A difficult discussion about race and privilege

Yes, I get it. Discussions about privilege and racial equity are uncomfortable. Why wouldn’t they be? At the heart of the discussion, it is about the unearned advantages one receives by simply being born into a group, and such privilege is “invisible to those who have it,” as sociologist Michael Kimmel put it.

Those in positions of privilege have never been followed around a store while shopping just because of the colour of their skin, or been bypassed for a job because they have a “Blacksounding” last name. Privilege is problematic when it biases our interactions, skews our judgments and blinds us from seeing the systemic barriers racialized people face.

In my last column, I wrote — correctly — that Doug Ford had denied systemic racism existed in Ontario. I received a response from a reader stating that Ford was right, and that “systemic racism doesn’t exist in Ontario, or anywhere for that matter in Canada.”

This individual, though blinded by their own privilege, is unfortunately not alone in their denial; I’ve had similar conversations far too many times. And I am certainly not alone. Countless of my fellow BIPOC Canadians have felt weighed down to the point of burnout confronting racial inequities.

However, my grandfather — a South Asian immigrant, chartered accountant and Oxford scholar — used to tell me “the pen is mightier than the sword.” Yes, reader, many immigrants are highly educated and hardworking citizens who contribute to the economic and social fabric of Canada. So, I am going to use this week’s column as a teachable moment.

For starters, systemic or institutional racism focuses on structures like our education, health care, judicial or policing systems.

It is a fact that Canadian history is ladened with bias and discriminatory practices — systemic racism. There are countless stories like the injustices to Indigenous communities and Chinese labourers who worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Today, we still continue to see wellintentioned policies and programs put in place that often have the opposite effect. A recent example is that of Black-focused and Black-led organizations having to validate that they are indeed “Black” to be considered in a federal government program that was meant to support continuously overlooked organizations. This is a clear example of how access to government funding is “deeply entangled with inequities,” as Minerva Saddler Gray wrote. Miscalculations like these are only adding to the layers of inequity faced by racialized groups.

The issue is that the decisions on what is “just” or “fair” are being made by those who have privilege. Like Ford, Toronto Mayor John Tory and Prime Minister Trudeau have both grown up with privilege — access to generational wealth, easy accessibility to higher education and power. They too have had their own missteps. In 2014, Tory was asked by a reporter if “white privilege” exists — he suggested that it did not. In 2019, when pictures of Trudeau in blackface emerged, his response was “I should have known better.” The truth about our political system is that it is filled with those who can “afford” to run for office. Do I have to remind you of the politicians who took vacations during the pandemic?

“With great power comes great responsibility.” (That quote comes from Spider-Man’s uncle, not my grandfather.) It is important our political leaders educate themselves. True leadership involves allyship and using the power of their office to right the wrongs and injustices that are ingrained in our systems.

This pandemic has shown us stark differences between the leadership of Ford and others like Tory. Ford does not see the necessity of paid sick days that may help those who are precariously employed and facing systemic racism. Politicians like Tory have emerged as a champion of racialized communities — his recent Targeted Equity Action Plan initiative focuses on the Black community, which has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

So, reader, I disagree with you and your comments that “[Ford] is a great premier and that there is no systemic racism.”