Synthesis of Key Themes

• 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

• Race as a Concept
  • Race Origins
  • The White Mans Burden
• Definitions
  • Racist vs. Anti-Racist
  • Space
  • Class
  • Biological
• Contexts
  • Racist, Assimilationist, Segregationist, Anti-Racist
  • Case Studies from Around the Globe
  • Securitization
  • Canadian Time Line of Acts and Events
• Critical Race Theory
  • Micro-Aggressions
• Conjoined Twins
  • Capitalism and Business as Usual
  • Space(s)
  • Who Speaks for the Environment?
  • Intersectional Urbanism

Racist, Assimilationist, Segregationist, Antiracist

Contexts

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?

Activity

Suggested Resources

Articles

Sithole, T. (2016). The concept of the Black subject in Fanon, Journal of Black Studies, 47(1), 24–40. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934715609913.

Rashid, A.  (2021). “Racism & the Americanization of Canadian history: Why we shouldn’t look at ourselves through a U.S. lens, The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/racism-and-the-americanization-of-canadian-history-why-we-shouldnt-look-at-ourselves-through-a-u-s-lens-159974

Gray, A. (2019). The bias of ‘professionalism’ standards, Standford Social Innovation Review. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_bias_of_professionalism_standards.

Multimedia

Deggans, E. (Host). (2020). Not racist” is not enough: Putting in the work to be anti-racist. [Podcast]. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2020/08/24/905515398/not-racist-is-not-enough-putting-in-the-work-to-be-anti-racist

Canadaland. (2020). The police #2 — The secret history of the RCMP. [Podcast]. https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/the-police-2-the-secret-history-of-the-rcmp/

‎Warrior Life. (2020). Desmond Cole on anti-Black racism in Canada & US on Apple Podcasts. [Podcast]. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/desmond-cole-on-anti-black-racism-in-canada-us/id1434096503?i=1000476463578

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/

CTV News. (2020). W5: Balarama Holness fights against systemic racism in Canada. [TV show]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjsTcw0abhs

Hudson, S. & Loretto, N., (Hosts). (2021). Canada’s democratic deficit. [Podcast*]. https://sandyandnora.com/

* 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