Tokenism. One of those things the Black community doesn’t talk about nearly enough, tokenism is what happens when someone’s in a group where everyone else is completely unlike them. Much of my life had me as the token Black guy, navigating spaces unfamiliar to me again and again as I defined my identity. Black Canadians make… Continue reading The Trouble with Tokenism
Tag: Live from the 3.5 2020
Canada’s Dance with Diversity
“Why’s your skin so dark?” — an eight-year-old boy from small town Ontario at the Canadian National Comic Book Exposition, 2003. When a little White boy asked me why my skin was so dark at my comic-con table, I wasn’t ready for it at all. As a Mississauga kid, I knew diversity. I knew a… Continue reading Canada’s Dance with Diversity
Examining Blackness.
When I started this project, it had a straightforward premise—to let Black Canadians share their stories, seldom seen in our history books. And that worked at first—interviewing my fellow creators and weaving our stories together into something everyone could understand—but what I didn’t realise was how much I’d learn from them, the breadth of our… Continue reading Examining Blackness.
Do We NEED a Black History Month?
Angry White Person: “Why isn’t there a White History Month???” Me: “Because that’s ‘history class’.” If you ask those who believe we live in a post-racial world, things look a little like this: Racism is over. Everyone’s equal. We know the evils that men do and teach our children not to become them. We’re in a respect-first… Continue reading Do We NEED a Black History Month?
Live from the 3.5, 2020—INTRO: Back to Black.
“When we talk about black maybe We talk about situations Of people of color and because you are that color You endure obstacles and opposition And not all the time from… from other nationalities Sometimes it come from your own kind Or maybe even your own mind You get judged..you get laughed at… you get… Continue reading Live from the 3.5, 2020—INTRO: Back to Black.