February is Black History Month, and student-athletes at Lethbridge Polytechnic are reflecting on the significance that holds to them.
Three Black members of the Kodiaks community all came to Lethbridge from different parts of the world but stand united in the importance of the month.
WAYNE BAULUCK
Wayne Bauluck is a first-year student-athlete in the Criminal Justice – Policing program. He competes in the 60 and 300-metre sprint events for the Kodiaks as well as on the relay team for indoor track. He was born in Mauritius, a small island off the coast of Madagascar. “We flew over here [to Canada] when my dad got a job offer,” he says.
“We lived in Humboldt [Saskatchewan] for close to a year, then Moose Jaw.”
Bauluck explains his homeland was a slave trading port, so to him, being an athlete, Black History Month represents “more than just myself”.
“It shows you can’t keep us down and we can be a lot more than what we were in the past.”
Bauluck is the first member of his family to compete in college sports. “I wanted to make my family proud,” he says, reflecting on his move to Lethbridge.
“It’s been everything and more than I expected with my teammates. I couldn’t ask for anything better, [and] I’ve made a lot of friends.”
As a member of the track team, there is a duo of speedy Black athletes that inspire Bauluck: Lewis Hamilton and Usain Bolt.
“Hamilton is the first black Formula 1 driver. He’s made his struggles known and in some ways I can somewhat relate to it. It’s nice having someone like that speak out for it. And Usain Bolt, obviously, with his achievements, I would like to get there someday. That’s the dream.”
Bauluck also draws inspiration from one of the most celebrated athletes of all-time: Muhammad Ali. “He was a pioneering athlete who showed the world.” He adds that various events held at Lethbridge Polytechnic throughout the month have been appreciated.
“The Black demographic in Moose Jaw isn’t as big as Lethbridge, it was much smaller, but for me and my family it was back home [in Mauritius] where they celebrated National Slave Abolition Day. It was big for us because it meant a lot of our history,” he says.
“Here [at Lethbridge Polytechnic], it’s a lot different, the events taking place here, the music, the food, it’s really celebrated here which is nice to see.”
TA’MERRA HART
Ta’merra Hart did not come to Lethbridge from across the world, but from a small-town in Alberta, that being Hanna. “I was adopted when I was a baby and we used to live in Utah and when I was three, we moved to Canada. That’s how I ended up in Hanna,” Hart explains.
Although there are not many Black people in Hanna, Hart says, “The people in Hanna are very nice and very accepting. I never felt like I didn’t belong.”
Originally, the second-year Multimedia Production student was set to move to YQL to begin her studies at the polytechnic in 2019, but those plans were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
After four years of working, she joined her sister in Lethbridge and started studying at the local post-secondary. Hart says she feels right at home in Lethbridge.
“There’s definitely a lot more Black representation here,” she remarks. “When I first moved here it was weird seeing a lot of other Black people because I wasn’t used to it. It’s nice to have some very interesting conversations with other people, so it’s been really good.”
Hart is a member of the Kodiaks indoor track team, competing in the 60, 200, and 300-metre sprints and relays.
“They do a very good job of celebrating Black History Month here,” she notes. “It’s not just like Black Lives Matter, they do everything. They try to make it more known and to educate new students. I kind of like that there’s a big diversity here and everyone fits in in their own way.”
Much like her fellow Kodiak Wayne Bauluck, Hart draws inspiration from Usain Bolt.
“I wanted to be like him when I was younger, but that’s easier said than done. There’s also Sha’Carri Richardson, a sprinter. I do look up to her a lot. She did struggle a lot at one time, and she came back up from that and she’s worked really hard.”
Hart adds that another leader she looks up to is the late Chadwick Boseman. The actor, known for his work in films like Black Panther and 42, passed away at the age of 43 in August 2020.
“I felt he was a leader through his acting, doing Black representation films. His earlier films had a really big impact on me. He helped people understand the raw emotions because it’s not always bright, there’s the dark parts, too, and he showed those in a realistic way,” she says.
“I like being straightforward and understanding the good and the bad. It’s history, we’re all humans and not everything is consistent and perfect and that’s what Chadwick showed.”
KOHLBE ANDERSON
Kohlbe Anderson hails from Claymont, Delaware.
He joined the Kodiaks men’s volleyball team after meeting assistant coach Matthew Primrose while playing the sport semi-professionally in Philadelphia.
“The city where I grew up is pretty diverse and predominantly Black. In school, Black History Month was always a big thing, you always learned about it, and it was always on TV,” he says.
“I don’t know about other states but in our state, it was pretty push-forward to learn about it, to educate people.” In addition to education people, Anderson says the month is “an important time to remember how far we’ve come as a people, looking at our origins and the trials and tribulations my ancestors had to go through, especially in America”.
The second-year Business Administration student has studied his ancestry over five generations in America and through that research, says he made an interesting discovery.
“I haven’t looked back to any African or Caribbean origins, but I do know I do have some Indigenous in me that goes back five generations, and it’s actually Blackfoot,” he notes.
“When I found out last year that this area was Blackfoot, that’s the only real part of my ancestry that I actually know about.”
The middle blocker says he has a soft spot for athletes who have broken barriers, including Jackie Robinson (who the previously mentioned Chadwick Boseman portrayed in42). Robinson was the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era.
“A lot of the first Black athletes I admire because they were put in a really hard situation where they had to dominate. They didn’t have any excuses, and they had to show up every day. You also had to have a thick skin as people were giving you trash talk and racist remarks. Jackie Robinson had to deal with it, the same as another great, Jesse Owens,” Anderson adds.
Jesse Owens was a track and field athlete who captured four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.
Outside of the world of athletics, Anderson says he is also inspired by leaders like Malcolm X.
“I admire Malcolm X and his teachings, his books and philosophies, as well as Nelson Mandela, of course, and more recently Barack Obama,” the student-athlete notes.
Anderson adds he is pleased with how Lethbridge Polytechnic has celebrated and recognized Black History Month.
“I’m very happy with the way they celebrate it here with the opportunities they offer. It’s like two sides of a coin where it’s good to celebrate how far we’ve come but it’s also good to know there’s more to learn.”
A schedule of Black History Month events at Lethbridge Polytechnic is available at the post-secondary’s website.
Further information about how the month is recognized across Canada is available at the federal government website.
