“What is the problem with being ‘not racist’? It is a claim that signifies neutrality; I am not a racist but neither am I aggressively against racism.’ One either allows racial inequities to persevere, an a racist or confronts racial inequities as an antiracist. ” Ibrim X. Kendi
When I was a child, our family lived just outside of Penticton and at the age of 9, I was sent to a Catholic day school. I had never before seen an Indigenous person and in my class there were 4 Indigenous kids. Feelings of confusion were very common for me as I witnessed daily disturbing scenes of discrimination and racism. I sat behind these kids who were forced to sit at the front of the class. The teacher never included them in discussions or in activities. They actually only came to school maybe twice a week at the most. There was an unspoken rule that us white kids should ignore the brown-skinned kids. But I studied them closely as much as I could without being too obvious. They stuck together, laughed and whispered quietly to one another and watched us play sports and always ate the free lunch that many white kids had no need of. They all had long hair and drew pictures of horses and animals instead of writing, reading and arithmetic. Harry Kreuger, began walking close by my desk and for 3 years, he would half sing and half whisper my name repeatedly, as he passed by. I felt a deep fascination at his happy and beautiful voice. I did not tell my girlfriends or anyone about Harry and I did not try to stop him. I ignored him at recess and lunchtime and pretended he was invisible. Driving through the reservation, up the ski hill on the weekends, I hope to spy him out his yard. I felt sad and helpless seeing the poverty of the reservation but remained silent when my family members would make racist remarks about “those lazy Indians.” I felt guilty and shameful for hiding my true feelings but as a 9 year old, in the 60’s, racism was the norm.
Four years after I started Grade 4, in 1967, the Hawthorn Report declared: “It is difficult to imagine how an Indian child attending school could develop anything but a negative self-image. First, there is nothing from his culture represented in the school or valued by it. Second, the Indian child often gains the impression that nothing he or other Indians do is right compared to what non-Indian children are doing. They Have little reason to like or be interested in the school any.” Even though all children are harmed by racism and institutional learning, school must have been agonizingly alienating for Indigenous kids.
Becoming anti-racist is a scary and slow process for us settlers. Focusing on diversity without looking at issues of power, racism and white skin privilege only serves to uphold systemic inequities under the guise of multicultural education. “The ability to ignore racism is an example of privilege; those who are most affected by racism do not have the privilege to ignore it….it’s not ‘if I am racist, it’s how I am racist’ because of the colonial narrative that has been built in this country.” Jo Chrona, Indigenous Pedagogies. Is there a 12 step program for unlearning racism? The book “How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi is one resource I suggest. The novel “Slash” about an American Indian Movement activist, by Jeanette Armstrong, is compelling.
Today, March 17th, the Manitoba NDP’s Wab Kinew told the world that the remains of two murdered Indigenous wimmin, found in a garbage dump, were finally being returned to their families. Mardeceds Myran and Morgan Harris, both from the Long Plain First Nation, along with Rebecca Contols and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, were murdered in 2022. A year and half later, the Manitoba Conservative government at the time, refused to search the landfill, even though some of their remains were found in a garbage can in Regina. They said it would cost too much money. As soon as the NDP’s Wab Kinew was elected, he found the money and was helped by the feds to find these murdered wimmins’ remains. We whites must all become anti-racists; yesterday is too late.
