Black United Front also known as The Black United Front of Nova Scotia or simply BUF was a Black nationalist

Black nationalism

Black nationalism advocates a racial definition of indigenous national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles of all African nationalist ideologies are unity, and self-determination or independence from European society...

 organization primarily based in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the Civil Rights era. The organization was founded by Burnley "Rocky" Jones

Burnley "Rocky" Jones

Burnley Allan "Rocky" Jones is an internationally known political activist in the areas of human rights, race and poverty. He rose to prominence first as a member of the Students Union for Peace Action during the 1960s and later as a successful lawyer.-Family:Born to Elmer and Willena Jones in...

 in 1965 loosely based on the 10 point program of the Black Panther Party

Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....

. In 1968, Stokely Carmichael

Stokely Carmichael

Kwame Ture , also known as Stokely Carmichael, was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party...

, popular for coining the phrase Black Power!, visited Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

 helping organize the BUF. The organization remained in operation until at least 1985, remaining in the spotlight of local and national news, fading away in the late-1980's.

The Black United Front did a lot to benefit the Black Nova Scotian

Black Nova Scotians

Black Nova Scotians are people of Black African descent whose ancestors fled Colonial America as slaves or freemen to settle in Nova Scotia, Canada during the 18th and 19th centuries. According to the 2006 Census of Canada, there are 19,230 black people currently living in Nova Scotia, most of whom...

 community. The organization held
discussions about employment, housing and educational opportunities. The group also formed its own community police force to keep hard drugs out of Halifax communities, prevent police brutality

Police brutality

Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....

 in communities of color, and built a park for young children called the Tot-Lot. Additionally, they provided legal aid

Legal aid

Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people otherwise unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial.A number of...

 in the forms of free legal advise and discounted, even sometimes free legal service to the Black community. The Black United Front reportedly "Shook up whites in Canada".

• Yvonne Atwell
  Yvonne Atwell
  Yvonne Atwell is a Canadian provincial politician.She spent 20 years as an administrator at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, and returned to Nova Scotia in 1984....
  
   was once a member of the BUF, and for many years served as president of the Black United Front.

The Ten Point Program

The Ten Point Program was as follows:

1. We want freedom. We want to be able to control the destiny of Black and oppressed communities.



2. We want full employment for our people.



3. We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists, of our black and oppressed communities.



4. We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.



5. We want decent education for all people and an education that teaches us our true history and role in present society.



6. We want our community to be healthy and for them use to their advantage, the free health care in this nation.



7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people, other people of color, and all oppressed people in this nation.



8. We want an immediate end to all wars.



9. We want adequate rights for all Black and oppressed people held in federal, provincial, county, municipal prisons and jails.



10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.

See also

• Black Panther Party
  Black Panther Party
  The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
  
  
• Poor Boy's Game
  Poor Boy's Game
  Poor Boy's Game is a Canadian feature film directed by Clement Virgo. Co-written with Nova Scotian writer/director Chaz Thorne , it is the story of class struggle, racial tensions and boxing, set in the Canadian east coast port city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The film premiered on February 11, 2007,...
  
  
• Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia
  Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia
  Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia is a 1992 documentary film by Sylvia Hamilton, focusing on a group of Black Nova Scotian students in a predominantly white high school in Halifax, Nova Scotia who face daily reminders of racism...
  
  
• Malcolm X
  Malcolm X
  Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
  
  
• Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia
  Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia
  The Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia is located in Cherrybrook, Nova Scotia near Halifax. The Centre serves as a museum and a library resource center for the African Nova Scotian community and the Black Canadian community as a whole. The organization of the Black Cultural Society was...