Category: Racial equity

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.