On race

I reread the book, Black Berry Sweet Juice over the last few days
and it was a nice reminder of the issues surrounding being both "black" and "white" in this country It's a look into the issue of race from those who are of "mixed" race having a black and a white parent.


These conversations can be difficult, even more so in Canada, where we try desperately not to label people. This is often a strength, but in many ways makes certain conversations about issues such as race more difficult. In fact at a recent talk I was at by Adrian Harewood, a black news anchor from the BCC, he spoke of going to a school classroom and saying the word "black" and having some kids recoil in shock that he even uttered the word.


It's been particularly interesting to re-engage with this book and topic as I finally got around to listening to a series of podcasts from the Agenda where they examined immigration and often ethnicity or race was discussed. In fact the way that certain communities are labeled had an impact of their sense of identity and how they engage with the dominant culture. In fact the one thing that seems to link the disparate black communities is that they are seen by others as black. It's an odd thing in many ways to think that the thing that links them, may not have anything to do with their own shared history, but with the reaction of others to them. At the lecture, that seemed to be a question that was struggled with, as Adrian was asked about what links the changing black community together. For me it was interesting to learn about the fact that in the past it was largely immigrants from the Caribbean , who have been increasingly been supplanted by French speaking Africans and Haitians and also Somalians.


In both the book and one of the podcasts it was interesting to note the comparison with the United States, particularly hearing from one of the U.S. guests who pointed to something that isn't often remarked about and that was how racial groups in the U.S. are labeled. In other words difference is much more noticed and labelled. This is where I see the advantage in Canada, or our more open and fluid sense of identity. I will always remember the comments made by Alberto Manguel in his comments following his 2007 Massey Lectures about how he had always wanted to choose his citizenship, and found it odd that it was simply granted depending on where you were born. He remarked that he was astonished at how easy it was for him to be able to contribute and participate in Canadian society, without being labeled or judged. Despite now living in France and being from Argentina and having lived in United States, he felt that being Canadian had meaning and therefore it was important for him to assert that he was Canadian.


What I am increasingly afraid of is that we are losing that openness and that reluctance that we often have here to label people. Increasingly we are told and often (perhaps exclusively?) by those on the right who feel the danger in not defining what it means to be Canadian. This open identity seems to scare them, I'm not quite sure why. In fact I saw a title in a bookstore recently which captures the obvious fear quite clearly it read " Mayday. Mayday: Curb immigration. Stop multiculturalism or it's the end of the Canada we know."

I seem to keep coming back to those Massey lecture often in my thinking about identity, but I found them so interesting and inspiring and relevant. They remind us that cultures change, and there is no such thing as a living culture which is static. If it remains static it will die.

Obama on race

Having listened to and read Obama's speech on race this past week, I have become even more impressed with his intelligence and poise.

As a friend remarked it seems to be a generational thing, to admit there's a problem and then say we need to deal with it.

It would nice if this were politics as usual!

Obama dealt with the issue and really challenged America to look beyond the stereotypes on both sides and really as John Stewart said, he talked to us about race as if we were adults.

I have read his first book dreams of my father and he deals with the race issue there. When I first read it, the thing I kept remarking about was how different his experience of race was from mine. Even though we are both the product of a black father and a white mother, my experience in Canada was different. He adopted the black side of his experience and worked in a black neighbourhood in Chicago. I feel a much stronger attachment to the more general immigrant experience, and although black do not necessarily identify with a larger black culture.

The other book which I found fascinating was my Lawrence Hill, on growing up mixed race in Canada. I found some of his descriptions outside of my experience, while others were bang on. A hilarious one, was how he began playing badminton in Canada, and when he went to the U.S he was told that badminton was a white man's sport [despite of course that Asians are dominant]. Now I am a badminton player, but have never seen that reaction, though to be honest I can picture it easily.

One of the interesting things for me, is the difference between how blacks are seen in Canada and the United States. Here we don't talk about race, or if we do it doesn't easily include black, it sits beneath the surface and is in some ways overshadowed by a debate about multiculturalism. However it can flare up, as in the debate in Toronto over an Afro centric school.

I'll always remember the fact that most people I know, never really remark on my race. On occasion when people are trying to identify me they will mention my race, but it's rare.

Now the one exception which made me strongly aware of my identity was an old roommate who was from the U.S. I was always very clearly identified as his black friend. It was a bit discomforting, but it also made me realize how no one else really referred to me that way, though perhaps it was beneath the surface. There were a few occasions when I remarked about being black, and was greeted with a shocked or surprised look, followed by "you're black?"

Obama speech was a reminder of the difference between race relations here and in the United States. It was a call to dialogue and discussion, and I leave even more impressed than before.