No Earl Grey will be wasted nor will shirts be stained in this new online initiative that wants to “spill the tea.”
The expression means “to gossip” or “spill the truth” but The Black Collective Media is using it to open conversations about P.E.I.’s Black community in its weekly web series T is for Té.
The series will launch new episodes every Saturday this month at 6 p.m. AT on Instagram.
“We’re going to talk about Black queer folks, we’re going to talk about Black History Month,” Bianca Ureña, co-founder of The Black Collective Media and co-host of T is for Té, told CBC Mainstreet P.E.I. host Matt Rainnie.
“We’re going to talk about our power, resilience… other projects people have in the community.”
Ureña, her series co-host Claire Byrne and producer Elisha Baptiste all speak Spanish, so it was natural for them to green light the word “té” which means tea.
A team effort
The Black Collective Media launched its magazine The Block in February last year for Black History Month.
Shortly after, Ureña wanted to expand to making videos because she loves podcasts, radio and the feeling of talking with your friends casually.
What was borne of that idea was the web series, but she owes part of the brainstorming process to Baptiste who helped her chip away at it.
The Black Collective Media gathered a team for the series and began working on it in December, then spent last month filming.
“I’m just so proud, and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in the next few years,” Ureña said.
Black pride
Ureña said it’s important to have organizations to advocate for the Black community on the Island.
She moved from the Dominican Republic to attend Holland College for school.
The struggle she faced when she first arrived on the Island made her wish she started advocating for the Black community sooner.
“I just want to pump up our voices for the Black community and the BIPOC community,” Ureña said.
“I want people to know that we are amazing, that we are here and that we are so much more than what people think.”
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
