Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tellurian on April 21, 2011 at 10:24pm

I'm an american, but I am interested to see how your experience is so much difference then ours. Do you think that the black people in Canada are treated better?

Permalink Reply by Crommunist on April 23, 2011 at 12:31am

The stigma associated with black skin in Canada is VERY different from the USA. We don't have the same history of conflict with black folks here - most black Canadians are recent immigrants rather than the descendants of slaves. Except for certain places in Toronto, black people are viewed as a curiosity or a fun exception to the rule rather than an underclass.

 

HOWEVER, we are certainly viewed through the prism of the black experience within the United States. Black folks here have a whole set of things stacked against them/us, mainly due to cultural creep from our southern neighbours. I have a series of "black history in Canada" articles available on my blog, but there are far more fastidious historians of the black experience in Canada that myself.

 

Canada also has a foundational myth of "we don't have a racism problem in Canada" that is very annoying and hard to break through. We have serious racial issues here, but most people are incredibly reluctant to engage.

Permalink Reply by Naomi on April 25, 2011 at 4:32pm

I am currently in Latin America, while it is different in many respects it is a mixture of good and bad.  It is unusual to stared at because of my skin color by people who would be considered black in the U.S.  I have some benefit but it is not always a benefit.  The history of slavery is largely the story of certain countries the negative stereotypes are intricately woven into most societies.  In China, skin color eluded to class darker people were typically those worked in the sun so the perspective of your race/color in China is a mixture of history and current media.  However, for those who have bad experiences I am sure it doesn´t matter to them if it is because of the history of darker skin people in your country, or as in Egypt a struggle with its darker neighbors and refugees, in Germany if you are considered to be a person of a certain religion or someone who is living off the system.  I think we have grown past the reasons why as our world gets smaller due to technological development.  The reasons vary but the thinking often does not.  I have been treated well in most cases around the world and I believe that part of it is character and desire to truly learn about and from other people.  The other part is my status as someone from a Western country.  I think what most people really want is for it to be a non issue.  To be able to move throughout the world and not be seen as anything but human.  Until that happens we are all at risk at times we will have to occassionally seek solice in a group that may have nothing more in common with us than skin color.  I had a recent reality check when I tried to join a professional black organization and was quietly refused, though I surpassed a good many of the members, after I was outed as a nonbeliever I never heard from them again as the leader of the organization was a serious Bible thumper.  I realized that I had only even applied because of race, and that that many of those people may not have even wanted me there if they knew me, worse I had little in common with most of them.  Sometimes, I feel a pressure to choose between my true self and race, it would be nice to pretend it did not exist, but I haven´t been to a place where it does not.  I don´t know if better than the U.S. should be the standard.  I am still thinking on it and wondering if there is a place for a Non-Believing ordinary black woman. Still searching...Naomi