"Racist comments like this were something I’d overhear in quiet conversations behind my back, or from strangers I could easily dismiss. This was different. The comment was personal, the words specific to me. The uniform he wore was the same as mine."
Canadians love to conceive of our relationship with the United States like this: we are helpless and can do little against the giant beside us. Roll over. Put a pillow on your head. Hope to God he doesn’t roll over on you.
But the relationship is much more than a tale of a helpless small animal keeping an even keel in the midst of an elephant. Our identity is formed not simply by lying beside the beast, but also by using the United States to whitewash and obscure our own reality."
"I was a police officer for nearly ten years and I was a bastard. We all were.
This essay has been kicking around in my head for years now and I’ve never felt confident enough to write it. It’s a time in my life I’m ashamed of. It’s a time that I hurt people and, through inaction, allowed others to be hurt. It’s a time that I acted as a violent agent of capitalism and white supremacy. Under the guise of public safety, I personally ruined people’s lives but in so doing, made the public no safer… so did the family members and close friends of mine who also bore the badge alongside me.
But enough is enough.
The reforms aren’t working. Incrementalism isn’t happening. Unarmed Black, indigenous, and people of color are being killed by cops in the streets and the police are savagely attacking the people protesting these murders.
American policing is a thick blue tumor strangling the life from our communities and if you don’t believe it when the poor and the marginalized say it, if you don’t believe it when you see cops across the country shooting journalists with less-lethal bullets and caustic chemicals, maybe you’ll believe it when you hear it straight from the pig’s mouth."
"I'm watching America burn, and watching fingers point in all directions. Of course, I'm not a racist. I've never kneeled on anyone's neck or denied housing to anyone. So I'm clean. Right?
This situation has me examining how I tell my story, and I am more convinced than ever that how we tell our stories matters. I have benefited from racial injustice. How? Here's my story."
However, slavery here predates the Railroad by at least 200 years."
Black people across the country have taken to the streets and to their social media feeds to plead through protest that "black lives matter" and "enough is enough." But amidst all the noise and all the hashtags, many say there is nothing quite as deafening as "white silence."
Because for all the people who have flooded social media with George Floyd's name, Ahmaud Arbery's image and countless heartbreaking personal anecdotes of racism in action, there are just as many – and possibly even more – who have borne witness to the pain in black communities and chosen to say nothing.
"It's incredibly hurtful," said Broadway star Jelani Alladin. "And you're telling me that you have no hesitation posting a selfie of yourself... or what you're eating for dinner, and yet you're telling me that you're afraid to say something because you might hurt other people's feelings? Or you don't know what to say? Or you don't have an audience to reach? Were you thinking those things when you posted the other photos? I don't think you were."
One of the reasons people treat black men like they are
automatically criminals is because that is how our society paints them.
Systematic racism (practices entrenched in established institutions that harm
certain racial groups) shows up in every element of society - for example the
media which often portrays black men as thugs and dangerous criminals.
We watch the media and subconsciously absorb the
messages we receive. When these messages are not challenged we develop stereotypes
and unconscious bias (learned stereotypes that are automatic, unintentional,
deeply ingrained, universal, and able to influence behavior).
Unconscious bias leads to microaggressions (a comment
or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a
prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial
minority).
Have you ever heard terms like "black people
speak" or "black people music"? I have. These terms are
offensive and an example of a racial microaggression because they assume that
all black people behave in a certain way. When you stereotype people you strip
them of their humanity.
Racism and prejudice (to pre judge someone) cannot
exist in the light. Of course there are extremists who will hate no matter
what, but most modern day racism exists and persists because of ignorance.
Things like what is systemic discrimination, what is racism (not the general glossed over theory of simply hating someone but all of its nuances), what is stereotyping and why is it harmful....these are not taught in our education system. Neither, by and large, is "Black history" or "First Nations history". I use quotes because these things are actually parts of CANADIAN history. So why are they excluded?
You guessed it, another form of systemic racism...this
time showing up in our education system.
Media and education are just two examples of
institutions that practice systematic racism.
So how do these two examples matter? How do they gel
together? Because we have a society that
is founded on the concept of white male superiority - even the beauty industry
is Eurocentric and tells us in big and small ways that white features are more
attractive than non-white features. These concepts are numerous and often
invisible to white people.
How does this translate into so many black men dying
and living in fear for their lives?
You have the media as one example of how we are fed a
steady diet of stereotypes. These stereotypes ingrain themselves into our minds
on a subconscious level and lead us to hold views and act in ways that we may
not realize. Unconscious prejudice and microaggressions pave the way for more
overt prejudice. For example- if it's acceptable to say something
"harmless" like "black people talk" then it must also be ok to believe (even unconsciously)
that black people can't speak proper English and are uneducated, right? Do you see how something seemingly
small and harmless and maybe even under your radar grows?
Unconsciously the media has been convincing us that
black men are dangerous, uneducated thugs for years. Unconsciously we have
internalized that message and our knee jerk reaction to seeing a black man -
especially one who is physically intimidating - is fear.
Without being educated on the issue we most likely
don't realize that we could have unconscious biases...or even that racism still
exists at all. Without education, we are left to the mercy of the stereotypes
society ingrains in us, only we don't recognize a stereotype for what it is -
judging a human being before you get to know them.
Putting these two examples together, I hope you can
begin to see how a black man in this society...in 2020, is at increased risk.
Society tells us over and over again that black men are dangerous. With a lack
of education and in the absence of deep conversations about these issues, there
is nothing to challenge what society tells us.
This is how a person who is seemingly decent confronts
a person of colour and calls the cops when the POC isn't doing anything wrong.
This is how black men are automatically viewed as being dangerous. Cops are
people too and not immune to the effects of unconscious bias. But police have
guns. If they show up and see a black man who has been accused of something, is
it really that much of a stretch that their first fear based reaction would be
to shoot first and ask questions later?
I don't think anyone agrees with what happened to George Floyd. But don't forget police violence toward black people is common. Violence, hatred and fear of black people are common. Violence, hatred and fear are deeply rooted in ignorance and seemingly harmless stereotyping.
It's not enough to just be a good person who doesn't
judge based on race, because others do and may not even realize they are doing
so. I see a lot of people asking what they can do to help. Listen, educate
yourself, ask questions and speak up. Take what you have learned and teach
others. Don't assume because you don't see anything everything is fine. If you
know a person of colour, ask them about their experiences - they might not want
to talk to you about it but don't take that personally. People of colour are
tired. Some may not want to go there...again. But some might.
When you know better, you can do better. And the more
people that stand up and say 'that's not cool' when they hear things like
'black people talk' or 'must be check day', the more people will see
stereotyping and then more overt racism is not acceptable. And the less
stereotyping and overt racism are accepted, the less we will tolerate people
doing things like calling the cops on a black person for no reason at all.
I know it feels like what we say or do isn't important. But it is.
Listen. Learn. Speak up. You never know, you might help save someone's life.
My post was inspired by this moving video.
***As always, please share!***
So, I was out with a group recently. The day was lovely, the group was majority white (this IS Nova Scotia after all), but there was a good ...
