“What has your experience been with racism in Canada?”

 “Well, racism isn’t as bad here as it is in the States?”

These are questions I hear often as a Black Canadian woman. Canada has graciously accepted the role of the well-behaved sibling among Western nations due to its reputation of multiculturalism, diversity and peacekeeping. Nevertheless, racism, specifically anti-black racism, remains embedded in the foundation of Canadian society. Yet, Canadian society has assigned Black Canadians the responsibility of proving the existence of anti-black racism. We expect Black Canadians to continuously unveil their personal trauma and stories to convince society that their pain is valid and indeed real. 

When people ask “what has your experience been with racism in Canada?”, what they often mean is:

“I’ve heard some pretty terrible stories in the media from the United States, so tell me a story of racial violence perpetrated against you that competes with that to convince me once and for all that racism exists here in Canada?”

They are not satisfied with the statistics that point to systemic violence in Canada. They’ve heard stories about passive racism, microaggressions, statistics about over and under-representation of Black Canadians in the wrong places but they want more evidence. They want what is yours. They want your trauma. Their stance positions them as an evaluator and you feel compelled to blow them away with your worst and most hurtful moments. Except they’ve heard it before, they just weren’t listening the first time and every time since. 

Of course, there are curious friends and allies who want to learn about what they can do to be better. However, those really invested in allyship are aware of the resources available to learn about the pervasive nature of anti-black racism in Canada. Canadian writers, researchers and authors have already offered their personal experiences as contributing evidence for anti-black racism in Canada.  

As a result, I will no longer use my personal experiences to convince people of the presence of anti-black racism in Canadian society. I have arrived to this conclusion for two reasons:

1. It contributes to the legitimization of overt forms of individual-level racism over the existence of systemic racism. 

Using my personal experiences with anti-black racism perpetuates the emphasis on overt and individual forms of racism. It continues to exclude the role of systems and institutions in maintaining and tolerating anti-black racism. Individual-level racial violence seems more remediable and allows societies to paint the perpetrators as a few bad apples, rather than acknowledge the social agreement that we trust and operate in that believes Black lives are inherently less meaningful.

In providing my individual overt experiences with racism, individuals only begin to associate those experiences as evidence for the existence of racism. They become comfortable as they listen to individual stories of overt racism as they can proudly say “well I don’t do that”. This allows them to distance themselves from acts of racial violence and continue to operate outside the realm of guilt. Meanwhile, they may participate in microaggressions and ostracizing their Black co-workers and friends. These instances do not fit the bill of interesting or worthy stories that are convincing enough of racism. 

2. It contributes to society’s growing comfortability with black trauma

Social media has provided a greater means for recording and highlighting racial violence. There are many recording and videos showing the murder and torture of Black men, women and children. As such, we become more desensitized to the violence inflicted on Black bodies caught on camera. By continuously sharing traumatic and unfiltered recordings and  stories of Black people, we must reduce the humanity of the people in those clips in order to consume these images and pictures that we see. We are consuming Black trauma willingly and quickly, further separating Black people from the pain inflicted on them.  We are enabled to devalue the impact microaggressions have on individuals, as we are over-exposed to gory forms of racial violence. As a result, microaggressions are no longer considered meaningful or damaging enough.

I went to suburban high school, while diverse, there was a small Black population. Over the years, I developed a friendship with one of the few other Black girls in my class. It wasn’t until our final year of high school, that we spent the entire day together that we unveiled our experience with racism during our high school years to each other. I knew her for three whole years before I gave her access to those experiences. Those experiences are mine and I decide who has access to them. I decide who gets to hear them. Black Canadians are not responsible for convincing you about anti-blackness. They cannot convince you out of your apathy. That is not their responsibility, it is yours.

Here is some literature that you can engage with (instead of demanding tedious, unpaid labor from your BIack friends*)

• The Skin We’re In – Desmond Cole https://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/the-skin-were-in
• Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to Present by Robyn Maynard https://robynmaynard.com/policing-black-lives/
• They Call Me George by Cecil Foster https://www.cbc.ca/books/they-call-me-george-1.5014735
• Black Writers Matter by Whitney French https://uofrpress.ca/Books/B/Black-Writers-Matter
• How She Read by Chantal Gibson https://caitlin-press.com/our-books/how-she-read/

For younger readers:

• Africville by Shauntay Grant
• Malaika’s Winter Carnival by Nadia L. Hohn
• Mayann’s Train Ride by the Honorable Mayann Francis
• Viola Desmond Wouldn’t Budge by Jody Nyasha Warner

I’m still not the one.

Yours ever,

Nanayaa.