Canton Anti-Racism Alliance Continues Community Efforts

The Canton Anti-Racism Alliance is a coalition of volunteers dedicated to affecting long-term, impactful changes to foster a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and welcoming community. The Alliance may be most known for its successful effort to remove the statue of Captain John O’Donnell, an enslaver, from O’Donnell Square Park in 2021, however, their efforts did not stop there. Here’s an update on their goals and accomplishments.

2021 Accomplishments
- Gathered like-minded community volunteers dedicated to affecting long-term, impactful changes to foster a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and welcoming community
- Led efforts to remove the statue of Captain John O’Donnell from O’Donnell Square Park (removal April 5, 2021)
- Formed an Alliance Outreach Committee
- Co-hosted A Conversation with Dr. Lawrence Brown, author of The Black Butterfly: The harmful politics for race and space in America
- Co-hosted Frederick Douglass Historic Panel Unveiling on Juneteenth, which included a presentation from a Hampstead Hill Academy student

2022 Accomplishments
- Continued to gather community volunteers dedicated to affecting impactful changes in our community
- Co-hosted A Conversation with Dr. Stanley Andrisse, author of From Prison Cells to PhD.
- Co-hosted Voices of a Black Butterfly film screening at Church on the Square (COTS) with Baltimore National Heritage Area (BNHA)
- Researched and revised the Canton History timeline (led by John Preston Ford) to reflect the role of Indigenous people and people of African descent more accurately in the story of our neighborhood's development
- Began efforts to review the process of how to rename O’Donnell Square Park, removing the name of an enslaver
- Formed an ad hoc subcommittee to create guidelines for addressing racially motivated actions in our community

2023 Goals
- Facilitate more “Conversations With” to provide expert-led educational virtual forums
- Spotlight legislature that supports anti-racism, equity, and equality
- Frame the proposed process for renaming O’Donnell Square Park and make it accessible to Canton residents
- Continue outreach to engage new members and the community
- Create new subcommittees to address specific initiatives
- Complete incident response guidelines and share them with the CCA
- Compile a community resource list
- Engage our youth and students who are interested in assisting with a possible Juneteenth event

The Canton Anti-Racism Alliance aims to host a virtual meeting on the 4th Tuesday of every month. As the group is volunteer run sometimes the schedule changes, but the work continues behind the scenes. To join the Alliance or to learn more about their efforts and initiatives, please email President@CantonCommunity.org. All are invited!