Hi Campus Unicef Readers! In today’s blog, we dive into critical race theory – what it looks like, why it’s imperative the content is taught in Canadian curriculums, and important figures in critical race theory that youth should look up to.
What is Critical Race Theory?
Critical Race Theory (CRT) is the study of how racism has prevailed in Northern America (primarily the United States). This is not so much in terms of the historical events that have occurred but more so how racism is a systemic concept, one that is embedded in our major legal systems, education systems, and public policies. Critical race theorists identify how racism is ongoing, and caused by the changing social dynamic rather than by explicit prejudicial biases. Furthermore, critical race theorists often criticize liberalism as its attempts at racial justice rarely yield the desires of racial minorities – they serve to benefit the ruling status quo in practice.
Psychologically —you can take the implicit bias association test created by Harvard, to find out if you have racist biases within yourself, and need to check your privilege. In this blog, I want to also point out that I am speaking as a person who benefits from having white privilege, and although I may be a minority in other aspects, my experiences can never truly compare to that of a Black person or a visible minority. We are socialized to have prejudicial biases because of the systems that we stand to benefit from, but a house is bound to fall if it is built on a broken foundation.
What’s Happening in the News?
In the United States of America, debates are currently occurring in multiple states (Florida, Nevada, Wisconsin, Virginia, etc.), as teachers and ministers of education contest whether or not critical race theory should be taught in schools. In a news report from CNN, parents protest at school boards, calling for the end of critical race theory lectures, despite the fact that it is not even currently being taught in their state schools. Critics state “we are not going in the right direction” (Don Lemon Tonight, CNN, 2021) by teaching children about the history of Americans and the atrocities they’ve committed against Black people. One woman at Douglas High School in Nevada, states “CRT is cancel culture” (Don Lemon Tonight, CNN, 2021), with another stating that “it is the purpose and intention of those who push for CRT to create guilt”, and while I’m not going to sit here and list reasons as to why they are wrong (as if it wasn’t blatantly obvious) I will however, make that point that: EVEN if CRT did promote cancel culture, or guilt, why would this be problem?
If you cannot acknowledge the past, and use what you’ve learned as lessons for the future, making clear distinctions between your ancestors and yourself – then maybe the guilt you hold is relative to your own beliefs. Is it because you support the views of your ancestors, and want to hide the guilt you’d feel, by banning CRT altogether?
Other citizens at public hearings state the teachings of CRT are “designed to further alienate our children from each other”, arguing that CRT is too radical to be taught. Governors and senators are using these hearings as campaign opportunities, and seniors at these schools advocate for the teachings of CRT, due to the fact that they lack education surrounding Black History overall, so they feel that learning about CRT would be a benefit to them.
Canada’s Involvement
Let’s look at Canada. Alberta’s Premier, Jason Kenney, has attempted to remove Critical Race Theory from the Alberta curriculum, all together. You may be wondering, why does this really matter? I don’t know about you, but I personally didn’t see much curriculum surrounding racism against black people until I was 17 years old, in Social Studies 30-1. By that age, it’s a little late to be learning about racism, and chances are, you’ve either witnessed racism as a bystander, seen it all over social media and the news, or experienced it first-hand. If the problem with the material is that it is “too sensitive”, then the arguments to that are twofold. Firstly,would you not agree that other potentially “violent” content should be banned, including war video games and GI Joe dolls, that promote the participation of children in the army? Secondly, would you also not agree then that perhaps more filtering of media should occur, to make sure news outlets censor violent information from youth, and protect young eyes from seeing too much?
The problem with trying to police education is that you are telling students that some things are worth learning more than others, and you are —whether intentionally or not telling them that history is only worth reading about when it’s through the perspective of the white colonizer. Another important problem that would worsen with the proposal of these aforementioned curricular changes is that too many people believe that Canada had little to do with the Civil Rights movement, as we were “too far North,’ to be affected. ‘This is also referred to as the so-called “Canadian exceptionalism.” While it is debatable whether the North truly were less harsh with their conditions of enslavement, the North was also too busy committing a mass genocide against another group — the Indigenous peoples. So, perhaps this is the real reason we do not hear about Canadian Racism against Black people. Not because it does not exist, but rather because it is not only being actively hidden from us, but also because we were participating in an equally terrible activity, at the same time. The progression of critical race theory education in public schools and more lessons on Black history, would strengthen our children’s minds. We cannot dismantle the racist systems in place, if we do not know the history from which they came.
Canada’s Africville Tragedy
One case in particular that stood out to me when I was researching Canada’s racist history was one in which an entire village, home to many Black Canadians, was demolished by the Canadian provincial government at the time — an act of terror and hatred.
This is the case of Africville – Africville was an African Canadian village, founded in the mid 18th century, just North of Halifax. This community was home to primarily African Canadians, who first settled there following the American Revolution in the early 1800s. In an article published on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights website, they state “Black settlers were pushed to the margins of society and forced to live on the most inhospitable land. Despite this, they persevered, developing strong, vibrant communities. Africville was one such place.”
The residents of Africville, like all Canadians, were required to pay taxes on their homes and land, yet despite fulfilling their municipal duties, the City of Halifax did not do the same. Africville had many problems with their sewage, access to clean water and garbage disposal, that they regularly requested be solved by the government of Halifax. In response, no action was taken and several toxic facilities were built around the city in addition, Africville was not appreciated or accepted by Canadians.
The City of Halifax eventually seized the land in 1964, claiming it would use the property for infrastructure, and quote “relocate the residents to improve their standard of living”, yet in reality, they demolished the village, leaving nothing in its place, and gave inhabitants little reparations. Reports also found that only 20% of all inhabitants had any form of consultations with the Halifax Human Rights Advisory Committee – this means up to 80% were unaware of what would proceed.
For those with proof, equal payment was offered to inhabitants as a reparation; for those without, only $500 was granted. In either case, the money cannot replace the value of community and memories the inhabitants had together. The last remaining Africville home was destroyed in January of 1970.
A quote from the Executive Director of the Africville Heritage and Trust, Sunday Miller:
“When people of Africville were here, they were self‐sufficient. They might not have had a lot of money, but they weren’t on government assistance. They were trying to create a community that the government wasn’t willing for them to have. When they took them off this land and forced them to be a ward of the government, which is what happened for those who went into social housing, you took their dignity from them.”
Another quote from Laura Howe, a former Africville resident:
“Living in Africville, we had our own home. It might not have been a mansion, but it was a home.”
Government intervention, racism, and ignorance led to the downfall of Africville, yet the former inhabitants hold its memories close to their hearts. The teaching of critical race theory, and other Black Canadian history in schools is essential if students want a true understanding of what really happened in Canada’s past. With knowledge, empathy, and Black representation, we can begin to dismantle the racist systems that exist in Canada today.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you in the next one!
Written by: Sara Assaf
Edited by: Kritika Taparia and Anson Wong
Campus UNICEF 