Stay focused on ultimate goal: Justice
When I was a child, I noticed that my father would smile, nod, and speak to every Black person we passed in public.
At first I believed this was an indication of his popularity (don’t get me wrong, my pops is one cool cat), but he later explained that he made it a habit to speak to Black people because he felt each deserved a dignified personal acknowledgment here in Canada.
I didn’t fully understand the power of recognition until, like every member of my five-generation-Canadian Black family, I faced systemic, subtle and flagrant racism on my own journey. I’ve since found myself searching for knowing eyes of understanding, this shared acknowledgment became my first step toward achieving justice.
The thought of reform of our institutions can seem intimidating until we remember that we hold the power to transform them and have the moral imperative to do so when they fail to reach equitable outcomes.
It has been promising seeing a proactive and multi-partisan federal Black caucus activating around these issues. Unfortunately, many of our leaders are not on the same page about the urgency of this work. Some are stalling it, while others are weaponizing their ignorance and centring their own feelings. This is a disservice to the long-fought movements working for change.
Last year, the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was released. It was met with an uproar over the language it included, which superseded the energy to do anything about it. Canadians argued passionately over when genocide ended and racism began in our history, but stopped short of translating that conviction into action on the recommendations provided.
Thus is our great Canadian cycle: debate the language until everyone is too exhausted to act.
Call it whatever you want, but do something.
Undoubtedly this work will continue to hit nerves and solicit backlash from people unwilling to humble themselves and learn or get out of the way of progress. As we peel back this series of bandages covering societal wounds that never properly healed, it is, of course, painful. But sharing in that pain is what allyship is, so it’s important to get comfortable with that discomfort.
Don’t be bamboozled by those who didn’t show up prepared and begin making up definitions on the spot to justify their own unwillingness to act.
As we transform our institutions to suit the changing needs of our society, we must apply racial and gender equity lenses at each turn and be thoughtful of the unique impacts our public and private institutions have long had on the lives of Black and Indigenous people and women especially.
The pile-on of fresh challenges mixed with grief in the context of COVID-19 has been heavy. Especially for those fighting on multiple important fronts for health equity, migrant worker protections, food security, reforms to our child welfare systems, education system transformation, and revolutionary thinking around justice and policing systems.
This is a daunting task, and my friend Toks Weah reminds me that it’s made possible when each one of us takes responsibility toward “making your corner of Canada a hostile environment to anti-Black racism.”
Protect instead of penalizing whistleblowers during this global airing of grievances. Understand the multiplicity of current and historical experiences of Black people living in Canada. Identify and rectify racial and gender pay gaps and reinforce leadership pipelines. Listen widely. Track racial data. Prioritize mental health supports. Step forward with fewer surface-driven performances of solidarity and dig out the roots that will lead to justice within the institutions you participate in shaping.
Canadians have been gaslighting, dismissing, and assassinating the character of those fighting against antiBlack racism for centuries; forcing them to silence and diminish themselves to maintain the comfort of others. Early champions in the fight against institutional anti-Black racism have watched their own livelihoods dissolve as a reward for their efforts.
Anti-Black racism is a problem that permeates every one of our systems. It shouldn’t be a revolutionary act to support a redirection of priorities that centres the wellness of all Canadians.
Acknowledgment is the minimum. We must stay focused on the ultimate goal, which is justice.
We, too, shape Canada. Tiffany Gooch
is a Toronto-based Liberal strategist and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @goocht