There may be no greater an asset-destroying condition than racism. Racism blinds the racist to the assets POC (people of colour) bring to our neighbourhood table and it deeply wounds and re-wounds the spirit of people who experience it. During this municipal election campaign I door-to-door canvassed for the person who was my personal choice for Councillor - a person of colour. For the most part, the reception of the candidate seemed to have nothing to do with race but a couple of incidents left me aware that racism does exist in our neighbourhood. One was subtle – the homeowner who kept looking at me for the answer when it was being spoken by the candidate who was closer and speaking! Another incident was very overt and occurred when I was not with the candidate. It began “I don’t want to be racist or anything but ..” and it went into such an ugly place that I won’t even relate the details. (My spirit weeps.) As it turns out, one of the POC who campaigned in this ward has become our Councillor Elect. While the new Councillor has many matters that he has expressed concern about (housing, environment, employment, etc.) there is a special opportunity now for our community to make progress with this asset-destroying condition of racism. And most cruelly, the devastation to individuals can come at the most unlikely and unguarded moments. For example, what could possibly be more fun than being young, in university and celebrating Halloween? OMGoodness. Please read the following written by Samir Ismael Traore, shared with permission. Ismael’s words are food for the mind and soul of all of us. [Begin] I do not expect you to read this, but I am getting this out of my chest. Brock University has been on many news channels lately for a Halloween party hosted by Isaacs/BUSU where a group of four persons (3 white men and 1 brown man) dressed as the Jamaican Bobsled team and the 3 white men wore blackface; painted their face so they can look black--which apparently means shoe polish tar like. They won first price for best costume, which comes with a $500 stipend. This is the second time i am aware of this happening. The first was in 2007. I was a Brock undergraduate then. The team were four white men in blackface, again, as the Bobsled team. They won 2nd price. BUSU, the universitys administration, and the president have been very slow to apologize and state their strong disapproval. Luckily, with days of backlash, complaints, bad press, and writings by Faculty and everyday alumni, students, and others on two Brock related facebook pages, the president has come out to call this incident and people supporting it as operating out of ignorance. See link: torontosun/2014/11/05/brock-student-union-accepts-responsibility-for-blackface-incident I have been in days worth of online conversations on why this costume is not only offensive but a practice of cultural racism. It has been a frustrating and at times rather hopeless endeavor as the general populace, mainly white persons but definitely with an observable presence of POCs, see white cross-race face painting (blackface) as not offensive, a joke, good humour, a past issue that is not related to the present, not the intention of its wearers to be racist, only offensive to liberals or the political correctness police, a matter of opinion, and a whole pile of racism-excusing commentaries. I tell you my friends, that racial bias is rampant in our community and peoples investment in wanting to defend and continue a racist practice is dumbfounding. Luckily, there are few persons who took time to also explain why this is a problem. My hat tip and hugs extend to them, whites and poc, for their engagement. I decided to write my position on the matter here. Awareness raising can never be enough, and it seems more is needed considering that in the above link 75% of people believe blackface is not racist or not offensive. *le sigh* Here are my thoughts and I do not apologize for the length Youd be surprised of the many reasons supporters of blackface have! First of all, it must be understood that collective trauma--such as genocide, slavery, blatant racism, lynchings--is passed on across generations. In psychotherapy and psychiatry, we call this transgenerational trauma (TT). An example of TT is the over-representation of children of Nazi-Holocaust survivors that sought child psychiatry services in comparison to the non-Holocaust children population in 1966, Canada. Black persons have collectively been through a Holocaust that lasted longer than the Nazi-Holocaust and that has had a higher numerical toll of victims. *Note, Jews received reparations. Secondly, anti-Black Holocaust has not ended but only changed how it functions. It is still a present day reality. In Toronto, for instance, Black persons are 3.4 times more likely to be carded (stopped and frisked) by police than their actual population. To demonstrate in another way, all the 8.1% of the Black population in Toronto have been carded at least 3.4 times. This is racial profiling, for carding is not the result of any criminal act or tips whatsoever, but simply for data collection purposes. Take drug possession as another example. Six years of internal police records show that upon receiving a drug charge, a person could be charged and simply sent home, brought to a police station, or held overnight in jail. What data by Toronto Star analysts show is that a) Whites were released on the scene 76.5 per cent of the time while blacks were released 61.8 per cent of the time, and b) Of those taken to the station, blacks were held behind bars for a court appearance 15.5 per cent of the time. Whites were kept in jail awaiting a bail hearing in 7.3 per cent of cases. All these play a key factor in why Black persons are over-represented in jail relative to their population. Now, some people may attempt to remain defensive that all this implies racial profiling. And often, these naysayers are people who experience skin and class privilege and so do not have contact with police as much as others. For the naysayers I say, Toronto Police Chief Blair has akcnowledged many times that racial profiling in fact exists, or what is now being referred as “bias in policing.” thestar/…/racial_bias_exists_on_police_force…# What does this all have to do with blackface? Blackface has played a powerful role in the trauma and Holocaust of black persons. A perfect example of this is the movie Birth of Nations that is known to have revitalized the KKK. Because trauma is passed on generationally, we cannot dismiss how the past affects us today. And the practice of white persons to engage in cross-race painting not only triggers generational pain, but further perpetuates cultural racism. Cultural racism, in short, is when a dominant group uses mediums of communication (i.e.: media, education, etc) to speak ABOUT as opposed to WITH a minority group. The fear-mongering of Muslims as terrorists is an example of this. Cultural racism, also, not only is the practice of a dominant group speaking about an oppressed group, but also to silence their voice in these same channels of communication. Blackface or cross-race dressing is one of these mediums through which white persons in the past and in the present practice cultural racism by perpetuating stereotypes about black persons through costumes; by selectively representing black persons. To add offense to this, blackface or cross-race painting exists today within a context that still offers certain unearned privileges to white persons (i.e.: less likely to receive a harsh charge for the same crime as a black person) and marginalizes people of color and treats them as second-class citizens. In other words, blackface exists today within a society that practices systematic racism. Many Jamaicans actually have found Cool Runnings offensive for it misrepresents Jamaicans by exaggerating caricature, playing on stereotypes of yes mawn, and giving the save the day role to a white person (the coach). Please also note that the actors were not even Jamaicans. So while some folks may think a Bobsled blackface costume is praising or celebrating Jamaicans or Black people, this could not be further from the truth for it perpetuates stereotypes, continues a practice of cultural racism, and triggers and creates more generational trauma. Finally, there is another question I invite you to ponder upon, and that is why is it so acceptable in the white community to put blackface or paint their skin black during a night where magical strange creatures abound, yet it is absolutely rare to see persons of color to show frenzy at the idea of painting their skin white? Let me ask this another way: why, when it comes to cross-race painting, is this practice over-represented by white persons and under-represented by persons of color? In other words, why is there not as many persons of color painting their skin allegedly-white during Halloween as white persons painting their skin allegedly-black? Because behaviors do not occur in a vacuum, it is clear this is not a coincidence. It is not an accident but a reflection of a racial order that practices racism that has made it possible for white persons to a) consider blackness as a thing -- in other words, to dehumanize blackness to an object such that it can be taken apart from the humans that have said skin color, b) to then wear blackness without regard to how this may impact onlookers who are black and make a laughing stock (indeed, Halloween is also a comical and humors event) of their blackness, c) to wear blackness without a sense of repercussion or accountability whatsoever, and d) to defend white people to continue a practice that clearly offends others and to then engage in victim-blaming when they are made aware of this offense. The blackface of the Brock bobsled team is thus not directly or solely a reflection of wanting to appear as closely as possible as the Bob Sled team, as few have suggested. It is the result of a racialized order hierarchy and continuing history that encourages the mocking of, fetishsizing of, and appropriation of those that are collectively marginalized and who have less social influence than the dominant group. In other words, this behavior exists within a cultural discourse that gives power to its dominant-majority and absolves/saves them or fails to hold them accountable for their action. It is also a behavior that exists within a culture in which mainly, though not exclusively, white persons do not have to develop racial-etiquette and cross-cultural competency to exist. Persons of colour, however, by the very nature of them being marginalized, do not have the luxury to take skin-colour issues lightly, for skin-colour has material consequences. The very fact that whiteface is so infrequent that it might as well be negligible also indicates that this behavior is informed by societal factors like cultural racism and modern-day racism. The amount of POC with whiteface is like 1 in half a million. The amount of whites with blackface is great and a yearly ritual. This numerical difference is not a mere coincidence. I hope all this helps! [end]
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 12:46:26 +0000
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