[Samer]

Here in Ontario, we don’t live in a bubble immune to the predominant narrative in the media and other social media feeds that either deny racism is systemic, or promote it in subtle ways. Nobody wants to be or admits to being a racist. When racism is part of our culture for decades, it is not eliminated overnight because of more awareness. It takes a lot of education, self-reflection, and open-mindedness to begin the process of eliminating discrimination. We may have started that conversation in Ontario, but I believe it is simply a start…

[Ryleigh]

<div>I believe that anti-Black racism is still an issue because the generations/people who participate in it were raised to think, “it isn’t my problem to fix” or “it doesn’t happen that often”. </div>

With social media these days, we all hear of stories such as George Floyd and Ralph Yarl, but many people think that these stories are just one-offs. It happens every day – in our schools, in our work places, in our social gatherings. Until we can spread awareness and shine the light on the cruel world that is anti-Black racism, I believe some people will always think it’s not prevalent.

Regarding the “it’s not my problem to fix” stance…you may not have been the first person to ever racialize a Black person – but are you going to allow yourself to be the next? We haven’t taken this view when it comes to reconciliation with the Indigenous population…so why are we taking it with the Black population? These are questions we need to ask ourselves in order to change our view on “fixing the problem”. They teach us in kindergarten that it doesn’t matter who makes the mess, it’s everyone’s responsibility to clean it up and in fact, the clean-up will happen faster if we all work together.

Unfortunately, I believe anti-Black racism will continue to exist until we ALL acknowledge what has happened and what is happening. We need to find a way to move forward all while keeping these things in mind and rewriting our future so it doesn’t become meshed in with the past.

[Meaghan]

I wonder if anti-Black racism persists in part due to lack of exposure for many people. For many, seeing any community outside of their own is often done through the eyes of stereotype and assumption. This happens because they don’t have anyone in their lives to show them their experiences, to talk to them about how it affects. them. With this comes lack of empathy. They don’t see anti-Black racism as an issue because it does not directly impact their lives. They don’t have Black friends who experience it and discuss the impacts. They aren’t witnessing their friends lose job opportunities, be met with suspicion, or be treated differently than them, because they don’t have friends who are Black. For many, the struggles Blacks experience on a daily basis are stories in the NewsFeed they read or movies they watch. It is a struggle that is at a distance, not in the forefront of their everyday life. When they aren’t experiencing it or being exposed to it in a meaningful way, their empathy for the struggle does not grow. Without empathy, they do not attempt to understand the Black experience. They do not take steps to identify ways in which they knowingly/ unknowingly continue anti-Black racism. They don’t see it as a large problem, because to them, it is not something they see or hear about directly. I wonder if we people were more exposed, brought face to face with the realities of anti-Black racism and its impacts, they may gain some empathy, and with that, a drive to change (in the very least) how they participate in anti-Black racism.

[Kristen]

I think that anti-Black racism is still an issue because people don’t like to upset the “status quo” – they don’t like the feeling of discomfort from acknowledging that things are not perfect, things are not as amazing as we like to think. I also think that geographical locations help keep anti-Black racism an issue. Having grown up in a rural, white community the topic of racism didn’t come up – we had no contact with individuals of different races (Black or otherwise). Looking at the same town now, where immigration has increased drastically and there are now more POC, it is challenging the white communities beliefs – specifically, their belief that they are not racist while still spouting off the same, often racist, comments that they learned in their youth. The social landscape is changing and it is upsetting the “status quo” which is leading to many individuals displaying behaviours you would never expect – based on historical learnings that do not represent the true experience. Sadly, racism will still exist until we all can acknowledge that the social, political, and historically landscape needs to be unlearned, and find a way to move forward while learning from the mistakes of the past.

[Karenna]

Anti-Black Racism is still a problem in Ontario largely due to the refusal to acknowledge the white/colonial systems still prevalent in our society. If our only decision is to become bystanders in these issues, nothing will be accomplished. We need to acknowledge our history, both good and bad, instead of being in denial. Media such as news outlets have not attributed to this cause either. We constantly have information shoved in our faces to try to distract us from real issues. This lack of coverage means that the proper voices are not being heard, and thus change will not be possible.

[Katie.Coghlin]

Anti-Black Racism is still a problem in Ontario because we continue to struggle with unlearning and de-centring the white, colonial structures in place in our province, especially in education. This is a big task and not one that I think will be easy and quick; however, too many among us are ignoring it completely.

[Amina Kay]

Anti-Black Racism is still a problem in Ontario due to the denial of different systems to acknowledge its presence and consequences and the refusal to take action and provide the necessary resources to counter it.

Although it has been a hot topic in the last 3 years, it is not considered by politicians, policymakers, and the overall population as an emergency issue.

[Rebecca]

Anti-Black racism in Ontario has consistently failed to be addressed by politicians and policy-makers, and even when changes are made to recognize and change this they are often repealed when new conservative governments come into power. The 1992 Stephen Lewis report identified anti-Black racism as being a major issue in Ontario, and although recommendations were made, there was little lasting or effective change that came from this report due to the election of the Harris government 3 years after it was published. After the “summer of the gun” in 2005, the school resource officer (SRO) program was introduced and police officers were put into schools. The SRO program has since ceased due to the harm it caused racialized youth, specifically Black youth. Anti-Black racism in Ontario is a direct reflection of the widespread anti-Black racism in Canada.

Canada has always been seen as a polite and caring nation, so much so that many Canadians tend to joke about our overuse of the word “sorry”. Although interestingly enough this penchant for being overly apologetic cannot absolve Canada for its participation in the colonial project, anti-Black racist policies, and the systemic injustices that continue to be perpetuated by White supremacy. White supremacy has always been a key part of Canada’s nation-building and the erasure of Black contributions, histories and the communities themselves are no accident. The history of enslavement in Canada has been sanitized and re-packaged to a point where I have heard young children confidently proclaim that enslavement did not exist in Canada. This, of course, indicates a failure of our historical recollection and dissemination, but one that is as purposeful as it is harmful. The historical tradition of erasing Black voices is an attempt to silence those speaking today. The myth of racial tolerance has been weaved into our history books and it continues to shroud the existence of deeply systemic anti-Black racism in Canada and in our most populated province of Ontario. This exclusionary and inaccurate portrayal of Canadian history is easier for White Canadians digest because it means we don’t have to change, we don’t have to give up power and platform, and we don’t have to actively work to identify how we have benefitted from White supremacy. It is easier for us to utter a platitude that has become almost meaningless, but what is being sorry without working to change?

[Nimra]

Anti-Black racism is still a problem in Ontario because it is not a one time fix thing. Continuous work needs to be done. There has to be policies, programs, training, etc. for everybody including authorities such as school authorities, police etc. to learn anti-racism practices and develop policies that would be more inclusive of black youth. Though, much have improved from past, but we still have a lot of racism issues going on in everyday lives of our black youth.

[Sagal]

I think the issue is media brainwashing. Anti black racism seems to be a large scale global mentality. It caters to peoples ability to not hold themselves accountable. By creating a narrative that someone is bad based on something as superficial as skin colour makes it easier for people to not look within and confront their subconscious biases. Internalized racism is a even bigger issue because believing in racist ideology as a black person will only make it a self fulfilling prophecy and make you a ally to bigotry. In modern day society with the growing number of people on social media and adhering to propaganda refusing to educate themselves and the increasing lack of self awareness is the problem as most people do not want to hold space for “uncomfortable” conversations the discomfort simply coming from acknowledging that there’s injustice still at play and that they are catering or even a part of the problem. Nobody wants to see themselves as the villain so they just lie to themselves but they know it’s a lie and then they find comfort in the fact that everyone else is doing it. Recently I learned about a psychological term call poisoning the well and it’s basically when you try to tell people what their doing is wrong and they look for character flaws in you and point that out instead of looking into the validity of what your saying. Nobody is perfect but just because someone isn’t perfect doesn’t justify treating them like their subhuman. Overall anti black racism needs to be more openly addressed and we need to equip our youth and elders with the language to combat it because only with our words can we incite change, and through education we can make better tv shows that aren’t racist, education will lead to more black people in businesses and lastly we need to confront racism outside and inside the community.

[Mehret]

ABR is still a problem in Ontario because Canadian society has adopted convenient amnesia- a discourse of denial- and ignores the historical realities of Black Canadians and Blackness in our society. It pretends that it happened over there, in the U.S., and denies ABR, its historical roots, and its very real and on-going consequences for Black people in Canada. You cannot fix a problem if you don’t acknowledge that it is a problem. Also, language used matters and the quote shared in module 4 about “visible minority” still being used in the context of Toronto although “minorities” make up more than 50% of the population in the city really resonated with me. What realities do we get to ignore, hide, and pretend they don’t exist, or matter, when using certain language to minimize, diminish, and undermine certain groups, identities, and their very real existence?

[Suvi]

Despite all the research presented in this module, I think there is still a lot of ABR issues that needs to be worked out in child welfare and hiring process for managers and upper management. So many of the time our Black youth are over-presented in the child welfare system.

[Aldith]

Unfortunately ABR is still invisible and unacknowledged by many people. Some people are just in denial that it could happen in Canada. Some people have blind spots as a result of their privilege. Sometimes it’s not the people at all. ABR is baked into so many of our systems that it can be difficult to identify… and then the political will isn’t there to uproot established systems and rebuild in an equitable way.

[Claire]

Anti-Black racism still exists in Ontario today because the dominant (white) society does, not see it. If they don’t see it, they can’t address it. Even when it is brought up, there is so much denial that it gets pushed aside. For change to happen, the people in power have to give up some of that power, and for many this is hard to do. We need systemic change to come from leadership, where there is a lack of Black people. We need change to happen everywhere, education, health care, financial sectors and others.

[Natalee]

anti-Black racism is still a problem in Ontario for a vast majority of reasons. One reality is that there are still many people that are not willing to admit that there is anti-Black racism exist. As well, for decades the Black community has shared their experiences, for example carding and Black youth being expelled from high schools at higher rates than other races. These issues are new. I believe after the George Floyd issue, that is when a real focus started on anti-Black racism. The government of Canada also has an anti-Black racism strategy from 2019 – 2022, my question to the government, is simple, do they think a 3 year plan will solve all the issues. A three year plan is only the start. This is one of the main reasons why anti-Black racism is still an issue in Canada. There is just so much the government can do. As well, we have to do our part and continue to work in collabortion to dismantly anti-Black racism.

[Holly]

I think that the Canadian experience is one that positions itself to be rooted so deeply as a country with open arms and acceptance of all and by doing this, experiences of Black communities is silenced or not brought to the forefront. How could a country that strives on multiculturalism miss the mark? That is the question we need to explore with it comes to our history and how it is discussed. I also feel that by doing this/not having the history represented in our history books/classes, etc. it makes it seem like it doesn’t exit/dispels any of the hurt that Black communities have faced within our history. We need to push for escalation in our system, starting in the school systems to the communities and literature that is being shared/gather/disseminated.

[casondra]

I think ignorance plays a big part, whether intentional or unintentional a lot of individuals don’t see how or believe their way of thinking or being is racist. It’s terrible to see but I think lack of education for sure is a huge problem. I try to stay informed and advocate for mistreatment but I was able to learn so much from this workshop and realize even some of my own behaviours aren’t enough.

[Samantha]

I totally agree!

The biggest challenge there is, is stigma, fear, lack of empathy and understand and lack of accountability! People in positions of power need to take this certificate course, because they do more harm than good. I work for a community mobile crisis team for substance use and mental health. We work in areas such as north rexdale, jane and finch, north york, black creek, and these areas are so stigmatized, it’s disgusting. People are more fearful of “what could happen to them” vs building trust in the community & not having empathy for the black identifying youth who are also living in fear, poverty, mistrust of the government, of the police, being under served & judged. This entire first module really helped me understand the context of this in Canada, and how I may have contributed when I was younger to some of this stigma. I actually cried listening to some of these lectures, as I am hoping to be an actual ally, a subject for change. I will continue calling people out and asking them to take accountability – as the lack of empathy in this country towards the injustice of black youth is horrible. I can’t wait to continue listening to further lecture to continue learning.

[Eugenia]

Two major issues come up on my mind when I think about Anti-Black Racism:

1- Lack of self-reflection: people are not used to self-reflect and having the courage to face uncomfortable sides of oneself such as biases and prejudice, and being willing to go through the hard work that leads ultimately to authentic and productive growth.

2 – Lack of empathy: trying to understand and FEEL other people needs is a necessity when we need to get connected. Our society is self-centered and therefore individuals are not proactive to work the whole community.

[john]

Well put! So many obstacles to understanding. The lack of empathy and self-reflection is a major stumbling block to many people. It actually prevents them from even opening their minds to the possibility of there being any other perspective than their own. Add to this the conflation of gaining this broader perspective and somehow having to give something up or having to accept the loss of something they unconsciously may hold dear, and any meaningful dialogue becomes almost impossible.

[Stephanie]

I agree with so many of the comments… Racist thoughts, actions are so often denied – particularly as racism is seen as a problem south of the border, or as individualistic ‘bad’ behaviour. We often don’t see our own complicity in how systems and structures protect and uphold racism and white supremacy.

[Megan]

I also believe people have naïve realism and believe that if they are not being actively racist then it must not exist to the extent that it does. I think the spoken word of how to be an ally really highlights this point. The speaker mentions that they do not want you to fight beside them but instead need you to fight in front of them. Being an ally means you are willing to actively be ANTI-racist. Neutrality or doing “nothing” does not equate to being an ally. There were many parts within the modules that spoke about the uncomfortableness associated with addressing racism within our own cultures and biases. To say that one has not been affected by bias is going against what it means to be anti-racist. As ally’s we need to actively acknowledge and fight against the interpersonal, internalized, systemic, and/or structural racisms that exist.

[Steven]

I think anti-Black racism is still a problem because we too often see racism as being “active” (I haven’t done/thought/said something that is racist), when in fact there is racism in doing/thinking/saying nothing. Racism moves from generation to generation if there is no sense that those who have been privileged by the racist actions of their ancestors, fail to move beyond the “nothing” stage and start the work of taking concrete action to effect change in their communities.

[Danielle]

I agree with a lot of the comments listed in this thread. Systemic racism, microaggressions, institutionalized policies, lack of cultural awareness, White supremacy are all major problems that perpetuate Anti-Black Racism. The only thing I would add is that another reason Anti-Black Racism is still a problem is because of the lack of connection to ancestors for both Black, (BIPOC) and White people. I don’t think racial divides can ever be healed without addressing the wounds of our ancestors, in a spiritual practice that mirrors the practices of your ancestors. See Resmaa Menakem’s work on Youtube Breakfast Club. I have worked with Black youth who found much healing by connecting to their ancestors through ritual with African elders. Also, I think in general, White peoples’ disconnection and lack of healing for their ancestors perpetuates unconscious karmic cycles of racism, especially against Black people. Whatever is unresolved karmically for our ancestors, we inherit. Most White people I know are not willing to engage in deep personal karmic healing work for their own racism, let alone healing work that addresses the racism of their ancestors.

[Briar Rose]

Anti-Black racism is still a problem in Ontario because our social structure was specifically created to uphold colonization, capitalism, and white supremacy (in the sense that white people are considered the “norm” and white culture is considered superior to others). While some efforts have been made to shift legislation and policy, the truth is that the overall system was created to privilege white folks at the expense of Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Colour, and this has not shifted in a general sense. Because we have been taught in mainstream spaces that anti-Black racism only consists of using anti-Black language, we often do not see the way that “hidden” social structures on an instituational and cultural level continue to keep Black folks in socioeconomic precarity while also exploiting them for physical, emotional, intellectual, and cultural labour. Racist policing and criminal justice systems serve the purpose of entrapping and endangering Black communities.

While non-Black People of Colour like myself (I am Chinese) experience some similar (and some different) forms of systemic racism, we also often contribute to anti-Black racism because of the way that racism in Ontario leverages non-Black People of Colour as “model minorities.” In my own lived experience, Asian communities often promulgate and benefit from anti-Black stereotyping and prejudice.

We have a lot of work to do to end anti-Black racism in this province, and I believe that the change must take place on multiple levels: Economic (there must be shifts in the flow of capital towards Black communities), Institutional (there must be changes in policy and legislation that exploit Black communities), and Interpersonal (we must investigate our internalized biases and challenge them from the root)

[Tiffany]

Anti-black racism is through generational learning. Black people are targeted daily due to historical stigma. Each generation parents are teaching young children the dangers around black people as they are in the news all the time versus the white population even though white people do the same things more than the black population. Although there is research, studies and new statistics coming into the light, it is hard to change the racial lens people have if they were raised to think a certain way.

The work that I do, there is little racial profiling, etc. but I have seen it when shopping in store. These individuals are the ones followed to make sure they aren’t trying to steal product, etc. Although we would like the racism to be gone it is still a very big issue in Ontario as well as across the world.

[Sarah]

Anti-Black racism is rooted in ideologies and ideas about blackness (deviant and subhuman) and whiteness (innocent and pure) that are rarely acknowledged, let alone dismantled. These ideas supported the construction of a Canadian national identity, infrastructure, economy and institutions on the back of Black enslavement and Black labour, all while denying the rights of Black people to lay a claim to belonging or having a history in this place. These ideas continue to ‘naturalize’ the gross inequities and discrimination in education, health, employment, the carceral system, child welfare and other institutions. Anti-Black racism exists because it remains invisible within the discourse of a ‘just and multicultural Canada’; inequality is framed through the lens of meritocracy and individuality rather than structural and systemic racism and injustice; and it is not in the interests of holders of power to address it because it is foundational to the way power is held and distributed in our society.

[Catherine]

A denial that black racism is historic and systemic. It is not enough to personally as a white person not be racist. Many people believe is they themselves are not racist than that is the end of racism. We need to challenge the structures built to harm black folks.

[Elizabeth]

Despite the beliefs and the construction of our mindset that we live in an inclusive society, there is a blatant lack of equity and access to recourses for Black people – not just in Ontario, but across Canada. The harsh realities of Black people experiencing racism go back to the colonialism and slavery, which resulted in discrimination, unfair treatment, and low expectations of Black communities and created the racial inequalities and the negative effects that impact Black people today. We see the marginalization of Black populations in our criminal systems, educational system, as well as housing and employment. Despite this, systemic racism, intersecting oppression and intrinsic barriers, are not acknowledged. Hence, anti-Black racism is still a problem in our society because institutions and policies lack awareness of the negative effects racism has on Black people and reduce potential opportunities that limit success.

[Melissa]

Hi Elizabeth,

Your comment is very powerful. I feel like you have acknowledged so many issues facing Black folks in Ontario (and in Canada). One of the things that stood out the most to me about your post is the awareness component. I think that there is a general lack of an awareness around racism in general. There are far too many people who view racism as simply an attitude or acts towards Black people. If that is the perspective of many people, how can we expect them to question our policies, systems, and institutions. We want people to ask the questions the don’t know how to ask. I feel that on my anti-racism journey I am constantly learning new things, and learning how to put an anti-racism/anti-oppressive lens on my work and my life. I think racism still exists in Ontario is because there is embedded bias and oppression all of our institutions – school, health care, politics, etc. We need more awareness and more education. We need more people to challenge what we know, and not to accept everything at face value.

[Opal Adriana]

Not only in Ontario it is a problem. Anti Black racism still is a problem in all the colonized territories of the Americas, and its because the identity of our societies is build by the aspiration of whiteness, also is build by a lack of empathy and social justice, and a false idea that racism is something of many many years behind us, something old and that it disappeared when slavery was abolished, when in reality there is contemporary and new anti black racism in our environments.

[Jackie]

From my personal experience, the historical denial and systemic racism exhibited by Canadians is evident. From my lens, the apparent commitment to maintain the status quo is beneficial to the people who benefit from their privilege. From their perspective, it is not worthwhile to change the current system because Canada is a wonderful, diverse, and open society. The current treatment of the indigenous and blacks are a clear indication that the institutions will remain in administering the systemic racism and classism.