"A Past, Denied: The Invisible History of Slavery in Canada"

[Number23]

"A Past, Denied: The Invisible History of Slavery in Canada"

A Past, Denied: The Invisible History of Slavery in Canada is a feature-length documentary by independent filmmaker Mike Barber. The film, which is currently in production, explores how a false sense of history—both taught in the classroom and repeated throughout our national historical narrative—impinges on the present. It examins how 200 years of institutional slavery during Canada’s formation has been kept out of Canadian classrooms, textbooks and social consiousness.

...Today in North America, the use of African slave labour is seen as a uniquely American institution. Canada is reputed as being the promised land to the North to where slaves could escape and live as free men and women. The Underground Railroad is our claim to fame, and we toot that horn proudly. Our history textbooks—and much less, our national historical narrative—rarely, if ever mention the two centuries of institutionalized slavery and its role in the founding of Canada.

This looks absolutely fascinating. And I'm for ANYTHING that corrects the erroneous crap that passes for "history" in North American schools.

Mike Barber caught my eye when he wrote a pretty good rebuttal to the ignorant Lisa Solod Warren, the Huffington Post blogger who wrote that embarrassingly idiotic piece on Tiger Woods and Obama being brought down by "hubris." :eyes: (I was happy to hear that the piece from Warren was taken down even though she's still whining about it to this day.)

My favorite bits from that piece:

"For white people wanting to become sincere allies in antiracism, the first thing that's required of us is that we acknowledge our white privilege and confront the aversive attitudes instilled in us by a white supremacist culture. It's not an easy process, and to be honest it is a life-long one; constant mindfulness of our white privilege is fundamental in order to be allies. In order for a white person to write about race with any credibility or competency, they first need to go through the same personal confrontation. Otherwise, they are setting themselves up to repeat the same racist attitudes with which they've been programmed throughout a lifetime of privilege.

Seems like a really interesting chap.

[Number23]

1. Woah! I just realized that Barber linked to SemiCharmed's fabulous OP in GD-P!!

Go SemiCharmed! Go SemiCharmed! It's your birthday, get busy!! :party:

[AspenRose]

2. I'm glad this is being discussed

I'm still more comfortable walking around in Montreal and Ottawa than in some American cities, though :hide:

Not to say that racism doesn't exist in Canada - it most certainly does - but my anecdotal experience: I don't get that unspoken vibe of people holding their distance, clutching their handbags, giving the side eye, waiting for you to confirm their worst suspicions, in Canada. And if they do, it's been based on being an (anglophone) American, not solely on being black. I've gotten nothing but respectful treatment there. Maybe it's because I have Canadian relatives; maybe I've just been lucky; maybe I'm as clueless as they come. :shrug:

I think the KKK is most active these days in the prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan). And every once in a while there might be something in Toronto or in Nova Scotia, since Halifax has a large black population.

My .02

[Number23]

3. Wow, I didn't even know the KKK was active in Canada

I remember being a kid and knowing that there were certain places in Georgia that one did not go to "after dark." And this was not 1955 either. This was like 19 EIGHTY five and black folks were still warning each other not to go to places like Stone Mountain after dark because "the klan was there."

Living in Australia, I feel that there is SIGNIFICANTLY less racism "on the street" but I think alot of that is because of Australian cluelessness. Alot of these folks just don't get it. I have so many Indian friends here it's ridiculous and depending on who you talk to, Australia is the most racist place in the world or it's not racist at all. I have a Maori (indigenous New Zealand) friend and she can barely talk about the racism here without pulling faces.

And my black American friend here is like me -- just when she starts to think that people have no hangups whatsoever about race (and I don't believe that they do here that much) somebody will say something to her or do something that is so indicative of a racial cluelessness that can only be explained by racial privilege that it just makes your jaw drop. On one hand, you try not to be angry because you know what was said/done was not necessarily malicious. But at the same time, you just have to grit your teeth and try not to cuss somebody the HELL out. I have learned almost as much about patience and restraint from living in other countries as I have in becoming a mother. :)

[AspenRose]

4. I thought about you when the KFC-Aussie-West Indies Cricket-commercial

controversy blew up this week :-)

Australians don't understand the 'blacks and fried chicken' thing, so for Americans to yell "that's racist!" to a culture that doesn't understand what's so insulting.... :shrug: Yeah, it's racist...in AMERICA. NOT in Australia, fool! :dunce:

For once it's refreshing that America hasn't successfully exported that particular racist stereotype :-) and for once someone needs to yell STFU and MYOB to the USA :-)

(For everyone else who doesn't know what happened)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/06/kfc-advertisement-accused-of-racism

And the KKK in Canada

http://www.rhcask.ca/james-gardiner-vs-the-kkk/
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/08/27/klan-saskatchewan.html

[Number23]

5. The thing is, that commercial is part of a series of commercials

I saw one the other day that showed that same stupid looking Australian man sitting in a crowd of white people (British maybe?) and this time he whipped out a KFC fried chicken sandwich to make friends.

On the one hand, it is just this Australian cluelessness about race and racial stereotypes that makes things like this seem okay here. They just don't know or don't GET how things are. On the other hand, I think some education for many of these people is desperately needed.

Alot of Australians like to pretend about alot of things, but this country's racial history is every bit as shameful as ours. Australia had a Whites Only immigration policy until moderately recently, like maybe the last 30 years and politicians railed against the "Yellow Peril" of Asian immigrants during that time. Go to the museum in Sydney and you will see pictures of Aboriginals in chains -- Australia briefly tried its own brand of "black" slavery. And the stuff you hear about the Stolen Generation is enough to make anyone with a conscious weep.

Even today, you look at Australian magazines, television and the overall culture and it is literally STEWED in "blonde supremacy." The Australian concept of "diversity" in advertising and media representation means showing a dark-haired white woman/man in addition to a blonde. Every time I go into the city, I see Indians. I see Chinese people. There is a growing Sudanese and Somali population. There are tons of people from the Middle East. Now I do recognize that Australia is a majority white country, but really. The reliance on all things "blonde" is just so antiquated. In many, many ways Australia is about 30-50 years behind the US culturally, and not just racially. This country is really behind the times on gender issues too. But it's a beautiful place full of wonderful people and it's a spectacular place to raise children. I'm trying not to go crazy my last few years here. :)

[AspenRose]

6. At least your kids will have good healthcare :-)

Oh yeah, the Stolen Generation. Happened here; happened in Canada too...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/payout-for-canadas-stolen-generation/story-e6frg6u6-1111115138342

One of my friends from Quebec rails on about how the Francophones have been treated in the past. He's the one who told me about the book "White N****** of America" by Pierre Vallieres. Incidentally, he's the one who tipped me off about the KKK in Alberta, since he went to grad school in Edmonton and had TONS of stories to tell, being a Francophone in western Canada (the prairies, not so much BC). About as redneck as it gets, according to him. He also had rather enlightening stories about being a child in Montreal and not being allowed to speak French....that there was horrid discrimination. (Now, though, some argue that the pendulum has swung the other way, with anglophones and allophones being discriminated against in Montreal, and the "language police" throwing people in jail for not having French prominently displayed on their web sites, business cards and signs of business.)

ANYWAY: Canada, for the multicultural mosaic it is, is far from blameless....

[kwassa]

7. Australia was racist as hell towards the aborigine population

I was just reading this, though the basics I already knew.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/sep1999/geno-s07.shtml

but who is the designated victim is very different in different cultures. What happens here in the US in terms of racism is repeated around the world in strange ways, but the participants are different. Sometimes color, sometimes other things.

Australia used to be extremely sexist, as well. It was a manly man kind of country, and women were disregarded altogether. My ex went there on a visit about 20 years ago, she was exotic to them as an American, and was actually treated very well, but women weren't, overall.

[Number23]

8. It's weird because imo, Australia desperately wants to be the 51st US state

They show the damn Superbowl here and the Ms. America pageant. Every single song, movie and television show (no matter how crappy) from America comes here. I could watch television ALL DAMN DAY and not see a single show from or about Australia. If it wasn't for the commercials, you could forget that you were in a foreign country.

As such, Australia tries really, really hard to be like America but doesn't understand American history and the nuances of American culture. The whole blackface incident with the doctors on that stupid show a few months ago is a prime example. These people were idolizing an American performer (MJ) before an American judge (Harry Connick Jr.) but have NO CLUE about America's racial history and thus wound up making themselves and their country look like fools.
(The British press, which loves to poke fun at how primitive and backwards Australia is, had a field day with that story. Not that they can really talk with that Blackface show that used to come on the BBC as recently as 25 years ago!! :wow: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0198065/)

Australia just wants to do everything America does. Everything that gets done in America gets done here but without the cultural understanding. There was a big "bikie" weekend here in one of the cities not too long ago where people who own Harleys and other big bikes get together, similar to bike weekends in America. There were people running around this bike weekend with Confederate flags sewn into their leather jackets. And I'm sure, that if an American had said to these folks, "err... why do you have a Confederate flag on your jacket? Do you have any idea what that's supposed to symbolize?" these same folks would have hollered all day about how Americans just "don't get Aussie humor" and are just "too sensitive" when the REAL problem is that too many folks here are trying to appropriate a culture that they don't truly understand and get mad when people do a :wtf: at some of their antics.

So yeah, some elements of America's unique brand of racism have been brought here i.e. the apartheid-like system of treatment towards indigenous Australians, but then Aussies have conjured up their own unique spin on racism too, and unfortunately alot of it seems to be almost unintentional. For real, it would be funny if it wasn't really kind of pitiful.

[kwassa]

9. It really isn't America's brand of racism ..

it is more the way that the manifest destiny of European whites reacted in encountering people of color. Australia also started as a penal colony, too, so that put an additional spin on things.

Ever seen "Rabbit-Proof Fence"?

That said, there are many things I like about Australia, though I've never been there, and have had Australian friends through the year. And at least the wine is getting pretty good. I did the beer and pinball tour of southern Spain with an Aussie friend back in ancient times.

there is this great book called "Who Is Black" by F. James Davis that talks about the variability of the idea of what blackness is in different cultures around the world. Basically, our paradigm of race is specific to the US, and other countries relate to the idea of blackness differently, based on very different criteria. They can be equally racist, but not necessarily against blacks, or they don't define blackness at all the way it is done in the US.