Racism

The effects of racism are influential on young people because they are in a critical stage of development. Racialized youth report:

• Unequal access to resources and opportunities
• Frequent exposure to discriminatory treatment including microaggressions
• Lack of diverse representation in images, media and learning resources

Racism creates significant disparities for B.C. students resulting in higher instances of stress, self-reported poor health, and suicidal thoughts and attempts.

Microaggressions are often brief and common interactions such as jokes or comments. They might be communicated once or repeatedly either verbally, nonverbally or within the environment. At school, microaggression examples include:

• Mispronouncing someone’s name, even after being corrected
• Disregarding religious and cultural holidays and traditions
• Making assumptions about someone based on their perceived race
• Making fun of someone’s lunch or snacks

Individual racism refers to someone’s own racist assumptions, beliefs or behaviours. Individual racism is learned, supported and reinforced by systemic racism.

Systemic racism is how society is set up to favour some groups of people over others. Canada’s legacy of institutions designed on racist principles has harmed and continues to harm Indigenous peoples and people of colour. Examples of systemic racism in Canada include, but are not limited to, the Indian Residential School System and the Chinese Exclusion Act.

People participate in systemic racism every day without being aware of it. It’s important to understand colonialism in Canada and how participation in these systems and behaviours is racist.

Racism in Canada may not be your fault, but we all have an individual and collective responsibility to be aware of it and work towards creating a more inclusive society.

Privilege means having an advantage over others that wasn’t earned. It’s unfair and creates inequity in how resources and opportunities are shared.

The term ‘white privilege’ means white people receive benefits and face fewer barriers than Indigenous peoples and people of colour. White privilege doesn’t mean that you haven’t experienced hardship. It’s just that the colour of your skin is not one of the reasons why you’ve experienced hardship. Recognizing privilege means understanding and acknowledging that racialized people face hurdles in society that white people do not. Addressing white privilege requires critical reflection of policies, culture and behaviour.  

The term intersectionality acknowledges that different parts of our identities, such as race, gender and sexual orientation shape the experiences for individuals and groups of people. Intersecting identities can create additional barriers or opportunities. Understanding intersectionality helps to identify different forces of discrimination that people experience to then address them.

• Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith
• This Place – 150 Years Retold by Various Indigenous Authors/Illustrators
• This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell
• Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
• New Kid and Class Act by Jerry Craft

• Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, And Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
• The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King
• 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph
• How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X.Kendi
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice that Shapes What we See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo