Last updated on February 19th, 2022 at 12:12 am
Sometimes Canadians don’t stay in Canadaāwe like telling ourselves that we’ve built a utopia and that our country’s one of the best places to live on Earth, but that doesn’t make it perfectāwe’ve still plenty of issues lurking beneath the surface, and unfortunately, the 2.9% of Canadians who identify as Black are far too familiar with far too many of them.
Dr. Zetta Elliottāborn Canadian, but currently found in Brooklyn where she’s the writer-in-residence at the Weeksville Heritage Centerādidn’t leave Canada filled with warm feelings. In fact, her contribution to Tales from the 2.9 details a life where she couldn’t fully reach her potential as a Black woman without leaving Canada. But that’s exactly why I’m glad to share her piece with you todayālife as a minority’s rarely a bed of roses; heck, this entire project started when I realized that there weren’t proportionally enough of us in Canada to have a single Minister represent us in the federal Cabinet!
All that said, please take some time and read today’s entry. It’s well worth the read, and that’s saying something considering some of the stellar submissions we’ve seen this month!
Catch you at the next installment!
About Dr. Zetta Elliott, PhD
Born in Canada, Zetta Elliott moved to the US in 1994 to pursue her PhD in American Studies at NYU. Her poetry has been published in several anthologies, and her plays have been staged in New York, Chicago, and Cleveland. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, School Library Journal, and Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures. She is the author of eighteen books for young readers, including the award-winning picture book Bird. Her urban fantasy novel, Ship of Souls, was named a Booklist Top Ten Sci-fi/Fantasy Title for Youth and was a finalist for the Phillis Wheatley Book Award.
Her own imprint, Rosetta Press, generates culturally relevant stories that center children who have been marginalized, misrepresented, and/or rendered invisible in traditional childrenās literature. Elliott is an advocate for greater diversity and equity in publishing, and currently serves as writer-in-residence at Weeksville Heritage Center. She lives in Brooklyn.
1) When you think of Black History Month, what are some of the stories and images that come to mind?
When I was growing up in Canada in the ā70s and ā80s, there was no Black History Month. As an expat who has lived in the US for over 20 years, I donāt have many positive memories of Canada when it comes to the development of my Black identity. My family happens to have African American roots, which Iām researching right now (with funds from the Canada Arts Council). I understand why my enslaved ancestors might have seen Canada as their best option in 1820, but I also understand whyāonce they got hereāsome of them chose to cross the color line and leave their Blackness behind.
I was a Black Studies professor for almost a decade but that wouldnāt have happened if I had stayed in Canada (where I never had a Black educator until my last year of university). Iām the author of nearly 20 books for young readers that blend Black history with magicāthat also wouldnāt have happened if I had stayed in Canada. I often draw inspiration from Dionne Brandās book A Map to the Door of No Return; in it she writes that people of African descent have had to develop a āmastery of way-finding.ā So I guess when I think about Canada and Black History, I think of all the ways weāve found to survive and make our stories knownāeven if that means re-crossing the border.
2) The Black Experience we’re largely exposed to in the media is that of our southern neighbours and the struggles they’ve faced. What’s your experience been as a Black person in Canada, and what have you learned from it?
I wrote about my life in Canada in my memoir, Stranger in the Family. And that title pretty much sums up my experience as a Black woman in a country that I found to be hostile and/or indifferent to Blacks. My father was an Afro-Caribbean immigrant who arrived in Toronto at 15 but attended high school and college in the US. He used to say, āI canāt get anything started in Canada,ā and he ultimately returned to the US in 1990. That opened the door for me to move to the US, too, and I left Canada because all I could see were closed doors.
Everything seemed so much harder in āthe Great White North,ā and racial advances in the US take 10-20 years to take hold in Canada. I found it hard to build community in Toronto and yet felt immediately embraced by the Black community in the US. Thereās not much I miss about my early life in Canadaābesides Shreddies and butter tarts!
3) In sharing your voice with the world, what impression do you hope to leave on the world with everything you do?
I hope my exampleāas a Black feminist writer and educatorālets young people know whatās possible for them, too. I never read any Black Canadian authors as a child and never met an author until I started graduate school at NYU. And I hope that my books let kids know that magic can happen to anyone, anywhere. Iām still trying to decolonize my imagination after consuming so much imperialist British literature in Canada, and I hope young peopleāby having āmirror booksāāwonāt have to spend as much time decolonizing their minds, too.
4) We all benefit from good mentors who guide us along the way to make sure we reach our potential in life. Who was your mentor to teach you from a cultural standpoint, and what’s the greatest lesson you learned from them?
My father really struggled with his Black identity because he grew up in poverty in the Caribbean, and was raised by a religious grandmother who told him to pinch his nose so he look more like āthe buckra.ā He married a woman who identified as white and felt that would ensure that his children would have every advantage as light-skinned Blacks. But then he had a āBlack Powerā moment, separated from my mother, and became an activist within the Department of Education in Toronto. He ran a summer camp where we watched Roots and learned about ancient African civilizations. But then his radical moment ended, and he married a Caribbean woman who convinced him he needed to perm his āhardā hair. She got me perming my hair, too, and I only stopped when I moved to Brooklyn and met a group of Black women artists/activists who wore their hair natural.
So Iād say I learned from my father that the struggle to love yourself requires you to dig up the roots of self-loathing. And that sometimes means distancing yourself from those who love you but canāt or wonāt decolonize their minds. My maternal grandmother looked white but identified as ācolored,ā and her refusal to āpassā for white like her relatives truly inspired me as a young woman. Sometimes being true to yourself means being aloneā¦
5) If you could say just one thing to the rest of the 2.9%, what would it be?
Speak up for your children! Find out what theyāre learning in school, see whatās available at the public library, and advocate for materials that reflect the histories and cultures of the African diaspora all year round. If there arenāt any books that provide a mirror for your child, you might need to make that book yourself. I write the books I wish Iād had as a child. Make sure your child has material that empowers her/him and makes her/him feel valued and loved.
All the Tales from the 2.9, 2016, a Black History Month Project
- Casey Palmer, Blogger | Tales from the 2.9 #1
- Lisa Simone Richards | Tales from the 2.9 #2
- Heather Greenwood Davis | Tales from the 2.9 #3
- Chad G. Cranston | Tales from the 2.9 #4
- Amanda Nunes, Heartless Girl | Tales from the 2.9 #5
- Marcel Dee, Photographer | Tales from the 2.9 #6
- Lian āReeseā Wright, Blogger | Tales from the 2.9 #7
- Brione Wishart, Filmmaker | Tales from the 2.9 #8
- Natalie Preddie, Blogger | Tales from the 2.9 #9
- Kevin Kelly | Tales from the 2.9 #10
- Black Sebath, BS7 | Tales from the 2.9 #11
- Jon Crowley, Writer | Tales from the 2.9 #12
- Nadine Kennedy, Artist | Tales from the 2.9 #13
- Heroes of the World | Tales from the 2.9 #14
- Alicia Bell | Tales from the 2.9 #15
- Ryan Robinson | Tales from the 2.9 #16
- Tash Jefferies | Tales from the 2.9 #17
- Lamin Martin | Tales from the 2.9 #18
- Septembre Anderson | Tales from the 2.9 #19
- Shaun Worrell, Blogger | Tales from the 2.9 #20
- Bee Quammie | Tales from the 2.9 #21
- Mike Armstrong | Tales from the 2.9 #22
- Zetta Elliott, PhD | Tales from the 2.9 #23
- Ryan Elcock, Habari Network | Tales from the 2.9 #24
- Brenda Chuinkam, Blogger | Tales from the 2.9 #25
- Rachel Lambo | Tales from the 2.9 #26
- J. D. Amin, BramptonRises | Tales from the 2.9 #27
- Sandra Dawes | Tales from the 2.9 #28
- Samantha Kemp-Jackson | Tales from the 2.9 #29
Tales from the 2.9 is an ongoing series on CaseyPalmer.com showcasing Black Canadian content creators and the experiences they’ve had growing up Black in Canada!