Last week a TDSB teacher went to school in Blackface for Halloween. You can read about it here. Egregious enough on its own, it seems that complaints weren’t acted upon until the end of the day. Think about that.... This means students of colour (the school in question was in a culturally …
Racism
The Pervasiveness of Racism – Musings about Meghan & Harry’s Interview with Oprah (Part 1)
There are so many things I want to write about, with regard to the interview Meghan and Harry gave with Oprah which aired on Sunday. You’ll see these musings over the next few weeks. Today, I’m focusing on the big picture – the pervasiveness of racism. Racism is Pervasive Let’s take in the …
Anti-Black Racism is Real
I’m feeling hopeful this week as our federal political leaders have publicly stated that anti-Black racism is real in Canada. Because it is. Because we need to talk about it. Because allies help in our struggles for justice of all kinds. (You can read about the statements made here and …
Racism, Pain and Loss
Last week was challenging, to say the least. And sadly, not new... We had two publicly shared incidents of racism. One in Central Park and one in Minneapolis. One involving police and one involving a civilian. One involving men and one involving a woman. Both targeting Black men. You can read …
Race-based Data and COVID-19
Just in case the need for race*-based stats is a new conversation to you, it’s not just about COVI-19. COVID-19 is just the latest reason to beat the drum. Laurie Townshend (filmmaker, photographer and teacher) has a gripping installation up as part of Toronto’s Scotiabank Contact photography …
Who Gets to be the Hero?
In the past two weeks I have watched two thought-provoking movies: Green Book and Same Kind of Different as Me. The former (as you may know) won Best Picture for last year. I watched it on the plane. The latter was from 2017, and I found it on Netflix. I love them both for the lessons they …
What’s it like to be Black in Toronto?
Last Monday the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released a report called A Collective Impact - about the Toronto Police Department and the racial profiling of Black people. I saw some of the statistics flash across the TV screen at the dentist’s office that day. Sadly, none of them surprised …
The Systemic Nature of Whiteness
I’m taking a week’s hiatus from reconciliation because of a conversation I had with my daughter. She is 6, and she just had a birthday. I bit the bullet and bought her a Barbie. It was a “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” moment, and she was introduced to them through an Aunt and loooooves them. So, …
Leadership, Starbucks, and ABC
We have seen some big decisions in the last week related to anti-bias and Diversity & Inclusion. Last week I wrote (a spoke on CBC Radio) about Starbucks’ anti-bias training held across the USA on Tuesday. On that same day, ABC (the TV network) made a bold statement of its own by cancelling …
The Elimination of Racism
Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Given what I do, every day is a day to eliminate racism, but I digress. First, I notice that it feels different to say ‘the elimination of racial discrimination’ vs. ‘the elimination of racism’. The latter is more …