods that went missing, not
due to pandemics, not due to natural disasters or so
called acts of God, but instead due to purposeful acts
(03:21):
of human beings. This is the story of a destroyed community,
and unlike the story of the c Tech CA or
the City of Troy or other communities of old, this
story is much much more recent than most people would
like to admit. And odds are uh, it's safe to
assume that a lot of people haven't heard of this.
(03:42):
We we didn't hear this story, no, until we received
an excellent email from fellow conspiracy realist Looping Band. Yeah
so why don't we get right into it. Yes, here
are the facts. So, as you hear Ben say at
the beginning of every one of our episodes, we know
and have seen firsthand that history has riddled with unexplained events.
(04:04):
Uh and and often UM, history is also riddled with
uh kind of crappy, obscured events. UM, things that authorities,
people in power, from the federal government to your local school,
you know, superintendent, would rather keep you in the dark about.
(04:25):
In the United States, a great example would be this
idea of black Wall Street, um. And the Tulsa Massacre
of nineteen twenty one. Um. Ben, this is something that
you turned me onto, this idea of black wall streets,
and something I was very much not familiar with. But
a lot of people across the planet in the US
itself only learned of this massacre because of the series
(04:48):
Watchman on HBO that we've talked about at length on
the show. UM, and the Tulsa massacre plays a very
important role in the story. Ben, Can you tell us
a little bit about what went down? Yeah, and I
think this is a great way to get into the
crazy part of today's topic. So here's what happened on
a high level. After World War One, Tulsa, Oklahoma, became
(05:12):
known for its affluent African American community. This community thrived
against massive brutal, systemic oppression. Most of the ten thousand
black residents of Tulsa lived in one neighborhood, the Greenwood District,
and because of its incredibly successful business district, it became
known as Black Wall Street. But astute listeners, you'll notice
(05:36):
that we are speaking in past tense. So no, what
happened to Black Wall Street? Why aren't we speaking in
present tense? Now? Yeah, it's exactly what you described at
the top of the show. Ban. It was essentially eradicated
from existence, um, because of the influence of those that
would prefer it have never existed in the first place.
(05:59):
On May, a young black man named Dick Rowland was
writing in an elevator in the Drexel building at Third
in Maine. Um there in Tulsa, along with the elevator operator,
because that was a thing back then, and that person
was a white woman by the name of Sarah Page Uh.
And the actual details of what is alleged to have
(06:21):
occurred between these two people very um. There's a lot
of hearsay, um, But Ultimately we are told of accounts
of some sort of incident. Uh and and this spread
like wildfire within Tulsa's white community. Uh. And it's the
same way like you see now, you know, especially when
(06:43):
it's negative, people are so quick to spread uh these
fake news stories. And I say fake news, not in
the loaded way that maybe is used rhetorically by certain
members of of of our government, but actual fake news
that's written and intended to obscure or to uh to deceive. Um.
(07:03):
And if it's negative or it's about if it's something
that supports your narrative, people are very quick to just
boom click share. You gotta really careful, You gotta do
your homework before you become that person. You don't want
to be that person. But a lot of people here, untulso,
were that person and spread this story all across the community.
And um, every time it was told, like a just
like a sick game of telephone, it became worse and
(07:27):
more exaggerated and more egregious, the details more lurid um
and the police White of course, arrested Dick Roll in
the very next day, and that same day mate the
Tulsa Tribune ran an absolutely bonkers, uh, and of course
biased a report of the events, right. Yeah, So in
(07:49):
the elevator incident, the the bare bones reports seems to
be that this young man could have done something as
simple as accidentally bump into the elevator operator or he
stepped on her foot or something like that. But as
you said, Noel, over a span of just a few hours,
(08:10):
really this turned into like a full on lurid story
of assault. And this sparked a confrontation between armed groups
gathered around the courthouse. The local authorities barricaded Roland at
the top floor of the courthouse, and these groups, as
you can imagine, were divided by race, but they were
(08:30):
also divided by aim. The white mob, which was getting
bigger and bigger as time went on, wanted to murder
Roland that day, but they were met by a group
of twenty five armed black men, many of whom were
veterans from World War One. These veterans were not antagonizing
this mob, It's important to note this. Instead, they were
(08:53):
going to the local authorities, the sheriff, and they said,
you know, there's a very real and immediate threat of
the this mob taking this kid and torturing him and
then killing them. We are here to help you. The
sheriff said no, And then I hope that we can
only imagine this sheriff had to eat his words because
(09:13):
that white mob turned their attention away from the courthouse
and they tried to break into the National Guard armory nearby. Yeah,
and then you have these two kind of contingents colliding.
When a reformed group of seventy five armed black men
returned UM, the white mob, which was about fifteen hundred strong,
clearly outnumbering the black group. UM and the group seeking
(09:37):
to protect Roland had to retreat to to the Greenwood District,
that area where many of these affluent black members of
the community lived. UM. So in June one, members of
the white mob, along with so many hangers on and
opportunists and looters UM white looters, sacked the Greenwood District
(09:58):
and attempted to completely eradicated, burning into the ground. The
governor at the time, Robertson, declared a state of martial law.
This is all sounding early familiar. Unfortunately I'm given the
current state of of of of events here in the
United States. UM. The National Guard was called in. They
(10:19):
assisted fireman and putting out the flames. They arrested some
of the African Americans from these absolutely you know, bloodthirsty
vigilantes what they referred to themselves as, as though they
were seeking some sort of out, you know, wild West
outlawed twisted justice. Uh. And then they imprisoned every single
(10:42):
black resident of Tulsa that hadn't already been arrested. Uh.
That's over six thousand people who were held against their
will for up to eight days at a convention center
on on the fair grounds of of the of the town.
That's right, and needless to say, these people who were arrested,
(11:03):
who were, you know, innocent of crimes, were denied, you know,
the basic things one would expect incarceration in theory, you know, food, water,
restroom facilities, and so on. Let's look at the aftermath.
All of this means that within only twenty four hours
after this pandemonium erupted, thirty five city blocks were in
(11:26):
total ruin. Over eight hundred people were treated for injury,
which means of course that many more were injured and
unable or unwilling to seek medical attention. The death toll
was estimated at the time to be thirty six, but
today historians believe around three hundred people died, if not more,
(11:47):
thousands lost their livelihoods and homes this massacre. Oddly enough,
even though thousands of people were had their lives are
preparably damaged, this massacre was not really reported in the
national media, definitely not inaccurate way, and today it remains
one of the worst again officially acknowledged incidents of racial
(12:08):
violence in US history. But it's just one example. Yeah,
and and there are others U and one of them
is is the topic of today's episode, um and it's
something we like we said at the top of the show,
neither of us were familiar with a community in Halifax,
Nova Scotia known as Africaville. So what happened to Africaville?
(12:31):
Will explore this after a word from our sponsor. Here's
where it gets crazy. If you were like us, then
you're from the United States. Odds are you may have
never heard of Africaville. Like you said, No, this community
(12:52):
was located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was founded in
the early eighteen hundreds. It's often described as one of
the first free black communities outside of the African continent.
By nineteen sixty it was raised to the ground. Seriously,
(13:13):
it didn't happen as quickly as the Tulsa massacre, but
it happened. So what what gives? What what's the what's
the history of this community? Yeah, I've seen it referred
to as well as as like a settlement um, which
is interesting because I mean, it really was sort of
a very self sufficient community, but they did depend on
(13:40):
some services from the City of Halifax. We'll get into
what that relationship kind of deteriorated into in just a second.
But Um, from eighteen forty to eighteen sixty, Nova Scotia
was actually the last stop on the underground railroad. Uh So,
while Africville was certainly a better place for many and
where they had come from, uh, it was still poor
(14:03):
and still quite oppressed. The local government never provided them
with basic amenities, uh, sewage, you know, water, electricity, and
snow plowing, because let's not forget this is in the
the Great White North. Um and the community reached its
population peak by nineteen seventeen, only about four hundred people
(14:24):
lived there um during the time of a very important
event in the history of of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the
Halifax Explosion, which took place on December six of nineteen seventeen.
Oh yeah, this is this is insane. So it's a
tale of two ships instead of a tail of two cities. Right.
The S S Multi Blanc is a French cargo ship.
(14:47):
It's carrying has met hazardous materials we call them today.
It's it's carried a bunch of explosives. It collides with
the Norwegian vessel called the S s Imo or Emo.
I m O. I hope it wasn't the email, but
that would be funny though. What happened though, was anything
but humorous. When this friendship collides with this Norwegian ship,
(15:10):
it happens in a straight connecting Upper Halifax Harbor to
something called the Bedford Basin. A fire breaks out on
the French ship. It ignites the cargo and this causes
a massive explosion, the equivalent of two point nine killer
tons of T and T. It kills around two thousand
people and at least nine thousand other people are injured.
(15:33):
Africville is located on the southern shore of the Bedford Basin,
and due to topology in the area, it's partially shielded
from the direct blast. But that doesn't mean it's completely shielded.
Multiple structures in this area are destroyed or so heavily
damaged that they're unusable. And you know, to the point
(15:55):
about self sufficiency that you made earlier, noal Uh, it
makes sense because a out of these buildings were constructed
by the people who were living in them. That's right.
And um, I saw a great documentary if you just
google Africville on YouTube, it's the longest thing that comes up.
It's like thirty five minute documentary that the Canadian Broadcasting
Service UH made. Um it feels like it was in
the seventies or something. It's got that look, but it
(16:17):
starts off interviewing like multi generational families that lived in
Afforcville and like grew up there. Because again it was
nineteen seventeen. It had a history. And people say, when
people when people ask you the question put to these
these former residents, when people ask you where are you from?
What do you say? And they say Africville. They don't
say Canada, they don't say Nova Scotia, they don't say Halifax,
they say Africville. Because it really had this identity all
(16:41):
of its own, and they were proud of of it.
They were proud of their community. They, like you said, Ben,
they did the best that they could with what they had.
They built their own homes. UM. But in the greater
community outside of Africville, it was unfairly characterized as a slum. Uh.
There was this kind of notion that it was hated
(17:03):
by the members of the community. But when you actually
talk to people, and the people have seen interviewed in
this documentary, no one says that it's just the people
in power that say that. It's a narrative they tried
to create to justify what they ultimately what they ultimately did.
Um which will will get to. So the local government
UH in question here had already begun arguing the community
(17:25):
should be destroyed to make room for industrial development. Oh,
all of a sudden, they realized they've got some prime
real estate and something better to do with it that
could maybe enrich the community more in their eyes in
a way that was meaningful. And so in the wake
of this disaster, UM, the people of the community didn't
get anything in the way of recovery assistance. They also
(17:47):
got no police or fire protection, and they still had
to pay taxes and other parts of the city. Yeah,
received tons of help in terms of like, you know,
recovering from this horrific event, and after the explosion, the
city of Halifax itself continued what you could describe as
systematic efforts to make Africville a bad place to live
(18:07):
and then demonizing it, you know, with this rhetoric and
this idea of it being a slum and we have
to do something about it. But it was basically like
them commenting on what they themselves had wrought upon this community,
right yeah, Yeah, I'm being too charitable with could be
described as just systematic effort there, because uh it is,
(18:29):
and it was to to the dovetail in the earlier
point we were making about the discrepancy between what the
people who lived their experience of what the city's official
line was and had always been. Uh, just follow the money,
you know what I mean, whether it's a war, whether
it's a moral crusade, follow the money. Ultimately, there's a
(18:53):
financial motive there, and this was this was an opportunity.
I want to be very clear, No one say that
the Halifax explosion itself was planned or you know, even
meant to in any way affect the people of Africaville.
But the City of Halifax certainly took advantage of the opportunity.
(19:14):
They started aggressively making this a bad place to live. Beforehand,
they were they were um degrading Africaville through what I
would describe as willful, purposeful neglect. But now they started
being more aggressive, an assertive, and belligerent about it. They
(19:36):
built a hospital for World War two veterans, but not
just any World War two veterans, specifically World War two
veterans with various contagious diseases and there's no real hygiatic
practice at the time, so this exposes the community to this,
but that's not the only thing they were exposed to. Yeah,
it's like adding insult to injury. Halifax decided, oh, this
(19:59):
would be a site for a toxic waste dump. Wow. Um,
they're really laying it on thick and the the You
can see the residents, uh, one of whom will meet
later in this episode. The residents often had to go
through this dump for honestly discavenged to find things to sell.
(20:24):
You know. It's it's very rough situation, that's right, And
there actually is footage of this all of this in
the documentary that I mentioned. I highly recommend checking it
out because it's all you know, you can see the dump.
It's this is not hyperbole. It's literally a sludgy, toxic,
you know mess. Also, you know, it's it's sort of
a catch all dump. You got your toxic stuff, you
(20:44):
got your like you know, scrap metal, you know. But
you're right. I mean they were so um put upon
and unable to earn a living, and people were you know,
there's a there's a there's a gentleman in the in
the in the in the dock who says, I was
seeing my brothers, you know, avenging in the dump every
day and it was just you know, painful, and that
level of pain. Uh lad to folks starting to just
(21:08):
leave it time to move on. Um, And you know
it was it was when the rats started showing up
that things really took a turn. The gentleman you mentioned
ben Eddie Carvery, who grew up there, um, he had
there's a quote we have from him that is is
pretty disturbing and it really gives you a sense of
what it would have been like to live in this
(21:29):
place at the time. Yeah, Eddie Carvery, who is in
you can see a multiple documentaries. He he grew up there.
As you said, no, and he witnessed firsthand the successful
efforts of Halifax to depopulate Africville. In this quote describing
(21:49):
the rats, he says, the hospital would just dump their
raw garbage on the dump, bloody body parts, blankets and everything.
We were subject to that. And then they would burn
this dump every so often. There would be walls of
fire and toxic smoke. And we used to run through
that fire to get the metals before they melted because
we scavenged the dump. We had to. You had to
(22:12):
do that to survive. In a way. You know, what
this reminds me of is the practice of ship breaking.
There are places in you know, we everybody's kind of
aware of large water going vessels, cargo ships and stuff.
When those things are decommissioned, sometimes they are physically broken
down by people who like the boat is run aground
(22:37):
and then uh, people have to go through and scavenge
and break it down, and they're like paid per kilo
um and and typically will end up contracting horrible medical
conditions from exposure to stuff like this. I mean, this
may be even worse because of the burning, right, Like
the smoke means that you don't have to be at
(22:58):
the site. Yeah, in case of tetanus or or worse,
you know, um and yeah, like we were alluding to earlier,
the rats just became an absolute nightmarriage and an utter
infestation that the population just ballooning, and Halifax was having
none of it in terms of helping. Um. The residents
(23:20):
of Africkville found themselves in just an absolute, like nightmarish
perfect storm for a plague, I mean really just absolutely
biblical horrible stuff when the rats began to infiltrate white
neighborhoods night. Mind you, the city finally stepped in to
address the problem by dousing the dump at Africville in
(23:44):
in rat poison. Cool, But now it's like, how how
do you make a toxic waste dump worse you cover
it in rat poison? I don't know. This is just
this is a real, real saga here. Meanwhile, the the
larger government of Canada is completely ignoring what's happening here.
(24:04):
By the way, and we're not unless we sound like
we're picking on Canada. This isn't a more obscure case,
or was at the time. But make no mistake, things
like this are happening in multiple countries around the world
right and and to your point, Noll, the population is
breathing this poison in Uh. You know, numerous people are saying,
(24:27):
like even if we even if we try to avoid
the dump, this is still getting all over our air,
our clothing. And now we see something that happens in
a lot of small communities with exposure to these kind
of chemicals. Uh. The real dangerous effects are things that
people might not have seen at the time, even the
people spreading the rat poison. It's it's a it's a
(24:50):
problem that crops up like agent orange years after the fact,
right years after exposure, we start noticing people getting cancer. Yeah,
it reminds me of the sand A Susannah, uh nuclear
research site in the episode we did not terribly long ago. Um. Yeah,
you don't find that about that stuff until a way later.
At the time, you don't really associate it with with
(25:10):
that with your with your at with your environment at
its time especially might not have even something that people
were widely aware of. But there it is. And so
when the rats and the toxic dump weren't enough to
get residents to leave, Alifax decided that the area was
officially an uninhabitable slum, which is a term that they're
(25:33):
already using just in in you know, passing referring to
the place like with with these meetings, and the city
began to just tear the neighborhood down and forced the
remaining residents to relocate. Uh. In sixty four, the neighborhood
was entirely demolished and members of the community received You know,
it's like if if if a developer comes in and
(25:57):
wants to buy your house, you know that might be
one deal. Uh, this is gonna be you know, based
on all kinds of factors, and it's going to be
a variety of different amounts of compensation, likely not fair
at all. Uh. And some of the houses were bulldozed
with people still inside them. Yeah, think about that. So
(26:17):
we always hear that old that old figures speech in
real estate. What matters location and location and location in
that order. So the City of Halifax has done everything
it can to make this location terrible. So if they
pay people or compensate them for their property based on
the market value of the property, well that market value
(26:40):
has been destroyed. And bulldozing houses with people inside them
doesn't sound like something that should be happening in the
nineties sixties. But there we are. This has been the
here's where it gets crazy part. But this is all factual.
None of this is speculation zero percent. We're gonna pause
for we're from our sponsor, and then let's explore the
(27:02):
aftermath because the story of Africaville is not quite over
and we're back. Uh. Since Africaville was destroyed, UM, Eddie Carvery,
former resident, began protesting. He started his protest on the
(27:25):
original site of the neighborhood in nineteen seventy um, living
in what later was renamed to Seaview Park UH and
he stayed there on and off for over twenty five
years before making international news. When G seven visited Halifax
in nine, the city tried to get rid of him,
(27:49):
as well as his brother Victor. Yeah. Yeah, So the
Carvery brothers, Eddie and Victor have been have been struggling
with a lot of things. You know, if you see them,
if you see some of the video footage of the
Eddie is definitely sort of the last man standing in
(28:10):
the protest, and it has been waging this protest for,
as you said, in old decades and at times he's
been sleeping rough just in the area because he wants
to keep it there, uh, in the in the location
the former location of Africaville. And eventually the brothers did
move and lived more off of the site of Africville,
(28:35):
but they continue to travel to the community and protest
like literally pretty much every day where the community school
once stood. If you want to learn more about Eddie Carvery,
you can check out these documentaries we've mentioned. You can
also check out John Tatary's work. It's called The Hermit
(28:56):
of Africville. It was published in two thousand and ten.
And that's to me, that's one of the craziest things.
The timeline about this history tried to forget this for
a long time. Uh. You know, we're looking back at
at the turn of the nineteen century and now we're
well into the twenty one century, and this is this
(29:19):
is still continuing. People haven't been compensated for their lands,
let alone their medical conditions. Uh. Eddie Carvery was for
a large part of his entire life, he was just
trying to get people to listen to what was happening,
which speaks to I know, I think it speaks highly
to his character. But it is a resounding condemnation of
(29:43):
the government of Halifax. I just want to restate too.
I think we we said it at the top pretty well,
but just when these black settlers came over, um, you know,
to to this part of Canada, it wasn't like they
immediately you know, created this settlement. They were forced to
because they weren't accepted in in the in the rest
(30:03):
of the community, in the surrounding area, so they had to, uh,
they were kind of pushed onto what would be considered
less desirable land um. And then of course when the
tide turns and all of a sudden, you know, there's
a use for this land. It's like, okay, sorry, I
know we're the ones who put you here in the
first place, but you know, you're you're we need what
(30:25):
you're living on and we're gonna make your life a
living hell. And there's really great writing about this as
well in Canadian Museum for Human Rights website, just kind
of a timeline and the story of Africville. And you know,
I just want to pay a picture too of like
what life really was like when it was at its best. Everyone.
You know, again, this is like a long standing community
(30:45):
and people described it as you know, feeling uh, no
sense of isolation. There's a quote on this Canadian Museum
for Human Rights site from a former Africville resident um saying, quote,
you weren't isolated at any time living in Africa. Well,
you always felt at home. The doors were always open.
That is one of the most important things that has
stayed with me throughout my life. And you know, you
(31:08):
can see photographs of like the country Store, and it's
like it just seemed kind of like, at the time,
an idyllic situation that they kind of had to create
for themselves. And yeah, some of the houses are kind
of ramshackle and look a little bit like shanty kind
of houses um, but it was obvious that they took
great pride in it and that they did the repairs
(31:30):
with everything they had at their disposal and did the
best they could. And then the idea of demonizing it
as being some kind of slum is just a real
misnomer to me. M hm. And you know, Halifax has
acknowledged Africaville after its destruction, primarily in two the same
(31:51):
year the Hermit Africa of Africaville published, the Mayor of
Halifax officially apologized to the former residents of the neighborhood.
You know, this is this is an important active symbolism, right.
This was Mayor Peter Kelly. He said, you lost your homes,
your church, all the places in which you gathered with
(32:14):
your family and friends to share and mark the milestones
of your lives. For all of that, we apologized. But
here here's what he did. So they did put some
money behind us. The government of Halifax promised three million
dollars to build a replica church and what they called
an interpretive center. But the people who are at the
(32:36):
crowd when this apology was you know, presented, and this
funding was announced, they were loudly complaining. They said, you know,
nobody asked us we were residents of Africville or we
were descended from people from Africville. Uh, this settlement, I
don't know. It seems like too many people. It was
a token gesture because nobody who lost their home is
(32:58):
getting any further competence asan for that loss. You know,
I can see that being a valid point. I think
it's all too easy for people who aren't involved in
a situation to say, well, acknowledgement is important and something's
better than nothing. But is that a symbolic statement, you know,
more than an actual one. No, I absolutely think you're right, Ben.
(33:20):
It's also to kind of too little, too late, you know,
and you know, in a lot of ways. Um, but
in uh again, there is sort of a silver lining
here even beyond that, in the Africa Filled Church was rebuilt,
and Carvery moved his protest to that area. Uh. And Carvery,
against all odds, continues his protest today. Yeah, and UH,
(33:45):
to be fair, we don't know how long this will last,
but at the time of this recording, he's still protesting.
The takeaway from this is that not every conspiracy is
you know, someone trying to hide space each technology. Not
every conspiracy is necessarily you know, like a secret uh
(34:06):
genetic research program or or cryptic or paranormal activity. All
too often conspiracies are real, and they're motivated by things
like racism or real estate. Right, they're motivated by a
profit of some sort, and that seems to be the
case with Africville. And as we said at the top,
(34:28):
at this point the story continues. We don't know whether
there will be further action by the government of Halifax, uh,
you know, the president administration or a future administration. And
we don't know whether there will be any sort of
further compensation for the survivors of the neighborhood of the community,
(34:49):
and we passed the toworchs to you. Thank you as
always for tuning in what other cities or communities have
been destroyed in this manner let us know about the
hidden history in your neck of the Global woods, because
one of the strangest and most disturbing things about these
sorts of stories is we can guarantee you most people
(35:09):
have not heard of them, and that's probably by design. Yeah,
I mean, you know, let's not forget that. Like the definition.
I had to kind of look this up because we
get so wrapped up in the buzzwordiness of conspiracy. And
again the way uh, it's all it's been demonized and
he used as kind of a thought terminating cliche as
you say, Ben, But a conspiracy, at the end of
the day, is a secret plan made by a group
(35:29):
to do something unlawful or harmful. Uh. And that's that's
what this is. This is, you know, cut and dry conspiracy, uh,
not theory. Um. And but you know, is that then
that you have to bring up the question of what
is lawful? If they voted unanimously to do this, you
know on account on a city council, a government body.
(35:51):
Uh is it lawful? Whose laws? You know? I don't know.
I don't want to feel like I'm grandstanding here, but
I certainly think that if a moose or look was
was paid to this, you could definitely find some evidence
of wrongdoing and of of this not being lawful. Uh.
It reminds me of the way Native Americans were treated,
you know, like they're they have this land that they
(36:14):
settled and then all of a sudden, oh, sorry, we
own the land. There's notion of owning the land is
such a you know, capitalistic kind of idea, and and
it's something that's just doesn't feel very natural. But yet
here we are. Um, so yeah, I don't I don't know.
I'm interested to see where this goes. I'm not particularly
(36:34):
hopeful that anything positive is going to come of it,
but I'm really glad we found out about and want
to thank the listener for letting us know. Because you
don't think about this stuff happening in Canada. You think
of Canada as being like this, you know, really positive
honky Dory Place, neighbors to the north, the kinder gentler,
you know, weed smoking, you know hockey players, but there's
(36:57):
tons of racism in Canada, you know. I mean you
can look it up and see, Like I saw a
video of someone being attacked on a bus in Canada
by some racist gentlemen, and it's everywhere. It's insidious and
it's not something that is going to go away without
you know, shedding the light on it. The Highway of tears, uh,
(37:18):
the force dissimilation of First nations people's Yeah, the list
goes on. You know, no country is perfect, and it's
our It's part of I think our purpose as people
living today, regardless of what country we live in, to
hold those in power accountable. We would like to hear
(37:40):
your stories. Let us know about your local hidden history.
Wherever you're at in the world. You can find us
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our favorite part of the show, the most important part,
that's your fellow listeners. You can also while you're online,
(38:01):
find us as individuals. Yeah, you sure can if you wish.
I am at how Now Noel Brown on Instagram and
you can find me on Twitter at ben Bolland hs W.
You can also find me on Instagram at ben Bolling.
And of course, if you have complaints, corrections, or general gripes,
we have a dedicated email line for that. That is
(38:22):
Jonathan Strickland at iHeart media dot com. But we also
have a phone number, don't we we do. It's one
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us a message. You might be surprised to hear that
this segment of our show it's gonna be making a
stunning reappearance in a very real way very soon, meaning
(38:43):
that you you could be your voice could be a
part of stuff they don't want you to know. Episodes. Um,
it's a three minute time limit. You can call back
and continue and we just stitch them together. Uh and
just you know, if you don't want us to use
your name, just make sure to let us know. But
we uh, we up to hear from you. And I
really enjoyed doing the listener mail episodes and looking forward
(39:04):
to bringing that back very soon. And as I like
to say, if none of that quite back, your badgers,
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