This Little Light of Mine:

Addena's Substack March Newsletter

March Newsletter

Oh Wow! March has flown by! I can’t believe it. It was like a flash of flurries.

I’m really pleased you keep coming to join with me and let our minds run free. It is comforting for me to feel we can share time together even if its not in person. I hope it is for you too.

February was Black History Month, and after reading my February Substack Newsletter publication, and being so moved by how it touched his heart, a wonderful and talented musician friend of mine, Doug Blaise, composed a musical piece for me entitled: “A Lullaby in Blue”. It was such an honour and a thrill. It was one of the most wonderful gifts I have ever been given. Doug gave me permission to share it but I can’t figure out how to upload it here. so I will try to share it in next month’s publication.

Thank you Doug for your amazingly wonderful gift. ♥️♥️ I Love You like crazy!

February was Black History Month, and March was International Women’s History Month, and both months involve reading, researching, and engaging in history and political events and conversations.

As a result February and March left a lot thoughts and emotions whirling in my mind, and unearthed a lot of memories, questions, and realizations ….

One of he latest phrases coming out of Canada (in response to Trump’s bullying and threatening to take over Canada) is the motto: “Elbows up” Canada.

It comes from an old hockey motto from Gordie Howe advising players not to be bullied but to play hard. He say to his teammates , “Elbows Up” and he meant: fight back stand up to the bullies/ enforcers or put your elbows up and protect yourself.

This month, while reading up about Women’s History, I learned about the phrase and meaning of: “We Stand The Gaff”, which is the latest phrase I’m hearing here in Canada. The phrase comes from Women in 1941, Kirkland Lake, Ontario women living through the experiences of the 1941 Gold mining strike. The coal mine owner, Joe MacNeil, and the Oligarchs were trying to break down the defenses and the resolve of the striking miners and their families and force the miners to come back to work. There was no pay for the striking miners. They couldn’t pay their rents , they couldn’t afford proper food for their families. They were evicted from there homes and forced to live in tents.

It was a brutal strike. To add to those miserable realities and conditions, the streets were patrolled by soldiers with bayonets and machine guns. This was an effort to intimidate and suppress the miners and their families, and crush them into submitting and ending the strike. The Premier sent hundreds of heavily armed Police to “break the strike”, announcing that: miners who dared protest or appear on the streets would face serious violence.

The day after that threat, the Women and Children of Kirkland Lake formed long lines and marched through the centre of town in defiance. They stood up for their husbands, and sons, and brothers that were striking. The Police didn’t attack the women. This Women; s March was a point of solidarity. They “Stood the Gaff which means to take a stand against, injustice, threats, criticism, ridicule, and adversity . That particular strike was so significant because it helped to change history and was instrumental in Workers winning the right for Collective Bargaining across Canada.

Wives, Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Grandmothers who proclaimed they were “Standing The Gaff.” proved that solidarity is one of the tactical keys for having power when you are resisting injustice.

I know that these days , because of the tariffs on top of inflation, we will all have to pull up our courage and make choices that help us, and help our communities and neighbours. We have to stand up and speak out. Even if we want to cave into all the pressures and testers. It ain’t gonna be easy… but we all have to “Stand the Gaff”.

In so many ways it seems like the clock is turning back.

I think of the history of Women’s Day and Women’s long fought battles for Justice, Equalities, and Civil Rights, and Freedoms. And now , in 2025, it looks like so many of the same rights and freedoms, and demands for respect we thought we won, are being challenged and taken away. Our new reality is that there is a War Against Women disguised by its inclusion in the war on Diversity Equality and Inclusion (DEI).

In many parts of our societies, government policies relegate women to the bottom of the ladder in the Political and Work Force, thereby they can justify why they make considerably less pay. It is difficult enough for families to survive financially, but it is even more difficult for a Single Mother. There is not enough income in family households for extra pleasures, never mind enough income for the essentials. This reality reminded me of women’s struggle for “Bread and Roses” in 1912 during the textile factory workers in Massachusetts where workers (mostly women) demanded both improved working conditions and fair wages. Helen Todd, (a suffragette activist) in one of her political speeches demanded enough wages for Bread and Roses. “Bread” for all: living wages, but along with that enough wages for “Roses” (which meant enough earnings for workers to buy a few extra comforts besides bread.)

The Bread and Roses reference made me look up a poem I wrote many years ago when I worked for Status of Women of the NWT. In my job as a Community Liaison Facilitator I worked with many community and Territorial women and Women’s and Youth groups in NWT, Nunavut, and across Canada. Together we we worked on lobbying the Government and Community leaders to make changes and implement policies to protect and improve Women and Children’s rights and safety. We were fighters! We were fully aware and intentional about protesting and fighting in any way, and in any form that would help our cause/goals. My protests and encouragements were often presented in theatrical pieces or in poetry writing:

A Call to Arms

We swallow the mythical "wipe out the deficit pill"

As our children are crowded closer into classrooms and

Our sick are 'put out' of hospitals

Our wounded

Our abused

Our caregivers

are denied 'bread'

In the guise of Restraint.

People are freezing to death on the streets

And our children are forced into poverty

And we are

Stunned

Silenced

Isolated,

Violated

Pushed aside

Told to wait

Be patient

Hush

Sh..Sh !!!..

Patient

Take another pill

Wait.

While they cut off our life force!

Sisters

We are dying in silence

Where is our voice?

When they tell us

They will choke us

To death

Would you not struggle to throw off the pillow

from your face if an attacker was trying to smother you?

Try to swim if you were drowning?

Decades ago

Centuries ago

Our Sisters revolted in the streets

And stormed the parliaments and prisons of their oppressors

For bread.

Now we sit quietly

Lest our voices

Raised in protest

Be named,

Too assertive,

Non-Traditional,

offensive,

… Militant.

And they take our bread away

Once more

In the guise of restraint.

Sisters,

We have paid our dues

Over

And over

And over.

We have waited

To be declared Persons,

Contributors,

To vote

Be our own representatives

Speak our own truths

And they are still choking the life out of us

And we are told

As we are dying

To pool our resources

Network,

Cut-back,

Partnership,

Shh.--Shh

Wait.

I understand now,

Why ‘Third World’ Women

Took up their rifles to fight

Even in their pitiful numbers

Fight !

Against their lives being snuffed out,

Their children starved.

I understand now

Before,

They were just countries,

Civil rebellions, or 'liberation movements', with "ah's" in them:

Sandinistas

Contras

Nicaragua

Guatemala

Cuba...

Look at our numbers

Count them

We are over half!

Now look at our 'Representation"

We are still "Looking over the garden wall !!"

Trusting

Obedient

Believing

‘they' can represent me.

There is something wrong with this picture

There is something horribly wrong

We ARE choking to death

But now our children are impoverished

And the money to sustain our lives is slowly being cut

To pieces

And if we don't find our Voice

Show our force

Storm the walls

We will die.

© Addena Sumter-Freitag

************************************************************************

Olivia Campbell is a contributing A writer for Vanity Fair. Olivia wrote an article on Trump, Musk, and MAGA Republican’s war against women . That article supported my assertion that there is a War Against Women. It isn’t only me I thought when I read it)… I’m not crazy!

She pointed out that Trump declared the war openly when in 2024 he declared:

“Whether the women like it or not,” “I’m going to protect them.”

Since Trump took office, his administration has been leaning hard on the first part. Misogyny runs rampant in the new American federal government, and is blatantly displayed by the disrespect Trump and the Vice President , J.D. Vance , noted critic of “childless Cat Ladies” and a critic of “working women”.

At least three administration leaders and Cabinet members: Senior Adviser Elon Musk, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have been accused of ( but have denied ) accusations of sexual misconduct. Trump’s Secretary of Education , Linda McMahon, has been accused of failing to stop known sexual abuse in the WWE.

Since Election Day, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue documented a 4,600% increase in mentions of the terms “Your body, my choice” and “Get back in the kitchen” by X users.

Since Trump’s anti-DEI order, the words “Women” and “Female’ will get your research paper “flagged” by the National Science Foundation. Employees of NASA were ordered to remove all mentions of: “Women in Leadership” from its website. The Biden-Administration Federally created website outlining Reproductive Rights was taken off-line shortly after Trump‘s inauguration .

As misogynist ideals invade the highest levels of government, women’s contributions are being erased, their rights and roles are being eroded. When we look at the history of authoritarian regimes, the clawing back of women’s rights is tactic of authoritarian regimes. It feels like we are walking back in time and losing all the gains and rights and freedoms we have fought for and won. One of the saddest parts of all this, in Americas present political reality, is that so many women supported, campaigned, and voted for these MAGA Republicans.

A lot of the people who voted for Trump (Women, Latinos, Blacks, Asians, Jews, and other ethnic people), never thought all his hatred, misogyny, and racism would affect them personally. Sadly, too late, they’re seeing it will. Last week I saw a video of a Women being interviewed and she said, “Yes I voted for Trump because I like a lot of his policies, but I never thought his polices would affect me.”

Now I know what the saying “the Rooster has come home to roost” means.

I also know that if Canada elects a Conservative government and they implement their Conservative policies and agenda, we Canadians will soon see the Rooster.

*********************************************************************

Denyse Thomasos: Trinidadian-Canadian Painter and Activist

October 10, 1964- July 19, 2012

I would like to shine a light on Denyse Thomasos. For those of you who don’t already know her amazing work. “She was well known for her abstract style wall murals that conveyed themes of slavery, confinement, and the story of African and Asian Diaspora. Hybrid Nations (2005) is one of her most notable pieces that features Thomasos’ signature use of dense thatch work patterning and architectonic images to portray images of American super jails, and traditional African weave work”. Her paintings and wall murals were colossal Art pieces. They are truly awesome.

Denyse Thomasos had an extraordinary career and created amazing exhibitions. When you have some spare time, I think you will be thrilled and amazed as you research her and her work. I suggest you start with Wikipedia and from there you will be guided to all aspects of her life, her career, and the legacy she left.

I’d like to share some photos my daughter April (“Sumter”) and I took when we viewed Denyse Thomasos’ amazing work at The Vancouver Art Gallery. I wish you could have been there with us! I can’t express the wonder you feel as you are seeing her art in person.

I hope from these photos of her painting you can get an idea of the magnificence of these colossal pieces.

Look at the size of them!

Denyse Thomasos presented a masterful display of colours in many of her abstract forms. She mixed all her own paint colours in large vats.

Another thing on Black Canadian History I’d like to share with is that there is a talk that includes Denyse Thomasos’ work is a video (talk) entitled: “A Hidden History: Slavery in Canada.” (You can google to find the link). It is a long talk… so when you have leisure time and want to view/hear some Canadian History and Art, presented in a unique way, this is a great source for you to check out.

I said in my February Newsletter that I would include Black History and Stories all year, cause… why not? (I’m smiling)

Here is some fun Canadian Black History. Did I shared this History before? If I did. Here it is again:

Dwayne ‘The Rock ‘Johnson’s : Black ♥️♥️ Canadian History

The story behind Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's father, Nova Scotian Canadian, wrestler: Rocky 'Soul man' Johnson.

Rocky ( Soul man) Johnson won the World Tag Team Championship in 1983, along with his partner Tony Atlas, to become the first black champions in WWE history. He was looked at by kids and adults alike as our Black Canadian Hercules !

Dwayne (The Rock’s) Father was: Rocky “Soul Man” Johnson.

Rocky Johnson: Born August 24, 1944 Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada.

My uncles used to take my nephews Doug and Toby and all the neighbourhood cousins, (and other local stray kids, who couldn’t afford to buy their own tickets) to go to watch their wrestling matches in their town, Truro, Nova Scotia . The wrestling promoters and the Wrestling Federation used to rent large local sports venues and community gyms and provide wrestling matches for entertainment for fans.

“Wrestling was a really big deal back in the days, (my nephew Doug says) “It was really friggin exciting for us all to see Black Professional Wrestlers”. Can you imagine? In those days?

“It gave us all such a sense of Pride to watch them, like ..these guys were becoming known all over the world! and they’re Downhome Boys… from right here!”

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

In this March newsletter I would also like to Shine a Little Light on my fabulous friend Lise Martin and let you celebrate her with me.

Lise was awarded the King Charles III medal for her lifetime of work on gender equality and gender-based violence.

She was nominated for the medal by Senator Paulette Senior.

i first met Lise when she was The Executive Director for The Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women. She was also the President of the Board of The Status of Women of Canada Council. I served with her as a board member for two years, and during that time, I had the privilege of learning so much about women’s issues, the Law, and strategic ways from to attain the planned Gender Equality initiatives and planned social policies to help women and families. Lise (and the other Board members of the Status of Women of Canada) were great mentors and role models.

The ceremony was in the Senate Chamber, which during the Centre Block renovations has moved to the old train station. It still has the look of Grand Central Station about it. The sculpture of the Famous Five women who fought for Canadian women to be considered "persons" was relocated from Parliament Hill to the outside of the Senate's current building.

Congratulations , Lise!

Well that’s all folks. Thank you again for welcoming me in your In Box. I appreciate you, and your comments and would welcome more comments.

See you at the end of April.

** Don’t forget you can order my print books from my Website at: addenasumterfreitag.com

One Love.

♥️