Delia
Racism has “no place.”
Racism will Not be tolerated.
If these statements sound familiar, it is because they are often made following public/high profile incidents of racism/racial violence by folx who hold leadership positions.
Racism will Not be tolerated…
…Yet here we are… Our daily reality contradicts these claims, as we navigate efforts to erode human rights gains, heightened hostilities, tensions, and blatant resistance to ongoing efforts to address enduring inequities, and advance anti-racism and social justice initiatives.
So, while racism has “no place” – racism persists.
If we were to follow the inherent racial il/logic of these statements, they give the impression that racism is an unusual occurrence, the exception, rather than the rule….
However, the frequency with which these very declarations are made should raise alarm bells…
Real talk: The violence is already here.
How could it not be given that racial violence was foundational to the creation of Canada… We do live in a present structured by dispossession, genocide, enslavement, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and ongoing settler colonial projects.
So, in actuality, these assertions about racism’s ‘place’ erase, or “e-race,” the enduring significance of race – and the prevalence of racism.
Racism is in fact, as Critical Race Theory scholars say, “ordinary.”
There is a profound gap between the racism experienced daily by Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority peoples, and the racism that is acknowledged and understood by the majority of the population.
Racism has “no place,” yet there is no place where racism does not exist.
Consider the parallel pandemics of 2020, COVID-19 and system racism(s), along with the systemic inequities that we see manifest in health care, education, housing, food security, income, the criminal in/justice system….and so it goes…
Racism is Routine…. Racism is Commonplace.
So…if we are to believe those who proclaim that racism has “no place,” and that racism will Not be tolerated, what does that mean for the folx who experience the very racism that prompted these declarations in the first place?
What about the impact(s) of the harm of racism(s)?
These kinds of assertions not only deny Canada’s past and presents racial violences, they also safeguard the policies and structures that perpetuate racial inequality and protect the people and systems that propagate racism.
There is in fact no place to stand outside of racism(s).
Thus, the pairing of declarations of racial innocence with the violence of disavowal represents a favoured perception of reality, one that supports Canadians in their efforts to not see racism, or consider the possibility, of the reality of racism.
My use of the phrase the fire this time is a nod to words spoken by the late James Baldwin, (author of The fire next time) and it refers to the profound challenges that confront us at this moment – a moment where the history of violence is vigorously being erased, alongside the proliferation of more violences.
So, unless we prioritize the targets of racism, we will continue to engage in racial gaslighting – undermining, ignoring, or denying the experiences of those who are its targets. What’s more, we will protect – and sustain – an atmosphere – a society, without accountability – and we will continue to live in a world where racism is regarded as simply an unusual occurrence, and not ordinary.
Resources
Philomena Essed. (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.
Mari J. Matsuda, Charles R. Lawrence III, Richard Delgado, and Kimberlé W. Crenshaw. (1993). Words that wound: Critical race theory, assaultive speech, and the First Amendment. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Proma Tagore, & Fairn Herising. (2007). Pedagogies of presence. In K. Kumashiro & B. Ngo (Eds.),Six lenses for anti-oppressive education (pp. 287-298). New York, NY: Peter Lang.