Author: racematters

November 2023: Raceing gender engendering race: Collective struggles and the “fierce urgency of now”

“Encounters between dominant and subordinate groups cannot be ‘managed’ simply as pedagogical moments requiring cultural, racial, or gender sensitivity. Without an understanding of how responses to subordinate groups are socially organized to sustain existing power arrangements, we cannot hope either to communicate across social hierarchies or to work to eliminate them.”

Sherene H. Razack (1998, p. 8). Looking white people in the eye: Gender, race, and culture in courtrooms and classrooms. University of Toronto Press.

Marcia

Last year I read the United Nations Human Development Report with concern as it documents a decline in the global Human Development Index for the second year. Trends in increasing and intensifying polarization that I thought maybe I was just seeing in the work I do were reported as part of a global phenomenon in increasing uncertainty. Democratic backsliding was identified, which raises concerns about the erosion of human rights for structurally oppressed populations. As described below we’ve seen this evidence very close to home – and in my role I always have to question how this will impact members of our Faculty community and the communities we serve? As the quote below says – this is a time for vigorous and positive action.

Delia

August 28, 1963. At the March on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “we are confronted with the fierce urgency of now,” adding “[t]his is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”

November 2023. 60 years on…Dr. King’s statements remain true.

This past May some residents in the Southern Central Region of Manitoba attempted to defund the library and have sexual education books designed for children removed from their library system.

In June a 24-year-old former University of Waterloo student entered a gender studies class stabbing two students and an instructor. According to police this was a planned and targeted hate motivated attack linked to gender identity and expression. The accused also damaged a pride flag.

In June and August provincial governments in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan have moved to require parental consent before students under 16 can have schools use their preferred pronouns and name. In October the Premier of Saskatchewan invoked the notwithstanding clause to ensure that his policy, Bill 137 passed. Parental consent is now required before a child under the age of 16 can use a different gender related name or pronoun at school.

Here in Winnipeg, in June protests occurred during the Louis Riel School Division’s school trustee meeting where antagonistic behaviour, along with homophobic, transphobic, and racist remarks were directed towards staff and families. The police were called in and the meeting ended early. In response the Louis Riel School division moved its September Board meeting online due to ongoing tensions and hostility regarding members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

This past September (20th and 24th) was followed by two protests and counter protests that took place at the Manitoba Legislature regarding the teaching of sexual and gender diversity and related policies in public schools.

While safety is a varying condition, at school and in the workplace, using the name a person wants to be called is not only respectful, it is an affirmation of that individual’s personhood. It is an affirmation of their humanity.

Furthermore, affirming the gender identity of queer, non-binary, and trans folx is linked to lower rates of suicide attempts.

“This is no time for apathy or complacency.”

Gender Diversity

In April 2022 Statistics Canada began disseminating census data on the gender diversity of the population. Here are some of the findings:

  • One in 300 people in Canada aged 15 and older are transgender or non-binary.
  • In May 2021, there were 59,460 people in Canada aged 15 and older living in a private household who were transgender (0.19%) and 41,355 who were non-binary (0.14%).
  • Close to two-thirds (62.0%) of the 100,815 individuals who were transgender or non-binary were younger than 35.

Beyond the Binary

Sexuality, gender diversity, gender identity, and expression. What’s race got to do with it?

While the Stats Can information on gender diversity begins to address a notable data gap, it does not tell us about their racial and/or ethnic identity. Queer, transgender, and non-binary folx are not a homogenous group. Our multiple identities influence our access to different levels of power. There are those who have a measure of protection or more privilege within marginalized groups.

To put it simply – we are not equally vulnerable – our vulnerabilities, and consequently our harms, are not the same. It is therefore imperative that we make visible and acknowledge those who are “the margins of marginalization” (Lindsey, 2015, p. 237).

Racism(s) and white supremacy expose Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples to more danger and greater risk of discrimination. 

Representation matters. This has implications for how we respond to and organize for social justice.

It is imperative that we make visible and affirm the experiences, interests, and needs of Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority 2SLGBTQQIA+ folx.

Racism, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and settler colonialism are local/regional inter/national problems. We cannot eradicate inequality and injustice unless we recognize the interconnectedness of systems of domination and challenge the divisiveness of hierarchies of oppression.

We are undeniably living in challenging times as local and intern/national policies and practices become more ruthless, intensifying existing inequalities.

We must broaden, complicate, and connect our discussions and activism regarding gender, race, and sexuality so that we are better able to respond to the varied interpersonal and systemic violences that shape where we live now.

“This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”

Resources

Cacho, Lisa. M. (2012). Social death: Racialized rightlessness and the criminalization of the unprotected. New York, NY: New York University Press.

Lindsey, Treva B. (2015). Post-Ferguson: A “herstorical” approach to Black violability. Feminist Studies, 41(1), 232-237.

Statistics Canada. (April 2022). Filling the gaps: Information on gender in the 2021 census. Available at: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/ref/98-20-0001/982000012021001-eng.cfm.

Travers. (2019). The trans generation: How trans kids (and their parents) are creating a gender revolution. New York, NY: New York University Press.

United Nations Development Program. (2022). Uncertain times, unsettled lives. Available at: https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2021-22.

October 2023: Racial mythologies, racial realities, and the damage done

“Unlike the United States, where there is at least an admission of the fact that racism exists and has a history, in this country one is faced with a stupefying innocence.”

Dionne Brand, 1998, p. 191. Bread out of stone. Toronto, ON: Vintage.

Marcia

The academic year of 2023-24 is going to be a year where we focus on supporting anti-racist change in the day-to-day environments that our Faculty community is learning and working in. Over the past few years (and building on decades of work before), we’ve passed a policy, learned some lessons through early implementation of it, and developed many supportive tools and resources. The Office of Anti-Racism continues to work on additional educational resources, but policies and education aren’t enough until they begin to result in different actions in our work and learning environments. Our focus this year is to help bridge that gap by working with leaders and by challenging some of the narratives or discourses that get in the way.

The work of anti-racism requires active UNLEARNING- a willingness to take in new information and let go of mythologies that we previously thought were true. Many of us were taught to think of Canada as a racial utopia- the destination of the Underground Railroad, after all. Few of us were taught about our own history of enslavement of African Peoples or of the anti-Indigenous racist narratives that underlined the first Prime Minister’s approach to Indian policy, including but not limited to his decisions regarding residential schools.

This month’s blog will help us understand why we have a hard time even seeing racism and why we often choose to only see intentions, but not the impacts of racism- but in the seeing is the possibility of change.

Delia

This month we consider racial mythologies to point out how these commonly held beliefs and practices work to distort and undermine the systemic and everyday nature of racial inequality.

Racism in Canada: The evidence of things not seen

The poignant title of Baldwin’s (1985) book, The evidence of things not seen, captures the essence of racism in Canada: that racism is not seen – or is more often denied. The refusal to believe that there is a connection between violence and prejudice is one of the consequences of narratives of a nation that continue to erase our heritage of dispossession, genocide of Indigenous peoples, the Residential School System, enslavement, the internment of the Japanese, the indentured labour of the Chinese, and racist immigration policies such as the Continuous Journey legislation, and the Domestic Scheme.

It bears repeating: We inherit that which has come before.

We’re not Racist, We’re Multicultural

“Things are not as bad as in the U.S.”

Our proximity to the United States and the attendant privileging of U.S. racial discourses, combined with its acknowledgement of its history of racial violence, supports Canadian narratives of racial guiltlessness/innocence. This has contributed to the belief that Canada’s national identity is one of racial virtue. In addition, promotion of multiculturalism and the fact of Canada’s diverse population convey generosity and goodwill. This thwarts recognition, making it practically impossible for many to acknowledge the existence of racism, or consider even the probability of racism and structured racial inequality.

It’s a thin line between tolerance and hate

I have long been wary of the eagerness to invoke the term tolerance when talking of racial relations in Canada. Does tolerance mean that we accept domination, or that we abhor it? (And who is tolerating whom here?) Who determines who/what should/should not be tolerated. I recall my father (a professor of sociology) saying that tolerance is not acceptance of difference. And therein lies the rub. We may very well be a tolerant nation, but this is hardly an admirable quality in and of itself because it does not indicate an unconditional embrace of difference; rather it suggests disingenuousness on the part of the dominant. On those rare occasions where racism is acknowledged, it is typically understood as hidden, understated, or an aberration (i.e., less harmful). We have embraced a very limited and limiting understanding of the nature and experience of racial oppression; we are virtually incapable of seeing that which stands before us.

Tolerance is a form of everyday violence.

Ways of (not) seeing

No doubt you have heard people say: “I don’t see colour, I only see people.” Growing up I was told “I don’t think of you as Black.” How does that work exactly? Or more to the point – Why?

Here is the thing – the performance of noticing, but not taking race into account is a fiction. This claim to colourblindness, or what CRT scholar Neil Gotanda refers to as “non recognition,” is not possible. In his words, “It is impossible to not think about a subject without having first thought about it at least a little.” He adds, “an individual’s assertion that [s/he/they] ‘saw but did not consider race,’ can be interpreted as a recognition of race and its attendant social implications, followed by suppression of that recognition. In other words, although non-recognition is literally impossible, colorblindness requires people to act as though it is” (as cited in Crenshaw, 1997, p. 101). In other words, colourblindness involves a particular construction of race rather than the elimination of racial difference and racial inequality.

“That was not my intent”

I want to revisit the attack on the young Black Muslim woman in the Olive Garden restaurant in Transcona earlier this year (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-olive-garden-stabbing-guilty-plea-sentencing-1.6958928). During the sentencing hearing the perpetrator apologized to the young woman, and repeated that his attack was not a hate crime.

The perpetrator and the police have stated that hate was not the motivation for the attack.

Is that it then?

Whose views count?

At the sentencing hearing, the young Somali Muslim woman provided a victim impact statement, recounting her emotional and physical struggles.

She described how she used to be active, but she now struggles to walk up stairs since she suffered a collapsed lung as a result of the stabbing, and she has difficulty holding up her head at times, because the muscles in her neck that were cut are still weak. She also described being “awake at 3 a.m. in the morning, clutching a kitchen knife under [her] pillow in the sweltering heat because [she] couldn’t bring myself to close the window for fear that [he] had somehow escaped and was waiting for the moment [she] might go down.”

“I can’t do anything except wonder why my life was so minuscule to you.”

Racism is about impact not intention.

The understanding of racism has to privilege those impacted by it, not the intentions of the actors of it.

Part of taking racism seriously involves shifting our focus from intent to impact. Why? – because the harm occurs whether or not the offender is cognizant of their intentions, and attitudes. This distinction is crucial because it decentres the feelings/claims of the perpetrators and acknowledges the experiential knowledge of the targets of racism(s).

The young Somali Muslim woman understood and experienced her attack as an expression of anti-Black gendered Islamophobia.

The notion that the targets of racism are not able to discern a situation of violence – of anti-Black gendered Islamophobia – means that the violence persists. That is how everyday racism(s) continue. The denial/the claim of knowing when and where racism enters, to impose a definition of reality where racism does/does not exist is the normalization of racism.

How many times have we heard people apologize and say that was not their intent? These are narratives of refusal. These are narratives that are integral to maintaining hierarchies of worth – hierarchies of humanness.

Until we prioritize the targets of violence we will protect and sustain an atmosphere, a social world, without accountability – a world where racism does not happen, except acts committed by mal-intended individuals. We will continue to engage in racial gaslighting – undermining, ignoring, and denying the experiences of those who are the targets of violence without remembering – their voices matter, their lives matter.

Nice/Good people aren’t/can’t be racist

I am sure you have heard people assert that a) they/a friend/colleague, etc. is not a racist/could not possibly be racist, because they are good/nice/educated/kind/well intentioned. According to this claim, they could not be racist, because racism consists of intentional explicit acts of hatred directed against someone because of their perceived racial gender sexual identity. This narrative is focused on the goodness or badness of a person and returns us to the idea that racism is an individual act that is the result of willful intent. So, if a person doesn’t set out to make racist statements or acts, then they are not racist, and racism did not happen. Nothing to see here. I would call this response an escape strategy. This claim is significant because we are taught to see how racism puts people at a disadvantage but, not how it simultaneously advantages others.

Racism is about impact not intention.

Making a claim that one is not a racist, is not the same as being an anti-racist. Anti-racism refers to ways of being and thinking that work to disrupt/challenge/eliminate the structural arrangements/policies/social relations/attitudes/practices that promote and/or sustain racial inequality. Anti-racism involves the commitment to eliminate all forms of racism as well as the discrimination, injustice(s), inequalities, and harms that are the result of racism(s). It refers to the active process of acting to challenge not only one’s own biases and prejudices, but to engage in the work of actively dismantling racism(s) as part of a system of oppression.

Moments of danger moments of possibility

Behind claims of a successful multiculturalism lies a much harsher racial reality. We are undeniably living in challenging times as local and global practices become more ruthless, intensifying existing inequalities.

Racism(s) may look different in Canada, but it is still racism. Seeing this, seeing these racisms, is where the possibility of change enters.

Resources

Baldwin, James. (1985). The evidence of things not seen. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.

Crenshaw, Kimberlé. (1997). Color-blind dreams and racial nightmares: Reconfiguring racism in the post-civil rights era. In T. Morrison & C. B. Lacour (Eds.), Birth of a nation‘hood: Gaze, script, and spectacle in the O. J. Simpson case (pp. 97-168). New York, NY: Pantheon Books.

Essed, Philomena. (2002). Everyday racism: A new approach to the study of racism. In P. Essed, & D.T. Goldberg (Eds.),Race critical theories: Text and context (pp. 176-194). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

McKendrick. D. (September 7, 2023). ‘I have been struggling’: Victim of Olive Garden stabbing shares horrors of attack, man sentenced. Winnipeg CTV News. Available at https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/i-have-been-struggling-victim-of-winnipeg-olive-garden-stabbing-shares-horrors-of-incident-man-sentenced-1.6552108.

September 2023: Racial equity matters

“How excellent can a department/faculty/university be if its curriculum disseminates to students only a very minuscule, highly-selected, self-perpetuating, gender [in addition to race, sexuality, and disability]-biased representation of our collective knowledge about human beings and the world in which we live?”

(Sheinin, 1998, 103)

Marcia

I’d been following the US Supreme Court case on race-conscious admissions in colleges and universities because of concern about potential impacts here, and in particular on the universities that have specific pathways under development or in place for Indigenous and Black learners. These pathways seek to mitigate the impacts of colonization and racism that have created inequitable access to the opportunity to enter health professional education, that is, to lessen disadvantage. Thankfully there have been more people who support the further refinement and advancement of these pathways than those who don’t, but there are those who question it, who get together and write op-eds about how diversity is weakening medical education.

So when the Supreme Courts said the use of race-conscious admission practices was unconstitutional and had to end, I was concerned that this might give strength to those who oppose these equity-focused pathways. However, the American Medical Association made a strong statement around how the ruling has the potential to undermine important progress towards equity in admissions and ultimately equitable health care:

“Recently established AMA policy reinforces our stance that medical schools must continue to make progress toward enrolling talented and highly qualified medical students in racial and ethnic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in medicine. Eliminating health inequity requires more commitment to, investment in and support for Black, Latinx and Native American and Indigenous communities, and LGBTQ+ people. Yet, today’s ruling undermines policy that was producing positive results and improving the health of our patients, as well as making all physicians better practitioners. This ruling is bad for health care, bad for medicine, and undermines the health of our nation.”

This is one situation where we need to continue the path we are on, recognizing the evidence base that supports this as necessary for eliminating racial health inequities.

Delia

The recent US Supreme Court ruling on Affirmative Action and race informed admissions offers an important point of entry for a conversation about equity in Canadian universities…

On the matter of equity – what’s race got to do with it?
            In a word…. Everything…

We have over 30 years of evidence of the limited impact of federally legislated employment equity policies in Canadian post-secondary institutions. Out of the 4 groups identified by the government – Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, racialized minorities, and women – the greatest change occurred in the area of gender equity, with white abled women benefitting the most, resulting in the diversification of white folx, with little substantive structural change….

In addition, while Canadian universities make public statements and policies asserting their commitment to “equity, diversity, and inclusion,” they are governed by a leadership that remains predominantly white at all levels of administration, including deans, university chairs, and executive leadership.[1]

[1]https://www.thediversitygapcanada.com/diversity-gap-in-university-leadership.html

The gap between the academy and the community is increasing as the homogeneity of faculty stands in stark contrast to the ever-increasing diversity of the student bodies at these institutions and the changing composition of Canadian society.

Indigenous and racialized minorities constitute the youngest and fastest growing members of the population – they will soon comprise the racial majority in several of Canada’s major cities in the coming years. Yet, these young people will rarely, if ever, encounter faculty who are not white. Rather, they will continue to encounter universities across the nation that reproduce, rather than interrupt and transform, the exclusionary cultures of whiteness and racism that shape their experiences in so many ways.

Amid the nation’s increasing diversity, the predominance of whites in the academy simultaneously confirms white supremacy by reinforcing the belief that those who are there are effectively the top candidates for the job. Consequently, whites are readily understood as authorities, and they unquestionably believe themselves to be best suited for their respective professions. These patterned exclusions are significant precisely because it is white scholars and administrators who continue to make decisions about the relevance of race and the (in)significance of racism. As Queen’s university distinguished professor Dr. Audrey Kobayashi (2007) summarizes, the culture of whiteness is reflected in “the overwhelming power of white academicians which keeps the status quo in place in terms of the content and the standards of the university, in terms of research, in terms of who has access to positions.”

The underrepresentation of Indigenous, Black, and racialized minority faculty in Canadian universities has also placed an added weight of expectations, responsibilities, and burdens associated with addressing issues related to racial diversity and racial inequality. These forms of identity taxation, or racialized equity labour work, have become more onerous and more urgent owing to the perilous conditions borne of the pandemics of COVID 19 and systemic racism both in and outside of the academy.

Real talk: race consciousness has always a part of the organizational culture, institutional arrangements, and practices of Canadian universities…and beyond…

Predominantly white environments are racially structured environments – the assumption that race consciousness only enters the conversation when talking about Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority folx is one that renders whiteness the unmarked norm, the default category. We are all racialized – to only speak of so called ‘non-White’ people as raced ensures that racial hierarchies remain intact…

Nothing can be changed unless it is acknowledged…

We live in a present shaped by dispossession, genocide, enslavement, and settler colonialism…

Race is present whether or not it is named…

Achieving racial equity involves more than increasing racial diversity for appearances around the table, or in the pictures. Just as the fact of a racially diverse country does not signal the absence of racism, the presence of one or two Indigenous, Black, and/or racialized minority faculty or senior leaders does not signal racial equity, since it tells us nothing about Who we actually are, or how things are really being done.

Racial equity is about shifting the landscape and narrowing the gap between the community and the university. It is about disrupting and dismantling the university’s practice of white exclusivity and racial segregation that continues in plain sight, hidden behind the ostensibly objective criteria of “excellence,” “competence,” “best fit,” and “best qualified.” Racial equity is about shifting a pattern aptly identified by Dr. Malinda S. Smith, political scientist and the University of Calgary’s inaugural Vice Provost of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, as “the social injustice of sameness.”

And for those who are thinking that employing racial equity will result in the university being full of unqualified faculty who come from racially underrepresented groups, the facts say otherwise. PhDs who are Indigenous, Black, or racialized minorities continue to have high unemployment rates in general. The data demonstrates that they have the qualifications, but they are un(der)employed.

…Racial equity matters…

Curricula reflect departmental cultures through allocation of teaching and research assistantships, the selection of courses. Curricula also socializes students to dominant social norms, values and ways of thinking and being. Consider that claims about “neutral” and “evidence-based health or medicine” do not take in to account how different skin disorders will present differently owing to an individual’s skin tone. A singular approach to health and well-being not only excludes, it enacts harm, sometimes with fatal consequences. Consequently, the absence of some subjects denies the existence of certain groups and/or gives the impression that one’s experience and history is not worthy of study.

The predominance of white faculty also means that there are few opportunities to provide Indigenous, Black, and racialized minority students with mentors, role models, and advisors.

What’s more, when these students do not see themselves reflected – and respected – in the curriculum they study or the professors they encounter, these exclusions reinforce notions of the inherent superiority of whites and the attendant inferiority of Indigenous, Black, and racialized minorities folx in ways that have psychological, embodied, symbolic, and material ramifications. Simply stated, the cultural identities of white students are affirmed at the same time as the cultural identities of Indigenous, Black and racialized minority students are marginalized, distorted, or rendered invisible.

I am mindful that the link between embodiment and knowledge production is neither simple or straightforward, but the lack of urgency over three decades demands that we consider the meaning and significance of the absence of certain bodies and the related absence of certain bodies of knowledge, since it is principally white scholars and administrators who make decisions about whether race matters, how it matters, and, in turn, if it matters at all.

Excellence flourishes in an environment that embraces the broadest range of people and reflects local communities. If we want racial equity, we must address racism.

As Archbishop Desmond Tutu stated: “If you are neutral in situations of

injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

I leave you with the question: Whose side are you on?

Resources:

Ahmed, Sara. (2012). On being included: Racism and diversity in institutional life. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Bowden, Olivia. (2020 September 10). CBC. Canadian university students use Instagram to reveal racism on campuses. Available at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-universities-racism-instagram-1.5716603.

Bray, Nancy. (2016). The diversity gap in university leadership. Academic Women’s Association, University of Alberta. Available at https://uofaawa.wordpress.com/awa-diversity-gap-campaign/the-diversity-gap-in-university-leadership/.

Canadian Association of University Teachers. (CAUT). (2018, April). Underrepresented and underpaid: Diversity & equity among Canada’s post-secondary education teachers. Ottawa, ON: CAUT. Available at https://www.caut.ca/sites/default/files/caut_equity_report_2018-04final.pdf.

Douglas, D. D. (2021). Access denied: Safe/guarding the university as white property. In S. Thobani (Ed.), Racial (In)Justice in the academy. Toronto, ON: Toronto University Press.

Gutiérrez y Muhs, G., Flores Niemann, Yolanda, González, Carmen G., & Harris, Angela P.  (2012). Presumed incompetent: The intersections of race and class for women in academia. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.

Hyslop, Katie. (2021, March 26). Canadian universities have a racism problem. The Tyee. Available at https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/03/26/Canadian-Universities-Racism-Problem/.

Khosla, Risha. (2021, October 1). The entrenched racism in Canadian universities. Spheres of Influence. Available at https://spheresofinfluence.ca/the-entrenched-racism-in-canadian-universities/.

Kobayashi, Audrey. (2007). “Making the visible count: Difference and embodied knowledge in the academy.” Paper presented at the annual meeting for the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, May 26-June 2.

Seatter, Erin. (2016, December 13). Canadian universities failing at diversity: Study. Ricochetmedia.com. Available at https://ricochet.media/en/1588/canadian-universities-failing-at-diversity-study.

Tomlinson, Asha, Mayor, Lisa, & Baksh, Nazim. (2021, February 24). Being Black on campus: Why students, staff and faculty say universities are failing them. CBC. Available at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/anti-black-racism-campus-university-1.5924548.

August 2023: Unspeakable: The violence(s) of disavowal

“…how people get mad, how that escalation from prejudice, to hate, to violence occurs, what and who is hated, and how it is expressed, is not unrelated to the world around us.”

Ursula Franklin, 1991, p. 9. 

Delia

Where we live now: Racial realities

On June 9 2023, we learned of that a young female employee at the Olive Garden restaurant in Transcona, MB was stabbed multiple times by a customer – a young white male. The Winnipeg police subsequently described the attack as “random” and “unprovoked.” Police Chief Danny Smyth later stated that the use of the word random was meant to indicate that the perpetrator did not know his target.

The attack was not random for the victim.

Far from it.

6 weeks later we learned the identity of the target of the attack – an 18 year-old Black Muslim woman – she was wearing an hijab. We learned of her identity because members of the Muslim community challenged police claims of the random nature of the attack. They called for an investigation into the stabbing – they wanted to know why it had not been identified as a hate crime, and why the perpetrator was charged with aggravated assault, and not attempted murder.

According to Police Chief Smyth, “There is no evidence that supports it being motivated by a hate crime…. That being said, this is a very serious crime, the individual was charged with aggravated assault, which is a very serious charge. People go to jail for that kind of thing.”

The charges were laid prior to the victim issuing a statement.

No evidence to support the motivation of hate….

So, what would evidence of a hate crime look like?

Correspondingly what exactly counts as evidence? And…Who is qualified to make that determination?

The victim, a young Somali woman, does not wish to be identified.  

When she was able to speak, she explained that she was the only racialized minority person in the restaurant, and the only person wearing an hijab. She described how the perpetrator watched her for 30 minutes before the attack. In her words: “He didn’t go on a random stabbing spree. He went straight for me. I know I could have died.”

She understood and experienced her attack as an expression of anti-Black gendered Islamophobia.

A Black Muslim woman, in defense of herself.

It takes courage to speak publicly about experiences of violence. It is another form of trauma.

Intentional erasures and purposeful interventions

Whose view counts?

Naming is a mechanism of control.

If it isn’t named, then it doesn’t exist…it is not in the realm of possibility.

This is where the guiding principles of Critical Race Theory (CRT) are indispensable. To recap, CRT is a framework that recognizes that racism is pervasive and not an aberration. It is a lens that recognizes that the violence is already here.

In a Canadian context CRT allows us to critically assess how the historical construction of Canada as a white settler colonial society has been, and continues to be, protected and sustained. CRT recognizes that current inequalities, institutional arrangements, and practices are tied to past and present systems of racial exclusion, hostility, and violence such as dispossession, genocide, enslavement, settler colonial projects, and immigration laws. It is a lens that sees link between racism(s) and mass incarceration, housing education, health, and income inequalities.

CRT is a framework whose guiding principles are integrative, recognizing that other forms of inequality intersect and animate each other. It positions the elimination of racial oppression as part of the broader project of eliminating all manifestations of oppression.

And crucially, CRT recognizes the experiential knowledge of Indigenous, Black, and racialized minority peoples and communities.

When and where race enters conversations of justice matters.

Efforts to deny, obscure downplay the relevance of race are productive; they facilitate the conditions which preclude the likelihood/probability of racism, as well as the contemplation of the existence of racism, in Canada’s multicultural, multiracial society.

Racism is (re)produced through silence, invisibility, and exclusion, as well as through covert, entrenched, and cumulative actions.

Disavowal is violence.

Nothing can be changed unless it is acknowledged…

Indeed. The very definition of racism remains a site of struggle. As Dr. Wahneema Lubiano (1997) asserts, “central to the existence of racism, is the politics of its denial” (p. viii).

The ‘disappearing’ of racism is an all too familiar tactic. Racism persists alongside its denial…

And so it goes…. Anything. But. Racism.

The rejection of racism – of anti-Black gendered Islamophobia – to be precise, is significant because it obscures the unmarked white Western settler colonial arrangements, relationships, and practices that pervade all of our systems, while simultaneously reinforcing the national narrative that manifestations of racism in Canada are unusual. These disavowals do not exist in isolation, they are part of social relations, organizational cultures and institutional structures that work to maintain the status quo of inequality and the normalization of racism.

How we respond to violence has an impact on an individual’s health and well-being.

…the “escalation from prejudice, to hate, to violence” – “who is hated and how it is expressed” is inextricably linked to the legacies of violence to legacies which shape where we live now…. (Franklin).

Racial matters

As long as the reality and character of racism(s) are defined by the dominant, members of Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority communities will continue to suffer trauma and harm in a host of ways, some of which will include death.

Anti-racism work involves the active process of acting to challenge not only one’s own biases and prejudices, this work also involves the dismantling of the policies/social relations/attitudes/practices that promote and/or sustain racial inequality and racial oppression.

Bold solidarity and courageous collaboration are acts of radical resistance –creating spaces that recognize the humanity, diversity, and complexity of Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority folx.

Listen to the targets of violence…

As bell hooks (1996) reminds us: “The oppressed struggle in language to recover ourselves, to reconcile, to reunite, to renew. Our words are not without meaning, they are an action, a resistance” (p. 146).

We need language that is expansive, disruptive, and ultimately transformative.

Bigotry and hate crimes directed against Muslims are on the rise in Canada.

Recall…Quebec City, London, Ontario, Edmonton, AB, …Winnipeg, MB….

Anti-Black gendered Islamophobia.

See her.

Hear her.

Believe her.

Resources:

Bernhardt, Darren. (18, July 2023). Muslim community suggests Olive Garden attack on Black woman motivated by hate. CBC News.

Canadian Council of Muslim Women.

Douglas, Delia. D. (2020). Un/Covering white lies: Exposing racism in the era of racelessness. Journal of Critical Race Inquiry, 7(2), 22-45.

Essed, Philomena. (2002). Everyday racism. In D. T. Goldberg & J. Solomos (Eds.), A companion to racial and ethnic studies (pp. 202-216). London, UK: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Franklin, Ursula. (1991). Commemoration for the Montreal massacre victims. Canadian Woman Studies, 11(4), 9.

Greenslade, Brittany. (9, June 2023). Olive Garden employee repeatedly stabbed in ‘unprovoked and random’ attack at restaurant: Police. CBC News.

hooks, bell. (1990). Yearning: Race, gender, and cultural politics. Toronto, ON: Between the Lines.

Lubiano, Wahneema. (Ed.). Introduction. The house that race built (pp. vii- ix). New York, NY: Pantheon Books.

Thompson, Sam. (18, July 2023). Winnipeg’s Muslim community calls for investigation into Olive Garden stabbing of hijabi woman. Global News.

July Blog: Part 2: Identifying grammars of resistance and refusal on the ground

Delia

The Politics of Language

Thinking about language as a site of struggle provides new sets of questions and invites new way of thinking, speaking, and disrupting racism(s). 

Case in point, we need to be attentive to the fact that anti-Black racism is not one thing.

Following the murder of Mr. George Floyd in May 2020, attacks on Black and racialized minority Muslim women in Canada increased. Identifying these attacks solely as incidents of Islamophobia does not capture the specific vulnerabilities, stereotypes, and harms different Muslim women face. The violence that these women experienced is emblematic of anti-Black gendered Islamophobia. We need to employ language that recognizes the specificity of Black and racialized minority Muslim women’s experiences as this provides clarity and furthers our ability to understand and respond to their needs. To do otherwise is to dehumanize the very targets of racial violence and terror further by denying them the supports and resources they require and deserve.

As Audre Lorde reminds us, “We don’t lead single issue lives.” In order to understand the full effects of racism, we have to see how race intersects with other forms of difference such as gender identity and expression, sexuality, dis/ability, etc. 

Language matters.

Just as Black folx are diverse, so too are manifestations of anti-Black racism.

So, if our consideration and commitment to addressing anti-Blackness focuses solely on the violence done to cis Black heterosexual men, while ignoring the voices and experiences of Black Muslims, Black queer, trans, and gender diverse folx, and Black disabled folx, then we undermine the movement for all Black lives. We cannot disregard or erase those in our communities who are typically positioned on the margins – our language should take in to account the diversity and complexity of Black peoples. 

A grammar of resistance and refusal refers to language that captures the nuances and complexities of racism(s) expands the conversation and enables us to attend to the fullness of who we are. 

In 2010 Moya Bailey and Trudy introduced the concept misogynoir to capture the particular forms of discrimination Black women experience when anti-Black racism and anti-Black misogyny collide in popular culture. Their insights are a purposeful intervention, one that recognizes the gender and sexual diversity that exists among Black women and captures the unique challenges/experiences/violences that confront diverse Black women. They also coined the term transmisogynoir to describe the particular challenges and forms of dehumanization that Black trans women face. 

Enter Eternity Martis: This past March the University of Manitoba invited Eternity Martis to give the Robert and Elizabeth Knight Distinguished lecture. Martis, a Black and South Asian journalist, author, and faculty member at Toronto Metropolitan University discussed her 2020 memoir They said this would be fun: Race, campus life, and growing up. Describing how she was simultaneously exoticized, desired, and disparaged, Martis offered a critical lens regarding the intricacies and intimacies of how anti-Black misogyny, anti-Black gendered racism, and anti-Black sexual and gender-based violence are embodied. Crucially, she linked the all too familiar ways in which she was perceived and treated according to Canada’s history of enslavement, and the attendant white supremacist narratives about Black women’s sexual availability. Martis also offered points of connection and points of difference among and between diverse Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority women, providing potential pathways to establishing support for coalition and solidarity work in the areas of racialized sexual and gender-based violence and policing within Black communities and beyond.  

The marginalization of violence against Black women and their disposability endures – these are some of the circumstances behind the activism of two Black women – namely Tarana Burke’s life work and her founding of the MeToo Movement, and the Say Her Name campaign initiated by Kimberlé Crenshaw.

Denial, disposability, and the damage done

In August 2022, Daniella Mallia, a 23-year-old Black woman, sought support and police protection from a violent former domestic partner. Ms. Mallia reported her concerns to two members of the Toronto police force. However, despite providing abundant evidence to substantiate her concerns about the threat her ex-partner posed, Ms. Mallia was cautioned: she was treated as a perpetrator rather than a target. Three days after filing a report with the Toronto police, Ms. Mallia was found in an underground parkade, the victim of a shooting. Her ex-partner has since been charged with first degree murder and one Toronto police constable is facing numerous charges including neglect of duty and making false or misleading statements related to his encounter with Ms. Mallia (a second officer is involved but the charges have not yet been made public). Ms. Mallia was not simply disregarded, she was criminalized. Ms. Mallia was not deemed worthy of protection – rendering her disposable. The absence of empathy demonstrates how the intersection of systemic anti-Black gendered racism, anti-Black misogyny, and gender-based violence contributed to the tragic violent end to Ms. Mallia’s life. 

Expanding our circles of connection is part of an ethics of struggle. 

Creating spaces that recognize our humanity, diversity, and complexity offer possibilities for Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority folx to find connections across our differences.

This journey towards racial justice invites a commitment to learning and unlearning. We cannot disrupt and dismantle all forms of racism unless we challenge the divisiveness of hierarchies of oppression and recognize the interconnectedness of systems of domination.  Just as we have to recognize that people’s experiences of racism are simultaneously shaped by their gender identity and expression, class, sexuality, dis/ability, and spiritual practices, we have to recognize the ways in which our histories and our communities are simultaneously distinct and connected.

Holla if you hear me…

#Tarana Burke: #MeToo
#Kimberlé Crenshaw: #Intersectionality; #SayHerName

Resources

Bailey, Moya and Trudy.  (2018). On misogynoir, citation, erasure, and plagiarism. Feminist Media Studies, 18(4), 762-768.

Beauttah, Biko. (19, April, 2021). Commentary: Black trans women need to be listened to, supported. Global News.

Carter, Adam. (29, March, 2023). Toronto cop who allegedly ignored domestic violence report charged after woman’s death. CBC. 

Huncar, Andrea. (4, March 2021). Edmonton Muslim women rally in solidarity after hate-fueled attacks. CBC. 

Martis, Eternity. (2020). They said this would be fun: Race, campus life, and growing up. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart.

Reclaiming power and place: The final report of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

Sengupta, Joyita. (28, June 2020). In a time of protest, Black LGBTQ voices rise.

Statistics Canada. (2021). Gender based violence.

Ware, Syrus M. (2017). All power to all people? Black LGBTTI2QQ activism, remembrance, and archiving in Toronto. Transgender Studies Quarterly, 4(2), 170-180.

Yourex-West, Heather (2021). Why are Alberta’s Black, Muslim women being attacked.

June 2023: Access implied, Access denied: In conversation, (Anti)Racism, EDI, and the pursuit of social justice

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced” (James Baldwin, 1962). New York Times, January 14.

Delia Douglas

There has been much discussion, and a great deal of confusion, around the terms EDI – equity, diversity, and inclusion, and their relationship to social justice and (anti)racism. So, this month’s blog considers these relationships and explains why the terms EDI and Anti-Racism cannot be used interchangeably.

Earlier this month, the UM Office of Equity, Access, and Participation hosted an event called “Ableism in the Academy: Who’s Listening?” One of the panelists,  Dr. Wesley Crichlow, an African Canadian Critical Race Intersectional Queer Theorist at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, stated that he does “equity work with a racial justice lens,” and he “advocates for Critical Race Theory (CRT) because he recognizes the limitations of EDI work, and it’s flaccid reassurance of racial justice.”

Dr. Crichlow’s description of his approach speaks to, and builds on, conversations we have had in previous blogs. To recap, we have discussed how CRT is a purposeful intervention – one that explicitly names race. This identification is important because it means that we can explicitly identify the existence of racism. We have also discussed how the Disruption of All Forms of Racism Policy, is aligned with CRT in a number of ways – beginning with an acknowledgement of the continuing significance of race and the prevalence of racism(s) in many systems in Canadian society, including health care. In addition, because most policies dilute, marginalize, or invisibilize the various practices, procedures, and structural arrangements that sustain racial inequality and normalize racism, this is an important consideration because if a policy does not take race into account in a meaningful way, then racism can remain “invisible” or can be deemed to be nonexistent, and therefore allowed to persist and potentially escalate.

Employment Equity and EDI – What do race – and racism – have to do with it?

Despite over 3 decades of a federally legislated Employment Equity (EE) policy, related diversity talk, and national narratives of inclusion, the proportion of some of the four equity-seeking groups (e.g., “women,” “persons with disabilities,” racialized minorities, and Indigenous peoples) within Canadian universities remains appallingly low. Canadian post-secondary institutions remain overwhelmingly white in terms of administration, faculty, curriculum, and culture. With few exceptions, equity has meant gender equity, with the majority of hires being white-abled women. The pattern of privileging some equity groups over others has resulted in racial and racist outcomes that maintain the current state of racial inequality and the attendant structures and logics of settler colonialism.

While it is true that EE did not move the needle, it is also the case that its replacement, EDI, has amplified rather than addressed, many of the systemic barriers that persist. The limitations and ramifications of the pervasiveness of EDI have been well documented. In essence, rather than moving towards more robust, transparent, and responsive strategies and practices, in most institutions, EDI has largely masked and supported white supremacy. This is due in large part to the fact that EDI was not designed to address racism- systemic or otherwise. Building on James Baldwin’s insights – if racism is not named, then it cannot be “faced” or addressed.

Language matters

To reiterate, language is a site of struggle.

We often hear of the need to increase diversity within the university, but what does that mean? We talk about celebrating diversity, but how does diversity talk challenge, or address structural exclusion, selective inclusion, historical disadvantage, and questions of injustice? With respect to diversity initiatives, the focus has primarily been on representation and that all too familiar photo op. At issue is that visual representation does not signal racial justice, equity, or belonging. The term diversity is amorphous and has become whatever an organization wants it to be – it is important that we distinguish between white diversity and racial diversity. For example, in a majority white cis male workforce, where Black, Indigenous, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ and disabled folks are under-represented, the organization becomes “diverse,” by hiring queer or non-binary, white men and/or women. Without critical interrogation of its meaning, diversity has frequently been disconnected from any action to activate change in response to existing inequalities and the under and over-representation of various marginalized groups.

When the focus of achieving diversity centres on representational diversity alone, one may be seduced into conflating the appearance of equity with tokenism (see the attached graphic of the “problem woman of colour in the workplace”). In this situation, tokenism refers to the idea that bringing in 1 or 2 “solves” the problem of under representation and is evidence of progress. However, without deeper consideration of the organizational culture and structural arrangements that caused the inequities in the first place, the “one” will be left to deal with the attitudes, hostilities, expectations, and dynamics that have protected and sustained structured inequalities and exclusions.

Consider the example of the underrepresentation of Indigenous and racialized minority women. Their/our absence is indicative of how people do not enter and participate in the university as equals. Critics of EDI have pointed out how it is a mistake to view “inclusion” as a process wherein those on the “margins” are able to simply “fit” into the criteria/systems/organizations defined by the “centre.” Simply put, the goal is not to have those in power remain at the centre and “welcome” those who have previously been excluded into existing structures and organizations. The goal is to identify the norms, values, hostilities/barriers/structured exclusions so that they can be disrupted and dismantled.

Similarly, with respect to the term inclusion, there has typically been little to no discussion of who has been excluded and why – thus, the response is to bring “more” diversity into an organization and have them align with prevailing norms/values, etc. without interrogation of how and why particular people have historically been excluded/marginalized/tokenized within existing institutional structures has meant that systemic discrimination continues.
The prominence of the EDI shift has meant that in many spaces other kinds of vocabularies such as social justice and anti-racism are no longer used, or at least are no longer central to policy debates and workplace practices. These terms have complex histories, which are bound up with the history of different political movements. This is one of the reasons why it is important to explicitly address systemic exclusions, and to expand EDI to explicitly attend to racial equity, anti-racism, social justice, and belonging.

 Marcia Anderson

One of the core principles of the right to the highest attainable standard of health is that the needs of those who are furthest behind should be prioritized and centered. This principle should be applied in any arena where there are gaps – that is, where there is a lack of equity. What this does is change the conversation from “This system works perfectly fine for us, what is wrong with you why it isn’t working for you?” to “This system has never worked for you because it wasn’t meant to. How does the system need to change to see and value your humanity, expertise, and both past and potential future contributions?” As Janice Gassame Asare notes:

“For DEI and anti-racism work to be effective, less effort must be spent trying to coddle and center whiteness. More energy must be put into uncovering the specific needs of the most marginalized groups in order to understand how to implement support systems that promote safety and wellbeing.”

The Rady Faculty of Health Sciences Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion has recently changed its name to the Office of Equity, Access, and Participation. This communicates the return or perhaps the emergence of human rights and social justice-based action that focuses on structural and systemic interventions in pursuit of racial justice and equity. As we try to disentangle the conflation of EDI and anti-racism because of the barrier to meaningful action that has presented, we are in a continuous pursuit of new approaches that honour anti-racism action as foundational to the achievement of equity.

Resources

Anand, N. (2019, May 21).  ‘Checkbox diversity’ must be left behind for DEI efforts to succeed. Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Asare, J. G. (2021). Why DEI and Anti-Racism Work Needs to Decenter Whiteness. Forbes.

Henry, F., Dua, E., Kobayashi, A., James, C., Li, P., Ramos, H., & Smith, M. S. S. (2017). The equity myth: Racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian universities. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.

Lomax, T. (2021). DEI dreaming: Confusing inclusion and tokenism. The Feminist Wire.

Smith, M. S. S., & Bray, N. (2018). Equity at Canadian universities: National, disaggregated, and intersectional data. Academic Women’s Association.

The “problem woman of colour in the workplace.”

Video: What systemic racism in Canada looks like. (2020). CBC. (10 minutes).

World Health Organization. (2022). Human rights key facts.

May 2023: The past is the prologue

Delia Douglas and Marcia Anderson

May 25 marks 3 years since the murder of Mr. George Floyd.

In the aftermath, tens of thousands marched across the United States, in support of Black Lives Matter (BLM), and inspired global protests against police brutality, anti-Black racism, and racial injustice. Across Canada people organized and gathered to stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family and the Black Lives Matter movement, drawing attention to racialized police violence, systemic racism, and inequality. In Winnipeg thousands attending the Justice 4 Black Lives rally called for justice for Black people and an end to state violence and racial injustice, the organizers of the demonstration at the Legislature carried out a series of protests for eight consecutive days beginning June 22 at the Winnipeg Law Courts, in recognition of the urgency and pervasiveness of racism and racial inequality in Winnipeg and across the country.

These protests took place at a time when large public gatherings had been banned to prevent transmission of the virus, massive crowds of Black, Indigenous, and racially diverse groups of people took to the streets, risking their lives. Truth be told their lives were already at risk – they were fighting two pandemics that inhibit our ability to breathe: racism and COVID-19. The protests were not a choice, but a necessity, a matter of life and death. stand against racial terror and a rejection of the status quo. For Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority folx, these demonstrations were an affirmation of our humanness, and a confirmation of our commitment to building a better future. One where race does not shape who lives and who dies. As physician Rhea Boyd explains, “protest is a vital public health intervention.”  Notably, thousands of health care practitioners across Canada and the US penned an open letter, offering their full support for those who are working to demolish racist institutions, stating “white supremacy is a lethal public health issue that predates and contributes to COVID-19.”

Some regarded this massive mobilization as a racial reckoning, derived from widespread recognition of the brutality and lethalness of systemic racism. 

Some wondered if this was simply a moment – an expression symbolic solidarity that would not result in substantive change: a moment that might be followed by no change at all.

3 years on – where are we at now?

Black learners, physicians and educators have provided leadership that would move systems beyond symbolic solidary to substantive change. 

The Black Medical Students Association of Canada provided recommendations to Canadian medical schools and to the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada.

The Black Health Education Collaborative began working on competencies for learning and a Black Health Primer to support the transformation of medical and health professional education to improve the health Black communities across Canada. They also pushed the CMAJ to publish two special issues on anti-Black racism the its effect on health in Canada. 

And yet: racism persists. Race continues to shape who lives and who dies: it remains a public health crisis. The lives of Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority folx remains at risk.

Real talk: How has the labour and leadership of Black folx been met with reciprocity and effort by your institution? What have you done personally to advance anti-Black racism, or anti-racism, ‘lately’? As in the past 3 years lately? 
    
In August 2020 the Disruption of All Forms of Racism Policy was passed by the Rady Faculty Council. It is currently being revised and will be supported by a disclosures and reporting document. The policy was created in and against the backdrop of the histories and the enduring legacies of the racial violence and hostility that created the Canadian nation state some of which include dispossession, enslavement, genocide, the Indian Act, Residential Schools, and immigration laws.

The prioritization of racism is important because racism is entrenched in our day-to-day lives both in and outside of the university. Racism is (re)produced through silence, invisibility, and exclusion, as well as through covert, entrenched and cumulative actions that can be difficult to identify.

In this context, the creation of an anti-racism policy signals that manifestations of racism are a key concern of the RFHS, and evidence of its commitment to building a safe community, where all are valued equally and treated with dignity and respect.

It is also important to note this policy goes beyond consideration of individual behaviours or the notion that racism simply involves individual acts, to focus on structures, as one tool that is integral to achieve organizational cultural change.

While the passing of the policy was groundbreaking, there remain many barriers and challenges to actively advancing and sustaining the work of anti-racism. We continue to have much work to do at a system level and at individual levels to realize its aspirational goals. 

Here are a few examples:

There is a significant knowledge gap regarding the meaning and significance of race and racism. The only reason we are talking about race, is because of the pervasive problem of racism – so we need to address it. The knowledge gap means that the work necessary to disrupt/eliminate the various barriers/social relations/attitudes/practices that promote and/or sustain racial inequality and the damage of racism have not been taken up. We need more individuals across our Faculty to commit time and effort to their own unlearning and learning. The Office of Anti-Racism provides a starting point to explore learning resources available.

The profound under representation of Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority people in Faculty and Senior Leadership positions sustains racial hierarchies and puts unmanageable burdens and responsibilities on the Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority folx who are present- this is one form of the minority tax. We need leaders to prioritize the relevant expertise that representation brings as they are considering job descriptions and hiring decisions to support the recruitment and retention of Black, Indigenous and racialized minority folx.

One of the consequences of inadequate representation is that decisions regarding the meaning and significance of race and racism are largely in the hands of those who are Not the targets. The absence of a critical mass of Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority learners, staff, and faculty also makes it difficult for the targets of repression to speak up for fear of reprisal. One of the resources we developed is a template to review committee Terms of Reference to support critical reflection on how all RFHS committees explicitly support our stated commitments to anti-racism. We need committee chairs and leaders to have open conversations with the Black, Indigenous and racialized minority folx in their departments about how to prioritize their participation in committees that most align with their own goals and career trajectories AND support high impact, anti-racist decision-making.

These are just a few actions that at the individual level can help support a continued movement away from symbolic statements and towards racial justice and equity.

Resources

Rhea Boyd, “You Realize It’s a Privilege to Worry That Protests Will Cause a Second Wave of Coronavirus, Right?” Cosmopolitan, 16 June 2020, https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a32782471/protesting-saves-lives-even-during-coronavirus-pandemic/

[1] Rhea Boyd, “You Realize It’s a Privilege,” para. 12.

April 2023: Part 1: Integrate this! Identifying grammars of resistance and refusal

“The oppressed struggle in language to recover ourselves, to reconcile, to reunite, to renew. Our words are not without meaning, they are an action, a resistance. Language is also a place of struggle.” bell hooks (1996, p. 146). 

“There is no thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives.” Audre Lorde (1984, p. 138).

(This month’s blog is part 1 of a two part discussion on the politics of language).

Delia Douglas

Where we live now: Translation terms and racial realities 

Language matters.

We have been in the long emergency with respect to acknowledging and addressing manifestations of systemic racism. The events of the past few years have laid bare the ordinariness of racism, underscoring that there is no place to stand outside of its reach. The parallel pandemics of systemic racism(s) and COVID-19 highlight how race shapes who lives and who dies. From the disproportionate impact of the virus on Indigenous, Black, and racialized minority communities, to the police violence directed against Indigenous and Black folx, to the racist targeting people of East Asian descent, and the rise in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. These most recent examples emphasize the normalization of racism which is the very definition of systemic racism.

As long the impact of racism(s) continues to be homogenized/marginalized/ignored/denied interpersonal and social relations are compromised, talent will be lost, and people will continue suffer trauma and harm in a host of ways which will include death.

In order for us to disrupt and dismantle racism, we have to understand it. Racism is typically understood in simplistic and homogenous manner, however, there is no singular definition of racism. Rather, racism takes many forms, some of which include symbolic, embodied, psychological, institutional/systemic, every day, and interpersonal. 

The violence is psychological, physical, and cultural. We are far more familiar (and indeed comfortable) with allegations of racism that involve white supremacist and extremist groups. There has been far less attention given to the ways in which our daily lives are crucial sites through which practices and beliefs regarding white racial superiority/power/domination are produced.

Racism is dynamic, and our language must adapt so that we are able to address our racial realities and avoid oversimplification/erasure/silence/lateral violence. We need language that is expansive, disruptive, and ultimately transformative.

As Audre Lorde reminds us, “We don’t lead single issue lives.”  Consequently, if we are to understand the full effects of racism, we have to see how race intersects with other forms of difference such as gender identity and expression, sexuality, dis/ability, class, etc. 

Dr. George Sefa Dei, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, uses the term “integrative anti-racism” to address the fact that people’s experiences of racism are shaped by the multiple elements of their identity such as gender, class, sexuality, and ableness. Talking about intersections is vital for us to be able to adequately understand and respond to the various ways in which racism(s) are manifest. However, while policies, strategies, and practices should address the integrative character of racism(s), he argued that we also need to be able to respond to the distinctiveness of anti-Black racism(s), anti-Indigenous racism(s), and Islamophobia in their myriad forms (e.g., engendered, dis/ability, sexuality). 

Language is indeed a site of struggle. As a tool of resistance and refusal, it can help us to create spaces that recognize our humanity, diversity, and complexity, and in so doing offer possibilities for Black, Indigenous and racialized minority folx to find connections across our differences.

…to be continued.

Resources

Dei, George S. (1995). Integrative anti-racism: Intersection of race, class, and gender. Race, Gender & Class, 2(3), 11-30.

Essed, Philomena. (2002). Everyday racism. In D. T. Goldberg & J. Solomos (Eds.), A companion to racial and ethnic studies (pp. 202-216). London, UK: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

hooks, bell. (1990). Yearning: Race, gender, and cultural politics. Toronto, ON: Between the Lines.

Lorde, Audre. (1984). Sister outsider. Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press.

March 2023: Racial matters: What is race? Who is ‘raced,’ and the role of disaggregated data in advancing health equity

“…any doctrine of racial superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous and must be rejected, together with theories that attempt to determine the existence of separate human races, …”

United Nations, 74th session, January 27, 2020.

Delia Douglas

Context – Racial Matters: What is race? Who is ‘raced’? 

As a sociologist working in the health sciences, I am continually confronted by the separation that exists between the social sciences and health sciences – a division which is not unintentional, but part of the way in which white supremacy operates through the reproduction of race-based medicine and racist assessments of patients. However, in order to disrupt and dismantle the many forms of racism that exist, we must first understand it. 

So, what is race? 

Race is a social and historical construct, not a biological difference. Despite the failure of science to demonstrate that our physical differences represent racial superiority and racial inferiority, biological racism (scientific racism) persists. There remains a profound investment in the belief that our visible physical differences signal proof of one’s ability, potential, and capacity: our humanness.

Marcia Anderson

From the time I started medical school in 1998 through the H1N1 pandemic (and beyond) with the exception of some of my Black and Indigenous colleagues, if a physician taught, talked about, or researched racial gaps in health outcomes it was framed as a question of genetic difference (e.g. the thrifty gene theory or T-cell immunity differences). Framing racial health gaps as the result of racism was unpopular, to say the least.

As an early public health doctor however, one of my role models was Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones who is an anti-racism activist and academic and former President of the American Public Health Association. She defines racism as “a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks (which is what we call “race”), that unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, unfairly advantages other individuals and communities, and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources.”

When I consider the differential impacts of COVID-19, HIV, and the new CMAJ guidance on the reporting of race and ethnicity in research articles, I see that this is where the social sciences and health sciences have to meet.

Delia and Marcia

The reason we need to talk about race is because of racism. 

Similar to race, racism is about how we make sense of difference, it is based on the false assumption that physical differences such as skin colour, bodily features, and hair texture are related to intellectual, moral, or cultural superiority. 

This enduring investment in innate difference is a matter of life and death – the belief is used to justify racial inequality, it informs policies, relationships, it influences how people are seen and treated. It denies the fact that racial meanings are dynamic and shaped by the social, historical, and political context in which they appear. The belief in race as a biological difference is an attempt to silence and suppress histories of genocide, dispossession, enslavement, heteropatriarchy, settler colonialism, and the attendant violence(s) of domination. In this context the role of science – of race as a biological difference – is employed to ensure that our differences are understood as inevitable/unchangeable/unalterable and thus don’t need further interrogation or intervention.

Who is ‘raced’?

Across North America, those typically identified as raced are those identified as Black, Indigenous, or a member of a racialized minority community. In other words, those identified as ‘non-white.’

This brings me to the matter of whiteness -whiteness is a location within the racial order and one of advantage, as highlighted by Dr. Jones. Whiteness is an element of identity and part of the system of racial categorization and while this also varies over time and place, it is shaped by the past and present of dispossession, genocide, enslavement, and settler colonialism. Usually unmarked, whiteness usually operates as the default category (e.g., the norm); whites are typically regarded and identify as ‘raceless,’ or simply human. Consider this –- to only regard Black, Indigenous, and members of racialized minority communities as racialized is an example of how a system of racial classification and hierarchy has been normalized. White people are “just human” while Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority folks are, well, regarded as something else: humans with caveats.

It is important to bring whiteness into this conversation because it is imperative that we acknowledge that we are all racialized, engendered, and sexualized (to name but a few components of our identities). Naming whiteness also signals how we are all located in relations of domination and subordination. Making whiteness visible allows space for us to understand how the marking of the so called ‘racial other’ simultaneously involves the making of the dominant…with respect to racism it means that we are able to not only recognize the harms and hardship of racism(s), but how it also benefits those who are not its targets.

Resources

Jude Mary Cenat. (2023). Who is Black? The urgency of accurately defining the Black population when conducting health research in Canada. CMAJ July 18, 2022, 194 (27) E948-E949; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.220274. 

Stuart Hall (1997). Race the floating signifier. Producer: Sut Jhally. Media Education Foundation.

Camara Phyllis Jones. (2018). Towards the Science and Practice of Anti-Racism: Launching a National Campaign Against Racism. Ethnicity and Disease August 9, 2018, 28 (Suppl 1) 231-234; DOI: https://doi.org/10.18865%2Fed.28.S1.231. 

Matthew B. Stanbrook and Bukola Salami. (2023). CMAJ’s new guidance on the reporting of race and ethnicity in research articles. CMAJ February 13, 2023, 195(6) E236-238; DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.230144. 

United Nations. (2020). A global call for concrete action for the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. Available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N19/426/41/PDF/N1942641.pdf?OpenElement.

February 2023: Black History Month: Meeting grounds of radical resistance, bold solidarity, and social justice

Delia Douglas

“The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations which we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us, and which knows only the oppressors’ tactics, the oppressors’ relationships.”

Audre Lorde (1984, p. 123)

Black History Month 2023 takes place in the shadows of the in-custody death of Nicous D’Andre Spring, a 21-year-old Black man who had been illegally detained in a Montreal jail in December 2022, and the January 2023 murder of Tyre Nichols, a young Black man who died in Memphis, TN following a “routine traffic stop” where he was beaten by 5 police officers, all of whom are Black. Mr. Nichols died of his injuries in hospital 3 days later. 

We live in a present created by dispossession, genocide, enslavement, and ongoing settler colonial projects. We live these histories intimately, intensely, quietly, and at times grievously (lateral and internalized violence).

Their needless deaths remind me of the fact that we are all exposed to images, ideas, beliefs, and practices (e.g., white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, dis/ability, capitalism) which structure our institutions and shape our relationships to ourselves and each other. Simply put, we need not be racialized as white (for example) to reproduce settler colonialism and uphold anti-Blackness. 

The fact that we are not encouraged and taught to see ourselves as equals and the fact that we are not encouraged and taught to see ourselves in each other are examples of the normalization of racism. That is the very definition of systemic racism.

I am thinking about Black life matters, Black liberation, and lateral violence – within and across diverse Black communities and beyond…I am thinking about radical resistance and bold solidarity… 

In 2014 – 3 Black queer women – Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors – established the contemporary #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) movement – a sociopolitical and ethical demand for action against state sanctioned anti-Black terror and anti-Black racism. Garza, Tometi, and Cullors advanced an expansive lens that sheds light on the experiences of those who have frequently been excluded as contributors to social justice movements and victims of anti-Black violence, namely Black women and girls, Black folks who are disabled, gender non-conforming and those who identify as LGBTQIA+.

Black freedom struggles are as multifaceted and diverse as are Black folx.

The events of the past few years have not only exacerbated existing inequities, they have also laid bare how racism is a public health crisis. 

Racism lowers life chances. Racism kills.

The enduring legacies of residential schools are revealed in the uncovering of the bodies of the 215 children who died at the Kamloops Indian Residential School (and the thousands more graves identified since), the death of Joyce Echaquan, the murder of George Floyd, the rise in racism against people of East Asian descent, Islamophobia, and the death of Indigenous, Black, and racialized people in police involved shootings across Canada. These are not individual acts of racism, or the actions of a few bad apples – these are instances of systemic racism. These are acts that demonstrate how racism influences who lives and who dies. 

This is not a zero-sum game – racism is not a competition to see who has endured the most harm – comparing ourselves to each other to construct hierarchy is itself is a form of violence. Lateral violence does just involve Black people, it occurs between members of different marginalized groups. Lateral violence also occurs when we don’t show up for each other – when we adopt the settler colonial strategy of divide and conquer…

Systemic racism requires a systemic response. 

Solidarity requires courage. We cannot eradicate racial inequality and injustice unless we challenge the divisiveness of hierarchies of oppression and recognize the interconnectedness of systems of domination.
Bold solidarity is that which affirms and embraces the marginalized and excluded in our communities. 

Movements such as Idle No More, #AmINext, #BLM, #Sayhername, #MeToo, and Dream Defenders make visible and affirm the lives of Indigenous and Black women and girls, 2SLGBTQQIA and those who live along the gender spectrum as targets of, and resistors to, oppression, creating space for the recognition of the humanity of all Indigenous and Black lives. 

These are acts of radical resistance.

Our freedom struggles and futures intersect in complex and complicated ways owing to these histories of racial violence and their enduring legacies. 

There is no time like the present to analyze our investments and allegiances and to commit ourselves to broadening our understanding of the diversity and complexity of Black identity and lived experience.

Consider this February/BHM as an opportunity to examine how anti-Blackness is manifest within ourselves and in within and across our various communities…

As political activist, scholar, and freedom fighter Angela Y. Davis asserts, “freedom is a constant struggle.” 

…We…. can’t stop…We… won’t stop…

References

Cathy J. Cohen (1997). Punks, bulldaggers and welfare queens: The radical potential of queer politics. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 3(4): 437-
465.

Angela Y. Davis. (2016). Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement. Chicago, Il: Haymarket Books.

Alicia Garza (2014). A herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.” The Feminist Wire. Available at: https://thefeministwire.com/2014/10/blacklivesmatter-2/.

Audre Lorde. (1984). Sister Outsider. Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press

Robyn Maynard. (2017). Policing Black lives. Winnipeg, MB: Fernwood Publishing.