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Prologue
3
“When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others.”
— Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Introduction
4
This guide is designed to offer readers the opportunity to reflect on the significance of racism in their own lives.
Using the overarching learning outcomes of to know, to be, and to do, the intention of this guide is for you to acquire knowledge, inquire about our societal status, and aspire for change through individual actions that challenge the status quo.
The conversation about anti-racism must evolve from one of debate to one of understanding led by empathy and individual experiences. Anti-racist approaches are often associated or reduced to activism; this has conflated the acceptance of anti-racist discourse in academia. With a consideration for the lived experiences of others, our circles of sharing must shift from rebuttal to reflection — both on our own positions and those of others.
To truly prioritize anti-racism is to see the implications of the societal structures that create and uphold cleavages. It is to ask if our policies and pedagogies are effective in creating equity and equally represent the perspectives and priorities of all – especially voices that have been silenced.
Moreover, it is to prioritize our experiences first and foremost as human beings and engage with each other with sensitivity to the racism that persists and upholds inequity in our local and global systems.
I hope the prompts in this resource offer you a chance to pause. The objective of this guide is to make you think and engage you on a personal level.
Acknowledgements
5
This facilitation guide is designed to accompany Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to Be an Antiracist. Kendi’s book inspired the learning arc of the guide.
I would like to extend thanks to those who participated in the inaugural BCcampus Book Club Hub in fall 2021. Your engagement and feedback informed the evolution and development of various iterations of this resource.
Thank you to the BCcampus equity, diversity, and inclusion group for their support, suggested resources, and voluntary participation in the guide’s activities. Thank you to the program heads and my fellow colleagues at Royal Roads University’s School of Communication and Culture who provided an impetus for me to explore and hone my pedagogical approach.
Several individuals contributed to the development of this guide. For a full list, please see Appendix 3: Acknowledgements.
Reconciliation is inextricably linked to a commitment to anti-racism and decolonization in Canada. I acknowledge the traditional territories throughout B.C. where the contributors to this guide reside. This includes the ancestral territories of the səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), W̱SÁNEĆ (Saanich), and Songhees Nation of the lək̓ʷəŋən (lekwungen) Peoples.
Learning Outcomes
6
To Know: Content (Learn)
Discuss and describe key content themes.
Unpack and elaborate on the definitions Kendi proposes.
Discuss the intersectional forms of racism that exist and their implications for individual experiences.
Gain a greater understanding of critical race theory, intersectionality, and other frameworks that offer context for the multidimensional nature of racism.
Consider and apply key learnings to various contexts.
Discuss implications of racism both individually and structurally.
Look at what racism means in the Canadian context.
Understand what racism means within global structures and systems.
Connect ideas across multiple contexts, including personal, professional, and pedagogical.
To Be: Citizenship (Reflect)
Recognize and identify personal steps to become an anti-racist.
Gain awareness of individual biases and the impact of our schemas on both our own and others’ experiences with racism.
Engage openly and authentically.
Communicate appropriately for various contexts, audiences, and purposes.
Facilitate and support others to have conversations about racism.
Recognize the importance of humility to anti-racism.
Apply intersectional and transdisciplinary lenses to the multidimensional elements of individual experience.
To Do: Communication (Apply)
Consider and apply key learnings to various contexts.
This includes self, society, and schools (specifically post-secondary education contexts).
Plan, design, and facilitate a book club, anti-racism task force, or similar equity, diversity, and inclusion undertaking at your institution.
Design and facilitate appropriate interventions that reflect an anti-racist approach and a pedagogy for self, society, and schools.
Apply learned methodology, frameworks, and techniques.
Create brave, safe, ethical spaces that allow for authentic sharing by approaching difficult conversations with generative discourse.
Effectively incorporate Book Club Hub resources, media, technology tools, and approaches to enhance communication and increase participants’ scope and understanding of the topics discussed.
Brave, Save & Ethical Spaces by Olaolu Adeleye is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Act 1: Self and Schemas
1
Synthesis of Key Themes
Definitions establish a framework for language and a measurable, achievable goal (Chapter 1).
To be anti-racist requires an understanding of racism and anti-racism definitions through lenses of policies, people, and ideas (Chapter 3).
You can be racist today and anti-racist tomorrow; the goal is to remain self-critical and continually reorient your consciousness (Chapter 1).
Your association with a racial grouping can help you gain a historical and political perspective. Conversely, this can feel like a limiting construct if you don’t associate yourself in this history (Chapter 3). Generalizing behaviour is a racist tendency where you see your race > the individual (Chapter 4).
Ethnic racism is the script of the oppressor targeting an ethnicity. It perpetuates racist sentiments (Chapter 5).
Racialized people’s categorization of other racialized people of the same race (suggesting a fabricated ranking of race categories) creates an ethnic hierarchy that reinforces racism (Chapter 5).
People consume racist ideas about other groups of people so long as they maintain a position of superiority within this valuation (Chapter 5).
White racists see policies that do not centre White lives as being racist. Therefore, when White racists read “Black Lives Matter,” they shout back, “All Lives Matter” (Chapter 9).
To be anti-racist is to be feminist; rejecting the hierarchy of races must also include rejecting the hierarchy of race-genders (Chapter 14).
Intersectionality gives us a lens to understand how oppression can simultaneously intersect different social categorizations, ageism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination (Chapter 14).
Our focus should be on advocating for others rather than advocating to compensate feelings of guilt (Chapter 16).
There is no healing or progress without experiencing pain (Chapter 18).
Discussion Points
The following are some suggested themes and topics to be explored during this Act. Depending on your own frame of reference and the direction you hope to take, it may be helpful to do some preliminary research. Our suggestion is that you approach these themes in a variety of ways, including small group discussions, sharing circles, visual prompts, brainstorming activities, and annotations.
Although you may be looking to offer contextual and factual information, prioritize establishing a collective understanding of your theme, and use this as a building block for further discussion and exploration with the group.
I stop using the “I’m not racist” or “I can’t be racist” defense of denial.
I admit the definition of racist (someone who is supporting racist policies or expressing racist ideas).
I accept the course of racist ideas I express (my upbringing inside a nation making us racist).
I acknowledge the definition of antiracist (someone who is supporting antiracist policies or expressing antiracist ideas).
I struggle for antiracist power and policy in my spaces.
I struggle to remain at the antiracist intersections where racism is mixed with other bigotries.
I struggle to think with antiracist ideas. Not being fooled by misleading statistics or theories that blame people for racial inequity.
Reflective Questions
To Know
What experiences led you to awareness of your own racial identity?
How has your racial identity changed (or not) over time?
How would you describe your first encounter with racism?
How did you learn about racial identity?
To Be
In thinking about double consciousness (Dubois 1903), how has your own avowal (self-perception) and the ascription (external perception) of others impacted your ability to share or be your authentic self?
How have you impeded others’ expressions based on your ascriptions of them?
To Do
How can and will you use your awareness of your privilege and space to apply an intersectional lens in your interactions in your classroom, curriculum, and campus community?
Check-In: Feeling, Orientation, Inspiration (FOI)
Discuss one feeling that has surfaced for you during this Act.
Reflect on one new orientation you’ve gained from this Act.
Collectively brainstorm steps or actions this Act has inspired you to take.
Activity
Suggested Activity – Privilege Walk
The objective of this exercise is to allow respondents to reflect on the areas of their life where they may experience privilege. Privilege is not to be seen as something you should be ashamed of but rather something that if leveraged correctly can move anti-racist conversations and actions forward and an opportunity to reflect on how to turn your awareness of your individual privilege into action.
Throughout this exercise, each individual will move according to their own experiences. At the conclusion of the activity, respondents will be scattered at various “points” and see where they stand in relation to those around them.
This is an introspective exercise. It’s important to understand how privilege affects your life, but it is not designed to make you share things you don’t wish to share — nor is it made to make anyone feel guilty or ashamed. Please make a note of any questions that specifically capture your attention.
Suggested Questions
If your parents needed you to translate newsletters that came to their home or be their interpreter at a school event or parent-teacher interview, please take one step back.
If you saw people who looked like you as teachers and administrators in your schools when you were a student, take one step forward.
If you felt that the traditions and beliefs that were promoted by your teachers and your school matched the traditions and beliefs that were taught to you at home, take one step forward.
If you personally witnessed something that you define as appropriation of your culture, take a step back.
If you have ever been made uncomfortable by a joke related to your race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation but felt unsafe to confront the situation, take one step back.
If there were more than 50 books in your house growing up, take one step forward.
If both your parents graduated from university, take a step forward.
If you speak your great grandparents’ language, take a step forward.
Debrief
Choose one word that describes how you felt with where you landed.
Share your general feelings about the activity.
How did it feel to be ahead of or behind the group average?
Were you surprised by where you landed?
Did you find any sentences more impactful than others?
Did you find any sentences that you believe are or are not a reflection of privilege?
Do you feel your final position would be different in an alternative cultural context?
How does your position of privilege affect your vantage point and the story you tell?
What role does privilege play when you are considering and relating to Indigenous peoples?
Facilitator Tips
Reiterate to participants that the activity is not designed to make them share things they don’t wish to share — nor is it made to make anyone feel guilty or ashamed.
If you are conducting this activity in person, consider asking participants to bring a scarf or blindfold to wear during the prompts. This will allow for anonymity.
Before launching into this Act, discuss ways to self-regulate, step away, or practice self-care when triggered or upset.
Allow for enough reflection and processing time during and after a discussion prompt or activity.
When debriefing, highlight that we all experience privilege in different ways and across different cultural contexts. Use this as an opportunity to tie in how the intersectional elements of who we are can impact our overall privilege.
Suggested Resources
Articles
Lorde, A. (1981). The uses of anger. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 9(3). https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1654&context=wsq.
Metta, J. (2015).I, racist. Those people. https://medium.com/thsppl/i-racist-538512462265.
Coaston, J. (2019). The intersectionality wars. Vox. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination
Multimedia
Coates, T. (2015). Fear and the black experience. [Video]. PBS Religion & Ethics. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2015/11/20/ta-nehisi-coates-fear-black-experience/27488/
McGregor, H. (Host). (2020). Being a demon bitch about justice. [Podcast]. Secret Feminist Agenda. https://secretfeministagenda.com/2020/06/26/episode-4-23-being-a-demon-bitch-about-justice/.
There are no race-neutral or non-racist policies. Every policy promotes either inequity or equity within an institution, community, or nation (Chapter 1).
Institutional, structural, and systemic racism are synonyms – one reinforces the other (Chapter 1).
Focusing on discriminatory “events” is a distraction from the central agents of racism: racist power policymakers (Chapter 1).
Discriminatory policies that create equitable outcomes are anti-racist policies (Chapter 1).
Race-neutral policies merely impede the advancement of non-Whites toward equity (Chapter 1).
“Racism is a powerful collection of racist policies that lead to racial inequity and are substantiated by racist ideas. Antiracism is a powerful collection of antiracist policies that lead to racial equity and are substantiated by antiracist ideas” (Chapter 1, p. 20).
Business-as-usual climate policies are a form of environmental racism, as seen in the vulnerability experienced by the non-White Global South being disproportionately impacted by the anthropogenic (human-induced) activity in the White Global North (Chapter 1).
It is easier to personalize racist acts as deficiencies in people rather than identifying the impact of policies and systems (Chapter 2).
Cultural assimilation is a racist policy as it suggests that the dominant way of living is a benchmark based on a racial hierarchy (Chapter 3).
To achieve anti-racism or a post-race world, we must first acknowledge categorizations — Latinx, Asian, African, Europeans, Indigenous, or Middle Eastern — as these six “races” constitute power identities, and race is a power construct (Chapter 3).
Race creates new forms of power; it frames how you judge, evaluate, exclude, and include other racial groups as monolithic (Chapter 3).
Racializing ethnic groups serves the core mandate of race, which is to create “hierarchies of value” (Chapter 5, p. 62).
Social and cultural norms and standards dictate the hierarchy of what is acceptable, which leads to cultural racism (Chapter 7, p. 83).
Colourism supports and promotes that superiority is attached to the lighter pigment and complexion of an individual. Thus, it attributes good behaviour to something that is closest to the White body (Chapter 8).
Conceptions of beauty need to be liberated to encompass a diverse range of expressions (Chapter 8).
White supremacy is a code of anti-human sentiment that is also an existential threat to human existence (Chapter 10).
Black people can also be racist because there is also power represented in Black communities. It is directly connected to an individual’s power to resist (Chapter 11).
Generalizations made at the intersections of race, class, and behaviour lead to class racism, which creates elitist policies that are often targeted at specific racial groups, justifying them by racist ideas and stereotypes about the given group (Chapter 11).
We must consider racism at the intersection of capitalism – a problem that is really a function of economic exploitation and the problem of war (Chapter 11).
Capitalism and racism are conjoined twins – neither lives in historical or material reality (Chapter 11).
Power has racialized both people and spaces: (a) the ghetto, (b) the inner city, and (c) the “Third World,” all occupied by a racial majority (Chapter 13).
Space racism justifies resource inequity. White spaces are seen as desirable; non-White spaces are less desirable (Chapter 13).
Discussion Points
The following are some suggested themes and topics to be explored during this Act. Depending on your own frame of reference and the direction you hope to take, it may be helpful to do some preliminary research. Our suggestion is that you approach these themes in a variety of ways, including small-group discussions, sharing circles, visual prompts, brainstorming activities, and annotations.
*Although you may be looking to offer contextual and factual information, prioritize establishing a collective understanding of your theme, and use this as a building block for further discussion and exploration with the group.
Racist: Supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea.
Assimilationist: Expressing the idea that a racial group is culturally or behaviourally inferior and is supporting cultural/behavioural enrichment programs to develop the group.
Segregationist: Expressing the idea that a permanently inferior racial group can never be developed and supporting policy that segregates that group.
Antiracist: Expressing the idea that racial groups are equals and none needs developing and is supporting policy that reproduce racial inequity.
Caste system separates Dalits (Untouchables) from others in society (India)
Apartheid limits the rights and mobility of Blacks (South Africa)
Ku Klux Klan members lynch freed slaves (United States)
Residential schools’ mandate of “Kill the Indian in him and save the man” amounts to cultural genocide (Canada)
Nazi state-sponsored persecution of Jews leads to the Holocaust (Germany)
Context ii
Anti-Asian hate crimes increase over COVID-19 (Global)
Blanquemiento practices look to mejorar la raza (Latin America)
“Stop and frisk” policy by NYC police officers targets Black and Latinx New Yorkers (United States)
Trump’s travel ban restricts travel for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen (United States)
Halifax Regional Municipality refuses provision of amenities to residents in Africville, eventually demolishing it and displacing its residents (Canada)
Reflective Questions
To Know
Reflecting on intersectional urbanism, what are some of the elements of space, class, and biology that you see and experience in your immediate environment?
Thinking of your own urban or rural spaces, what stereotypes are associated with the areas that carry a negative stigma in your town or city? How has this impacted your perception, comfort, and frequenting of this space?
To Be
What are some current societal structures, policies, pedagogies, or frameworks that suggest an improvement but have instead had a direct negative impact on a racial or ethnic group’s experience in Canada or around the world?
Do these policies reflect an assimilationist or segregationist approach? What could these approaches look like with an anti-racist approach?
To Do
Think of your relationship with policy as a decision maker or part of the electorate. Reflecting on your own context and individual privilege (economic, relational, spatial etc.), what actions can you take to amplify Indigenous and racialized narratives and advocate for their concerns to be reflected in policy?
What are some takeaways from this Act that you can use to design and facilitate ethical spaces that embrace this type of local or global advocacy?
Check-In: Feeling, Orientation, Inspiration (FOI)
Discuss one feeling that has surfaced for you during this Act.
Reflect on one new orientation you’ve gained from this Act.
Collectively brainstorm steps or actions that this Act has inspired you to take.
Activity
Suggested Activity – Society Mapping Exercise
Using MindMeister or Lucidchart, select one of the following themes and place it in the centre of your page.
With this theme, create a map of the relationships you see between the opportunities and threats that exist for racialized people to access and freely experience it in your area.
Using pluses and minuses, highlight the feedback loops that exist as a result of policies, structures, and relationships.
Place yourself on the map, and consider where you intersect and what opportunities you have to affect change in policy.
Are the current barriers a reflection of racist (assimilationist or segregationist) or anti-racist policies?
Education
Sports
Fine arts
Food security
Housing
Healthcare
Environment (natural)
Government
i.e.
Facilitator Tips
Remind participants that the objective is not to create an exhaustive depiction that is accurate but rather to locate themselves.
Have participants share their rationale for including positive or negative feedback loops in their diagram.
This activity can also be done successfully using a flipchart or white paper. Do not let using a new tech tool distract from the content or intent of the activity.
Consider some examples from the White Paper, 1969 (Canada), Jim Crow (United States), apartheid (South Africa), or the caste system (India).
Gray, A. (2019). The bias of ‘professionalism’ standards, Standford Social Innovation Review. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_bias_of_professionalism_standards.
The Globe and Mail. (2016). Colour code: A podcast about race in Canada. [Podcast]. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/colour-code-podcast-race-in-canada/article31494658/
* Sandy and Nora is a Canadian political podcast that discusses current events and has great episodes over the last year and a half on Black Lives Matter, White supremacy, and police violence in a Canadian context. See episodes 119, 117, 103, 104, and 99.
Books
Chariandy, D. (2018). I’ve been meaning to tell you: A letter to my daughter. McClelland & Stewart.
Cole, D. (2020). The skin we’re in: A year of Black resistance and power (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2020).
Diverlus, R., Hudson, S., & Ware, S. M. (Eds.). (2020). Until we are free : Reflections on Black Lives Matter Canada. University of Regina Press.
Saad, L. F. (2020). Me and white supremacy: Combat racism, change the world, and become a good ancestor. Sourcebooks.
Definitions
space (/spās/)
(Kendi, 2019, p. 166)
class (/klas/)
((Kendi, 2019, p. 151)
bi· o· log· i· cal (/bī-ə-ˈlä-ji-kəl/)
(Kendi, 2019, p. 44)
Act 3: Schools and Syllabus
3
Synthesis of Key Themes
Misbehaving racialized children rarely receive empathy from racist teachers. Instead, they are punished as if they were adults (Chapter 4).
Biological racism leads to a hierarchical categorization of racial groups based on a belief that certain races yield superior or inferior behavioural traits (Chapter 4).
Racism requires racialized people to need to be exceptional to achieve moderate success, and it has little empathy for “errors” (Chapter 8).
Racist policies are built on the notion of a monolithic explanation of a racial groups behaviour (Chapter 8).
Standardized testing is a function of racist policies as they do not account for historical or socio-economic barriers that can impact performance, nor do they allow alternate measurements of intelligence that reflect a racial group (Chapter 8).
The suggestion of an achievement gap that highlights varied intelligence across races is premised on the belief of varied performances because of race (Chapter 8).
Measuring the intelligence of how individuals are knowledgeable in their own environments and cultural norms is essential (Chapter 11).
Gatherings of racialized people can be perceived as anti-White (segregation) instead of as a space of solidarity against racism (Chapter 13).
Anti-racist approaches promote equal access and combine desegregation with integration. Thus, racial solidarity leads to greater diversity among all racial groups (Chapter 13).
Race is rooted in the appropriation of power, not in an individual’s immorality or ignorance (Chapter 1).
Moral and educational suasion believes that racist minds should be targeted first before fighting against policies (Chapter 16).
Anti-racist research is about producing research to affect policies to benefit racialized groups (Chapter 18).
Discussion Points
The following are some suggested themes and topics to be explored during this Act. Depending on your own frame of reference and the direction you hope to take, it may be helpful to do some preliminary research. Our suggestion is that you approach these themes in a variety of ways, including small group discussions, sharing circles, visual prompts, brainstorming activities, and annotations.
*Although you may be looking to offer contextual and factual information, prioritize establishing a collective understanding of your theme, and use this as a building block for further discussion and exploration with the group.
Definitions
Racist vs. Anti-Racist
Behavioural
Academic Privilege
Transdisciplinary Approach to Learning
Standardized Testing
SAT, GRE, LSAT, GMAT, MCAT
Curriculum
Combatting Imperialist Epistemology
Incorporating Global Perspectives, Literature, and Ways of Knowing, Learning, Being, and Doing
Critical Race Theory
Standpoint Epistemology
Primary Accounts, Auto-Ethnographies, and Lived Experiences
Pedagogy of the Opressed
Blackspaces
Reflective Questions
To Know
In what ways have you experienced academic privilege – positively or negatively?
Can you think of a time that you attributed someone’s potential to their race?
How is this reflected in how achievement is measured and the diversity of voices represented at all levels of your institution?
To Be
How do your institution’s policies create gaps between access and achievement between racial groups? In the classroom, in faculty, and in senior levels of management?
What current institutional standards that are considered “professional” may be biased toward a particular racial group?
In what ways can you invite an alternate perspective into your curriculum, into your pedagogical approach, or in considering alternative forms of assessment?
To Do
Plato said, “Those who tell stories rule society.” Reflecting on your own contexts, what actions can you take to create greater equity while amplifying Indigenous and racialized narratives that have been silenced in your classroom, curriculum, and campus community?
What are some takeaways from this Act that you will use to design and facilitate ethical spaces that embrace this type of sharing while combatting imperialist epistemology (Thusu, 2010)?
Check-In: Feeling, Orientation, Inspiration (FOI)
Discuss one feeling that has surfaced for you during this Act.
Reflect on one new orientation you’ve gained from this Act.
Collectively brainstorm steps or actions this Act has inspired you to take.
Activity
Suggested Activity – Audit of Your Curriculum
Curriculum
In what ways do you currently employ multiple ways of knowing in the learning environment?
In what ways are your assigned reading lists reflective of non-Western, non-White theorists and frameworks?
How have you challenged imperialist epistemology within your pedagogy?
Have you accounted for ways of knowing, being, and learning from actors in the Global South without fetishizing, de-historicizing, or misrecognizing their differences?
Engagement
How does your class arrangement or learning environment reflect your practice (rows, circles, pods)?
Is your approach an inclusive, transdisciplinary one that challenges academic privilege and values personal knowledges?
In what ways — whether through resources, technologies, or guest speakers — are you promoting and amplifying racialized voices?
Assessments
In what ways have you invited your learners into the process of determining the criteria being evaluated?
How have the options you’ve given your students for their submissions reflected an acknowledgement of different strengths and knowledges?
How have your assessments encouraged your learners to explore additional or primary sources rooted in their own cultural (race, ethnicity, work, familial) contexts?
Rubric
Using the single-point rubric below, reflect on how and if your current approach is anti-racist, and consider some areas you can enhance your learning approach to be more inclusive.
Concerns –
Areas that Need Work
Criteria –
Standards for This Performance
Advanced –
Evidence of Exceeding Standards
Curriculum – Is inclusive of multiple vantage points, celebrating the knowledges of various locales.
Engagement – Uses a welcoming approach that is representative of student experiences and reflects the varied heritage, histories, and perspectives of all, specifically amplifying disenfranchised voices.
Assessment – Is collaborative and reflects an appreciation for varied strengths, abilities, and knowledges, specifically primary sources from alternate cultural contexts.
Facilitator Tips
Encourage participants to jot down all and any ideas they have for change. This should be used as a brainstorming exercise.
Break participants into groups and have them share their audits with their colleagues.
Depending on your time allotment:
Have participants connect with a learning designer about their findings and brainstorm ways they can incorporate them into their future iterations.
Ask for anonymous formative feedback from your students.
Reach out to experts with lived experiences, and invite them into your process or classroom.
Dei, G. J. S. (2006). Introduction: Mapping the Terrain – towards a new politics of resistance. In G. J. S. Dei & A. Kempf (Eds.), Anti-colonialism & education – The politics of resistance. (pp. 1–24). Brill.
Henry, F., Dua, E., James, C. E., Kobayashi, A., Li, P., Ramos, H., & Smith, M. S. (2017). The equity myth: Racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian universities. UBC Press.
Definitions
eth·nic (/ˈeTHnik/)
(Kendi, 2019, p. 56)
be·hav·iour (/bəˈhāvyər/)
(Kendi, 2019, p. 92)
Act 4: Solidarity and Success
4
Synthesis of Key Themes
An aspirational post-racial world must first consider the idea of race and the impact of race stratification (Chapter 1).
Within the anti-racist agenda, eliminating race categorization is the last objective; without race categorization, you cannot identify racial inequity or challenge racist policies (Chapter 4).
High crime rates in certain neighborhoods are a byproduct of low-income and poverty rather than race (Chapter 6).
Behavioural racism makes an individual responsible for the perceived behaviour of a particular racial group and uses the racial group as a justification for the behaviour of an individual (Chapter 8).
To be anti-racist is to separate an individual’s culture from their behaviour (Chapter 8).
Although White people may benefit from racist policies, there is a distinction between White people and racist power and racist policymakers (Chapter 9).
The focus needs to be directed at racist power and racist policymakers rather than individuals (Chapter 9).
The powerlessness argument is used to justify that racialized people can’t be racist because they do not have power. Racialized people do have power with people at all levels of power. The powerlessness arguments do not consider this (Chapter 11).
Racist ideas lead racialized people to think the power is consolidated in the hands of White people. This in turn produces more racial tensions, which reproduce racist ideologies while defending racist policies (Chapter 11).
We can all uphold a racist idea or a racist policy regardless of the colour of our skin. Our ideas can be racist today and anti-racist tomorrow; we must recognize our faults and our language that supports racism (Chapter 11).
We must realize race is a social construct, but more importantly it is created to serve the interests of those in power and allow them to maintain this position (Chapter 16).
The history of the racially oppressed is a duel between racist and anti-racist progress (Chapter 16).
Hate and ignorance do not promote racist power. Racist policymakers are driven by economic, political, and cultural self-interest (Chapter 16).
Making someone change their mind about racism is not activism; the goal of the activist is to produce power and steer political change, not mental change (Chapter 16).
Discussion Points
The following are some suggested themes and topics to be explored during this Act. Depending on your own frame of reference and the direction you hope to take, it may be helpful to do some preliminary research. Our suggestion is that you approach these themes in a variety of ways, including small group discussions, sharing circles, visual prompts, brainstorming activities, and annotations.
*Although you may be looking to offer contextual and factual information, prioritize establishing a collective understanding of your theme, and use this as a building block for further discussion and exploration with the group.
Racist: Supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea.
Assimilationist: Expressing the idea that a racial group is culturally or behaviourally inferior and is supporting cultural/behavioural enrichment programs to develop the group.
Segregationist: Expressing the idea that a permanently inferior racial group can never be developed and supporting policy that segregates that group.
Antiracist: Expressing the idea that racial groups are equals and none needs developing and is supporting policy that reproduce racial inequity.
Reflective Questions
To Know
Where do you feel safe and unsafe? How is this experience a function of a feeling associated with being a threat or threatened or experiencing a form of discrimination?
In what ways do you see your personal, political, and professional life and affiliations reflecting one another?
To Be
Thinking of your own intersectionality and your membership in various groups and circles:
Who are some anti-racist leaders, and which tactics and specific forms of creative action or approaches have resonated with you?
What is the first step you will take in striving to be an anti-racist?
How is engaging in anti-racist work different for White people vs. racialized people?
To Do
Considering the use of framing (Goffman, 1974) as a tool to contest power and to offer an alternate narrative:
What theories do you believe can help us to better understand our worlds and the impetus we have to affect change?
What are some ideas you have for facilitating exchanges that can help to effectively mobilize campuses, communities, and society at large to resist racism?
Check-In: Feeling, Orientation, Inspiration (FOI)
Discuss one feeling that has surfaced for you during this Act.
Reflect on one new orientation you’ve gained from this Act.
Collectively brainstorm steps or actions this Act has inspired you to take.
Activity
Suggested Activity – Crafting an Anti-Racist Statement (Individual and Institutional)
Using the template below, build your own anti-racist statement.
Individual – “I”
Advice
A – Acknowledge – I understand that…
D – Disrupt – I commit to…
V – Volunteer – I shall give of…
I – Iterate – I will continue to…
C – Commit – I can take steps to…
E – Explain (how) – I resolve that…
Institutional – “We”
Advocate
A – Acknowledge – We understand that…
D – Discuss – We have learned that…
V – Volunteer – We will give…
O – Operationalize – We plan to…
C – Commit – We are committed to…
A – Aspire – We aim to…
T – Take on – We resolve/hope that….
E – Explain/Execute – We shall do this by/through…
Facilitator Tips
“We suggest you use Mentimeter to collectively brainstorm some of the gaps within your sector.
Remind participants to focus on highlighting their personal understanding and learnings with an emphasis on who they are, using positive affirmation rather than negative critiques about themselves or their organization.
Create something that is both reflective of today and aspirational.
This is not a static exercise; as your group’s knowledge expands, so too does the content. Be open to iteration.
Suggested Resources
Articles
Vargas, J. A. (2011, June 22). My life as an undocumented immigrant, The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/magazine/my-life-as-an-undocumented-immigrant.html.
DasGupta, N., Shandal, V., Shadd, D., Segal, A., & in conjunction with CivicAction. (2020, December 14). The pervasive reality of anti-Black racism in Canada, BCG. https://www.bcg.com/en-ca/publications/2020/reality-of-anti-black-racism-in-canada.
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics, University of Chicago Legal Forum, 139-168.
Diangelo, R. (2011). White fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism. ZIP Reads.
Du Bois, W. E. B., & Alexander, S. L. (2018). The souls of black folk: Essays and sketches. University of Massachusetts Press.
Du Bois, W. E. B., (1903). The souls of black folk: Essays and sketches. McClurg.
England [@England]. (2021, July 13, 2021). Our three lions. [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/england/status/1414907459567767553.
Ermine, W. (2007). The ethical space of engagement, Indigenous Law Journal, 6(1), 193-203.
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th anniversary ed.). Continuum.
Kumasi, K. (2017). Teaching about race in cyberspace: Lessons from the “Virtual Privilege Walk” exercise. In Cooke, N. & Sweeney, M. (Eds). Teaching for Justice: Implementing Social Justice in the LIS Classroom. (195-216). Library Juice Press.
Amanda Coolidge, director, Open Education, BCcampus
Dr. Sophia Palahicky, associate director, Centre of Teaching and Education Technology, Royal Roads University
Dr. Chaseten Remillard, program head, School of Communication and Culture, Royal Roads University
Technical Support and Guidance
Sally Glover, copyeditor
Josie Gray, manager, Production + Publishing, BCcampus
Jessica Webber, owner, Star Graphic Design
Kaitlyn Zheng, coordinator, Open Textbook Publishing, BCcampus
Versioning History
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