Black liberation and resistance in and outside of academia
Embedded Files
learn about BLM's demands
As a collective, we believe in interrupting white supremacy in academia and supporting Black liberation movements.
Go to this website to read about the demands that have "been developed over the years as crucial systemic changes that can make life far more liveable for Black people" by Black Lives Matter (BLM) Toronto.
anti-Black racism on campus
Black people experience various forms of violence, including racial trauma that comes from systemic racism and everyday migroagressions.
In his MA thesis on Black Student experiences on a Canadian university campus, Ejiro Agbaire (2019) writes that
university campuses are often framed as open, tolerant, meritocratic places to learn, yet research has shown that racialized students and teachers are frequently exposed to racist images and messages (McCabe 2009; Young, Anderson, and Stewart 2015; Sue et al. 2007) (pp. 5-6).
Agbaire also notes that in Canadian society racism often manifests in microagressions (Sue, 2007, Crenshaw et al.,1996, Minikel-Lacocque 2013).
Racial microaggressions are “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults to the target person or group” (Sue, 2008, p.273). Racial microagressions do not exist in a vacuum; they intersect with gender, sexual, ability, body size, and class identities. This means that Black women, femmes, queer and trans, disabled, fat and working-class folx will likely experience layers of microagressions that relate to their unique overlapping identities.
According to Sue (2008), there are common themes associated with racial microagressions, including ...
(a) Being an alien in one’s land: A microaggression in which minority individuals are made to feel like they do not belong because of the colour of their skin.
(b) An ascription of intelligence: Tendency for people’s intellectual capabilities to be based on the colour of their skin.
(c) Colour blindness: A microaggression used to negate or supress minority counter-narratives.
(d) An ascription of criminality: Depending on the location, some races are more likely to be treated like criminals because of the colour of their skin. This can also manifest itself in the perception that certain groups need to be feared.
(e) A denial of individual racism by members of the white majority
(f) The myth of meritocracy: The belief that all people, regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic background, having the same chances for success; or in other words that success is ‘earned’ as opposed to being influenced by social position.
(g) Pathologizing cultural values and communication styles: The notion that the dominant culture’s methods of communication, traditions and values are the most ideal and those of others are inferior.
(h) Second-class microaggressions refer to when members of a racial majority are given preferential treatment over racial minorities
(i) Environmental invalidations are said to be more macro level microaggressions that are more apparent on a systemic or environmental level. For example, a University named after a slaveowner. (Sue et al., 2007) (Agbaire, 2019)
All racialized people navigate microagressions. This section draws attention to the experiences of Black students, faculty, staff and communities in post-secondary settings; however, by doing so, we are not diminishing the microagressions experienced by other racialized groups. We encourage everyone to think about how the microagressions experienced by Black people in university settings differ and compare to other racialized groups and how solidarity can be formed amongst communities.
Overall, we share this list to urge all non-Black students, faculty and staff to consider ways that anti-Black microagressions manifest in academic spaces. Research shows that Black students report feeling like they face harsher punishments for school infractions and that they are targeted more often by school officials (Ballard and Cintrón 2010; Grier - Reed 2010; Hier and Walby 2006; Kinsler 2011; Welch and Payne 2010)." (Agbaire, 2019).
Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun (2001) have written about the following traits of white supremacy in Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups: perfectionism, sense of urgency, defensiveness, quantity over quality, worship of the written word, only one right way, paternalism, either/or thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, progress is more, objectivity, and right to comfort. We urge everyone reading this, ourselves included, to think more about how our research and work connects with anti-Black racism and how to support Black students, scholars, staff and faculty members.
If you are reading this and are a non-Black student, faculty member, or staff member at OISE, here are some questions to consider ...
How do I enact anti-Black racism?
How do I support defunding the police?
How do I actively support BLM movements?
If I am a white person, what unlearning am I doing? Have I thought deeply about my privileges and the ways I navigate the university in comparison to Black, Indigenous and other racialized students? How am I working to become an ally and accomplice? How do I support Black students, faculty and staff at OISE?
If I am a racialized student (who is not Black), how do I show solidarity towards Black liberation and resistance?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
BLM
Defunding the Police
Further Readings
‘This is a Canadian Problem too’: Professor and Vice-Dean Maydianne Andrade discusses systemic racism and anti-Black racism and her podcast ‘The New Normal’
Dean and Task Force co-chair Dexter Voisin on systemic racism, trauma, and the Black community
New U of T professor Nadège Compaoré on being Black in academia and why representation matters
Dalla Lana School of Public Health: Affliction Without Immunity: How Anti-Black Racism Damages More Than the Dream
From The Chronicle of Higher Education: A Survival Guide for Black, Indigenous, and Other Women of Color in Academe
Canadian universities and colleges come together to take action on anti-Black racism
Canadian post-secondary institutions unite to take action on anti-Black racism, Black inclusion
Video: Wisdom Tettey, U of T Vice President and Principal of U of T Scarborough, speaks on the importance of taking action now against anti-Black racism and standing for Black inclusion in the higher education sector
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