It's been a few days since the end of Black History Month and I wanted to write a brief recap of an event we recently hosted at my university. We had many conversations around this topic in my school club and I wanted to share the questions that we asked the panelists during the panel discussion.
It was a great discussion and something my group plans to continue to do. It's sad that for many people, the only time they think about black history is during the month of February (the shortest month in the year).
1. What does it mean to be black in Canada?
Theme: Immigration
2. How does Canadian black history fit into the myth that Canada is a nation of immigrants?
3. Should immigrants give up their cultural identity for the sake of integrating into Canadian society?
Theme: Identity
"From the desecrated slave cemetery called Nigger Rock in Saint Armand, Quebec, to the desecrated cemeteries of Priceville, Grey County Ontario, to the segregated poverty in North Preston, Nova Scotia, to the destruction of Africville, to the disappearance of Hogan’s Alley in Vancouver, to the re-appropriation of Little Burgundy in Montreal – Canada has a long and enduring history of anti-black racism. In Canada, black people have been both victim and they have resisted being victimized. Such is part of what it means to be Black here. Each of those stories tells us that Black people have a long and intimate history to this colonial space we call Canada. It is a paradoxical history, a confusing history, and a history of subordination and resistance and seduction to being subordinated. It is indeed complicated. But it is also, incredibly, a history of active resistance too." – Rinaldo Walcott
4. How do we highlight the role of resistance in telling a Canadian black story?
5. How do we sustain black involvement and black visibility
6. How do we draw more attention to Canadian black history?
7. Are blacks part of a vision for a future Canada?
1. What does it mean to be black in Canada?
Theme: Immigration
2. How does Canadian black history fit into the myth that Canada is a nation of immigrants?
3. Should immigrants give up their cultural identity for the sake of integrating into Canadian society?
Theme: Identity
"From the desecrated slave cemetery called Nigger Rock in Saint Armand, Quebec, to the desecrated cemeteries of Priceville, Grey County Ontario, to the segregated poverty in North Preston, Nova Scotia, to the destruction of Africville, to the disappearance of Hogan’s Alley in Vancouver, to the re-appropriation of Little Burgundy in Montreal – Canada has a long and enduring history of anti-black racism. In Canada, black people have been both victim and they have resisted being victimized. Such is part of what it means to be Black here. Each of those stories tells us that Black people have a long and intimate history to this colonial space we call Canada. It is a paradoxical history, a confusing history, and a history of subordination and resistance and seduction to being subordinated. It is indeed complicated. But it is also, incredibly, a history of active resistance too." – Rinaldo Walcott
4. How do we highlight the role of resistance in telling a Canadian black story?
5. How do we sustain black involvement and black visibility
6. How do we draw more attention to Canadian black history?
7. Are blacks part of a vision for a future Canada?
