A Black Canadian Perspective

I remember from time to time, one of my favorite university professors saying something along the lines of “we experience the world through the lens of our location.” Meaning, the way all the variables that make up a person carries them through life. Using myself as an example, I am black, female and Canadian.

But just because my skin is full of melanin, and I share this trait with millions of others in the world, does not make us a monolithic group. There is homogeneity in every demographic. For example, within the Asian race, there is Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese; three distinct cultures. The same with those of color. Yes, we are black, but we come from Canada, Latin America, Europe and the rest of the world, and speak a host of languages.

However, because of the negative black American images that dominate popular culture ( the uneducated way of speaking, the angry, unfeminine black woman)people mistakenly look to these damaging stereotypes as a framework for what characteristics and mannerisms all black people, including black Americans, should exhibit.

This is why the term ‘black culture’ is inaccurate. There is no single black culture. There is not one way of speaking or acting because the way a person speaks, largely depends on where they are from, not on their skin tone. Colloquial speech is different for every city, neighborhood and country. Even two people from the same country may speak differently depending on region. Here, in Canada, a person from Toronto has a different accent from a person residing in Newfoundland.

A major difference between the U.S. and Canada, is the view on race. It is an obsession in the U.S. and permeates every area of life. This is an unfortunate reality and an abhorrent one. But I understand this goes back to history. Now, for those that think I am bashing on the U.S., my post is not meant to do that. I have family and friends there. I am merely pointing out what I have observed. In Canada there is still racism - We have not treated our Indigenous citizens fairly, and the government is making efforts to right past injustices. But for black Canadians, racism is not so in-your-face. We are not constantly reminded of our ‘blackness.’

Skin tone, though, does invite probing questions:

Curious Person: “Where are you from?”
Me: “I’m from here” (Canada)
Curious Person: “Yes, yes, but where are you really from?”
Me, confused: “Really from? Like I said, from here. I’m Canadian.”
Curious Person: “Where is your family from?”

I can’t just be Canadian. White Canadians get no such scrutiny of their identity. I don’t know if black people of other cultures get this, regarding country association, but it happens frequently to Canadian black people. To be fair, I think it’s because a great majority of us have Caribbean heritage, but some of us are Canadian going back generations. Especially from Nova Scotia, according to Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada, 2019).¹

I propose for people to challenge their assumptions by keeping an open mind upon meeting or engaging with persons of color. See them as an individual and not a representation of their race or culture. Not as caricatures, but full human beings.

Reference

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