Marc G

By Marc Grannum

I was actually debating with myself whether the occupy movement was still relevant at this point.  It’s mostly quiet now as the protestors have been evicted from St. James Park, the cleanup is underway, and the media has begun to move on to other news stories. So now does the movement suddenly stop?

I tend to think it’s still relevant as this I believe is the start of something.  This has been a year of revolution from the rebellions within Egypt, Syria and Libya, to the protests in Greece and now it has made its way to North America in the form of the occupy movement.  People are frustrated as they see CEO’s with big bonuses, US banks and major corporations being bailed out. The unemployment rate is high, and layoffs are plentiful.

I feel like I’m stuck between two worlds. On the one side, I work in a world where Gordon Gecko from the original Wall Street movie said it best, “greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works.” While on the other side, I believe in fairness and equality and helping those in need.  I’m a young black man who comes from a West Indian family that instilled within me the values of work ethic, striving for my goals, but also with empathy for my fellow man.  Growing up with a single mother that had to work more than one job at times often left me with aspirations to grow up and “make it”. I’m going to be rich, own nice cars, a big house and have lots of money.  Basically materialism was something that really motivated me; we couldn’t afford much so when I grew up I wanted it all.

The realization of how entrenched in the business world I was dawned upon me when I asked my mother – born and raised in Barbados with no financial background – what she thought about the protestors.  She told me, “They were right and yes banks are full of greed and play around with the markets to make money for themselves.”  I’m sure this is a statement that many people would agree with. But there was a strange part of me that was upset and quite defensive.  I played devil’s advocate and backed the financial institutions because, as I phrased it, “without them I wouldn’t have a job. Yes they make a lot of money but it’s just like any other business, they are in it to make money.”

The goal of any publicly traded company is to make as much money as possible while also making their shareholders happy.  I’m a part of that world.  I want our clients to do well since the more money they make, the more money my company makes and the bigger my bonus and the better the raise.

I find myself at times thinking clients need to be more ruthless and make more money, which is horrible to say but that is of course greed talking.  Without these clients I wouldn’t have a job, so these so-called “evil corporations” do provide a service that many people benefit from.    However, it doesn’t excuse people from acting irresponsibly, not caring what the effects of our actions do to others.

I get a dose of reality most days as I walk to Dundas Station being approached by so many homeless people for spare change.  It still bothers me to see poverty – especially on those freezing cold mornings.  I give change if I have and continue along my way to work, where I analyze how much our hedge fund clients have gained or lost on a daily basis – on average more than most will make in their entire lives.  This gives me a sense of what the occupy Toronto movement is saying.

“Our target is to change these systems to help the 99% of the population, instead of just the elite 1% that they currently benefit. Everyone is encouraged to join the movement, this movement affects us all.”

OccupyTO.org

So much money is being moved around the markets every day with the intent of making as much money as possible.  Some take it further using risky bets and unethical tactics that can have disastrous consequences for the economy.  Some would say this is capitalism and how the free market system works and will correct itself, while the pensioner who lost large sums of invested retirement money may disagree.  It doesn’t seem fair that we live in a world where some can’t afford the bare necessities and others drive their expensive exotic cars, live in expensive condos and have well paying jobs to support their lifestyle.

For the sake of my own interest, I asked co-workers what they thought about the occupy movement. I asked during a lunch meeting, “Has anyone been paying attention to the occupy Toronto movement?” They responded with a resounding “No!”  I followed up with, “Does anyone actually care about the occupy Toronto movement?” Again ,”No!”

How do you get the message across to everyone, especially to people that really don’t pay attention and don’t really seem to care that much unless it affects them personally?  You may not agree with the occupy movement, but really we should be open to listening to what others have to say.

I agree with some of the points the protestors have to make and I agree that we should be bringing awareness to society’s problems.  It’s a constant struggle that really shouldn’t be since as humans we should be looking out for each other first and not relying so heavily on money and materialism.  I know that empathy and caring is within me first and foremost before money, but it’s hard when as the Wu Tang Clan song said it best “Cash Rules Everything Around Me C.R.E.A.M get the money dolla dolla bill ya’ll.”

thumbnail image © Helioshelen | Dreamstime.com

By Tendisai Cromwell

Toronto is a city celebrated as one of the most ethnically diverse in the world, a place where difference is embraced. Commonly thought of as a paragon of multiculturalism, Toronto is indeed where the world meets; yet questions of inequality arise at every turn. In turning to the education system, a less desirable Toronto is unveiled revealing inadequacies in schools that disadvantage black students.

Black students in Toronto have among the lowest graduation rates as student apathy runs high, according to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). The reasons for this are both complex and varied but in part due to a flawed school system that fails to address the needs of some its most vulnerable students.

In response to alarming underachievement, Toronto’s first Africentric school opened its doors to 85 students in 2009. The TDSB has since approved a second school as the successes of the first are coming to light, reopening a heated debate about whether black-focused schools have a place in Toronto.

Some, such as Globe and Mail columnist Marcus Gee decry the schools as an “affront to everything Toronto stands for.” Gee’s views emanate from a myth about Toronto as being post-racial and equal. Such views undermine the needs of the students and the research-based recommendations that gave birth to the Africentric Alternative School in Toronto’s west end.

There are, however, legitimate concerns over segregation and future integration. But the strength of such arguments is weakened in the face of a 40% dropout rate among black students. Many students feel disengaged from classroom content, which has been criticized as Eurocentric, especially when it comes to cultural studies and history.

A TDSB census revealed that 72% of Grade 7 students wish to learn about their culture and 69% expressed that school would be more enjoyable as a result. 50% of the same students said they would have a more favourable opinion of school if their history were taught in classrooms. These responses are unsurprising. When students are happy at school and relate to the curriculum they tend to strive academically.

Adding to this is the reality that most school teachers are culturally and socially disconnected from black youth. This means that educators are often incapable of yielding the kind of support that many black students may need. Yet underachievement cannot solely be blamed on a Eurocentric curriculum or fractured relationships between white teachers and black students. Much of this issue is rooted in social problems extending beyond the scope of the education system. However, schools for many are second homes with teachers at times playing the role of surrogate parents. The capacity then to understand and relate to the lived experiences of students is of critical importance.

In this light, the value of Africentric schools cannot be overstated and supporting them as an alternative borders on ethical responsibility. Africentric schools provide the relatable and culturally relevant context for black students to thrive. In this environment, teachers will more likely succeed in cultivating student-teacher relationships that build confidence and encourage excellence.

As Torontonians keep a watchful eye on the developments of Africentric schools, the black community is increasingly confident that the students will continue to excel.

Saturday, December 10th, is Human Rights Day around the world.

Sway catches up with the Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, Alex Neve, as he reflects on a great movement of 3 million plus members in the name of basic human rights here at home and around the world.

According to the Alberta native, “There is no better way to celebrate Human Rights Day than to take action”.

Sway: Alex – Amnesty International has had a long history fighting for human rights around the world. Tell us about its long journey.

Alex: Fifty years ago, one man, a lawyer in London, learned of the injustices suffered by two Portuguese students who, during a time of cruel military rule in that country, had been sent to prison simply because they dared to stand up in a Lisbon cantina and raise their glasses of wine in a toast to freedom.  And that man, Peter Benenson, felt outrage.

And 50 years later Amnesty International is the result.  Because he was convinced that he was not alone, would not be alone in feeling that sense of outrage.  He knew that there would be not just a handful, but legions of people right around the world who would share that same sense of outrage.  He set out to harness that collective sense of outrage in the face of injustice.  He was sure it could be made to become a driving, irresistible force for change and for justice.  Today, AI has become a group of more than 3 million women, men and young people on every continent — more than 80,000 across Canada.

Sway: Tomorrow is Human Rights Day around the world. What is the best way for Canadians to celebrate this special day?

Alex: There is no better way to celebrate Human Rights Day than to take action; to speak up about human rights.  And what better way to do that than to join in Amnesty International’s 2011 Write for Rights campaign, which offers Canadians an opportunity to write letters and speak up about human rights concerns in countries all around the world, including in Canada.  Several of those letter writing appeals involve cases in Africa — Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.  All of the details are available at www.writeathon.ca.

Sway: Would you please share with us AI’s work in Africa?

Alex: Amnesty International has been working tirelessly for and with Africans throughout these past fifty years, to better promote and protect human rights across the continent.  Concerns in African were among the very first cases taken up by Amnesty International back in 1961, such as the case of Angolan prisoner of conscience Agostino Neto, who would one day go on to become Angola’s first President.

Today we are working to address serious human rights challenges in numerous African nations, including Cote d’Ivoire (where I spent several weeks in June, carrying out front line research into that country’s ongoing human rights violations); but also such current hotspots, many of which are largely overlooked by the rest of the world as Sudan/South Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We are very concerned about particular human rights challenges that arise in many African countries, including the rights of women, the role played by companies (we have highlighted the responsibility Shell has for serious human rights violations in the Niger Delta for example), the human rights dimension of poverty (so evident in the continent’s many instances of forced evictions), and the need to more effectively tackle the impunity that has long shielded Africa’s human rights violators from facing justice. Action is the only option!

Sway: Share with us some of the successes of AI’s work.

Alex: For fifty years, AI activists have been speaking out.  They have written letters, organized public events, met with their MP’s, circulated petitions, set up Facebook pages, and so much more.  And it makes a difference.  We hear that all the time.  We know that countless prisoners of conscience have been released, people spared from torture or executions, planned forced evictions called off – because people around the world took the time to write a letter and demand that rights be protected.

Amnesty activism also leads to bigger changes – new laws and institutions being set up to better protect human rights.  Amnesty International activists were central to the campaign, for instance, that finally led governments to agree to create the International Criminal Court, which is now holding trials to ensure that some of the world’s worst human rights violators are held accountable for their terrible crimes.

Sway: Share with us some of the work of AI that needs the urgent support of Canadians.

All of our work needs support from Canadians.  Around the world, governments care about what Canada and Canadians have to say about human rights, and what they think about their countries. We certainly need to remind our own government about the importance of taking human rights seriously in our dealings with other countries.  We have been worried that in recent years the government has given less and less attention and priority to concerns in Africa.  We need to speak out and press for that to be turned around.  African human rights concerns need to be a top concern, not secondary.

We also need to turn our attention closer to home, because we have many human rights shortcomings ourselves.  The rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada are still subject to ongoing and very serious violations.  We have major problems as well when it comes to the operations of some of our mining and other extractive companies in other parts of the world, certainly including Africa.

Sway: What advice would you have young Canadians who may want to emulate such a public career?

Alex: It is simple.  Get involved.  Amnesty International has a strong Youth and Student Program that gives a superb opportunity to learn more about human rights and provides ideal ways to join together with other young Canadians who share that same passion and desire for our shared global human rights struggle.  Get involved.  You have no idea where it may take you.

Domestic abuse victim Aberash Hailay/africanfeminism.wordpress.com

By Samuel Getachew

The best place to find Canadians at our best is often in the rarest of places. It is in the villages of Africa, helping distribute the most basic necessities of life or in the most dangerous of places in times of war keeping peace as envisioned by our Nobel Peace Prize winning Canadian Diplomat, Lester B Pearson generations ago.

Whether we are New Democrats, Liberals, Greens or Conservatives, we have always worn our great mutual citizenship in our heart and, as Bono, reminded us, “The world needs more Canada”

As an activist, I have tried to live the great words of John Diefenbaker taken from the Canadian Bill of Rights of 1960 to heart – “I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind”.

As much as the issues at home concern me a great deal, as an immigrant, I am often taken to heart what happens to a country I left as a young man generations ago. My home country – Ethiopia – has been through war, famine, successive broken governments and civil unrest.

However, the issue that has concerned me a great deal in recent weeks is the story of a young woman named, Aberash Hailay.

Aberash Hailay was a successful public servant. She held the position of an Ethiopian airline flight attendant in a country that holds the occupation in very high esteem. On September 19^th of this year, a week after the Ethiopian New Year’s (Ethiopians follow the ancient Julian calendar), she became a victim of a horrendous crime. Her ex-husband of seven years stabbed both her eyes with a knife.

Even though doctors in Addis Ababa and later in Thailand tried to retain her sight back, it was later ruled out the chances of survivability. According to witnesses, she was subjected to “multiple stabs in many directions which made it near impossible for surgeons to even sew shut the gaping socket which once housed her eyes”.  She was a young woman in her 20s and in the prime of her life, lost both her eyes. Her struggle is a larger representation of real everyday stories we often hear about the lack of equality for women all over Africa.

How does a story so far removed from my and many Canadians’ everyday reality affect us? For myself, it has motivated me to study law in human rights and fight for the rights for girls and women in Africa. For other Canadians? It is my hope that we continue to look beyond our own backyard to celebrate the unique qualities and characteristics that have made our Canada different than most countries.

A great friend of Ethiopia, former Canadian ambassador David MacDonald, once shared with me a story of how Canadians contributed to the betterment of Ethiopia during the famine crises in 1984. As an emergency coordinator of the Canadian effort, it almost became a challenging task to handle thousands of requests of simply, “Tell us what we can do to help.” People like Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and Liberal MP John Godfrey literally rented planes to help deliver food.

I have seen the image of the then Canadian Foreign Minister Joe Clark break down in tears when he was shown images of starving children at Addis Ababa International Airport by the great CBC journalist Brian Stewart.

History has recorded that Brian Mulroney made foreign aid and development the central goal of his administration after the Ethiopian famine along with fighting apartheid in South Africa.

One of the more respected NGO’s in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association has a simple request from all citizens of the world. The request is have us sign the petition “Ethiopian Government to oppose violence committed against women.” According to the esteemed group , “Her wounds and her pain are symbolic of a dysfunctional society stained by the tears and blood of countless women whose cries and plea have often gone unheard and silenced by the taboos of culture.”  The petition can be found on www.change.org

It just might be our most powerful contribution to fight all kinds of ills in Ethiopia. As former Ottawa mayor Marion Dewar, used to say, “To end global poverty and injustice, we need to recognize and nurture women’s leadership.”

By Colwyn Burchall, Jr.

“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” – Audre Lorde

Black people in the GTA and beyond have to realize that in an unapologetically white supremacist society, everything about them – from the kinkiness of their hair, the fullness of their hips, lips and buttocks, the revolutionary retooling of oppressor tongues (French, English, Portuguese and Spanish), to the polyrhythmic dynamism of their musical forms – is and forever will be ‘queer’/ ‘unnatural’/ ‘abnormal’.

Whether or not we are so-called ‘straight’, gay, transgender, or we occupy another space on the spectrum won’t do a damn thing to change this fact.

Consider:

- when James Byrd Jr. was dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas, by those white boys, they didn’t stop and ask him: “Are you gay?”

- when 18-year-old Junior Alexander Manon was murdered by Toronto’s finest, they didn’t pause to inquire about his sexual orientation.

- when the Obama administration and its NATO water carriers laid waste to Libya and overthrew its leader, they didn’t do a head count to ensure that they weren’t dropping their bombs on Libyan heterosexuals.

Here is the simple, painful truth: regardless of who we vote for, the class position that we occupy, the level of education that we have achieved, or who we choose to share our bodies and hearts with, we are viewed (by the wider, whiter community) as an undifferentiated mass of dusky humanity called NIGGER.

We are denied access to goods and services, demonized in the media, ignored by politicians and brutalized by the police because it is clearly understood that, of all of the ‘races’ in the human family, we alone are the unnatural ones and, as such, are worthy recipients of inhuman treatment.

And when we ingest these crippling, divisive beliefs and then regurgitate them – clothed in the dubious finery of homophobic rhetoric – in an effort to deny equal recognition to our LGBTQ kin, we are essentially serving the ‘divide, conquer and destroy’ interests of those who, not too many moons ago, derived great pleasure from seeing our kind swinging, bug-eyed and lifeless, from the boughs of trees.

We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. With no exceptions. This is natural and normal.

Any effort to tear asunder what many of our Ancestors fought and died to put together – namely, Black unity across all boundaries, be they of class, caste, religion, geographical location, language or sexual orientation – is unnatural and abnormal and should be roundly condemned wherever it rears its ugly head.

Understand this: we will rise or fall together. We will RISE or FALL….TOGETHER.

Despite enduring the savage caress of white supremacy for the past five centuries, we have yet to fully grasp this self-evident truth.

Clearly, then, we still have much to learn.

Colwyn Burchall, Jr. is a co-facilitator of the upcoming BDC Taboo discussion, “Queer as (Black) Folk: A Conversation on Homophobia and Homosexuality in the Black Community.” The event will take place at the George Vari Engineering and Computer Centre on Saturday, November 26^th 2011.

Over the past four years, there has been a noticeable surge of interest in the marriages of black women. American media seems to have adopted the arduous task of decoding the mystery as to why so many black women are unmarried, with some outlets releasing statistics, scholarly opinions and taking surveys of the general public. I, for one, am sick of hearing everybody’s theory surrounding the love lives of black women.

The moral panic surrounding this issue is irritating and causes one to question the actual motives behind the headlines that blare, “73 Percent of Black Women are Not Married.” What should the supposed 73 percent of black women do to combat this deadly and traumatizing disease known as singlehood? Well, they can either become frantic and go on a manhunt (no pun intended) for an eligible suitor, or they can continue living their lives without feeling as if they bare the scarlet letter across their beautiful foreheads.

While skimming through various articles from popular American news magazines, I had to chuckle at the apocalyptic urgency with which these stories are presented. The feminist in me obviously considers this attention to be insulting as it feeds the oppressive stereotype that black women are degenerate, despite their ability to rise above hundreds of years of marginalization, earning more degrees and becoming powerful forces in the business and being able to balance their work and family life almost supernaturally.

Perhaps most of my friends and family members are the exception to the rule as many of the women in my life are either married, engaged, in healthy secure relationships or are, dare I say ‘content being single.’ I intentionally chose not include any of the findings of the American media in this article because they offer very little solutions to a problem that they consider to be so devastating. In addition, the blame game is so played out and the black community is recognizing the insidious and manipulative vices of popular media.

When the supposed failures of the black community are emphasized, our successes and triumphs are stifled as a result. I refuse to buy into the idea that I need to start developing a strategy of either dating outside my race (not that there’s anything wrong with that), losing my seemingly innately bitchy attitude or becoming more submissive in order to be valued and deemed worthy of marriage.

For centuries, black women have been told that they are not smart enough, not beautiful enough or not feminine enough to be accepted in a white patriarchal society but we no longer wish to subscribe to those lies. My mother is the most beautiful, intelligent and loving woman I know, and she happens to be a black woman. When she tells me that I deserve the best and should not settle for just anybody, I believe her. Besides, desperation is not a good look. Accepting advice about finding a husband from the same outlets that seek to portray the black community in an overtly negative manner is as hopeless as it is irresponsible.

In case you’re wondering, I haven’t read Steve Harvey’s book offering advice about hooking a man either. Seriously, Steve Harvey is hilarious, but I would rather not take advice from a celebrity whose marriages have been less than desirable or successful. But I digress. If you have not already realized my intent, here goes. I am not offering advice to anybody about their love life, nor do I profess to despise the institution of marriage; I actually dig the whole idea. I am simply asking black women to ignore these recycled constructions of their plight and continue striving to be the best individuals they can be.

Oh, and to the concerned members of the media offering their help through shoddy studies and so called expert advice: I am simply saying “No, thank you. I’ll be fine.”

Shanichia Henry is a recent graduate with a major in Communications Studies and a minor in English. She attended York University and currently works as a freelance writer.

Margarett Best MPP for Scarborough - Guildwood was able to retain her seat

By Samuel Getachew

In the riding of Ottawa South, where Premier Dalton McGuinty is the local MPP and his brother, David McGuinty, the local MP, the Ontario NDP ran a very grassroots Somali Canadian leader Wali Farah as their Ontario provincial candidate. This is the first time a Somali Canadian has ever earned a party nomination of a traditional party anywhere in Canada. He was both well rounded and seemed to have had lots of volunteers.

He was not expected to win nor even come close. Some might even have celebrated the reality of seeing a Somali Canadian win the nomination of the NDP in the first place. But then again, the reality of today, when an African American occupies the White House in the United States, society demands much more than the status quo. With a result of just under 6000 over the more than 20,000 that the Premier had won, he soon went down to defeat on Thursday.

In an Ontario Provincial election where only 49.2 % of us bothered to vote, according to Elections Ontario, the results of Mr Farah and many other African Canadian candidates in the 2011 Ontario provincial elections is disappointing to say the very least. Dionne Coley , only 29 years old, law professor and aspiring author, was yet another Jamaican Canadian who was also defeated on Thursday night. In a riding that was once held by an NDP Cabinet Minister during the Bob Rae era, she only received 7000 votes compared to the over 20,000 votes the eventual winner received.

Atinuke Bankole, a teacher, small business owner and very eloquent speaker, was also the NDP candidate in Cambridge. Even though she went down to defeat, she had an impressive result with 10,414 votes compared to the 15,941 votes that the eventual Progressive Conservative party candidate received.

In the posh riding of St Paul’s in downtown Toronto, Judith Van Veldhuysen a Guyanese native and Green candidate, also ran against an aspiring future Premier and senior Ontario Cabinet Minister, Dr. Eric Hoskins and came up short. Considered Liberal heaven by most pundits, she only received just over 1000 votes compared to the 25,052 votes that the Liberal candidate received to hold on to his seat.

In a bloody battle that was expected between the local Liberal and NDP candidate was a little known Green candidate in Scarborough – Rouge River.  George Singh made a passionate run but he came out last at the end. Only 37, he comes from a part Bermudian and Guyanese background and has lived in the riding since he was a teenager. With titles that are rich and diverse and running for a party that is virtually unknown, the Ontario Greens, he joined a list of black candidates who fared poorly at the end of the night.

These candidates included Karlene Nation in York West, Carol Williams in Scarborough Center, Fred Sherman in Ottawa Vanier and Kathleen Mathurin in Scarborough Center.

Margarett Best MPP for Scarborough – Guildwood was able to retain her seat over a one time supporter and Progressive candidate. She is assured a cabinet seat in a reduced minority government while her name gets mentioned as a prospective leadership candidate in an expected Ontario Liberal leadership race in the next 18 months. In Don Valley West, School Board Trustee Michael Coteau, who is part British and black, retained the seat for Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals that was once held by a one time a senior Liberal Cabinet Minister.

In an Ontario that is diverse and modern, the visibility of visible minorities in elected office, especially that of black Canadians should concern us all. In Nova Scotia, a Progressive Conservative Premier, Dr. John Hamm, once enacted an affirmative action like policy to ensure that Nova Scotia’s black population will be included in the educational determination of their school system through their selection of school board trustees. One might have disagreed with his approach to arrive to a determination destination; however, no one can ever doubt the need to come to an equitable government that is a reflection of all the residents.

Looking to Alberta for a rare inspiration, one cannot help but take notice of the political landscape that is beginning to change. They have a woman Premier, a Liberal opposition leader who is Indian born and yes, the Mayor of Calgary, who is of Indian decent and African born. If Ontario has any chance of reflecting its residents through its elected officials, we all have all of the candidates of Ontario Elections 2011, the winners and the defeated, to be thankful for.

We just have a higher standard to the eventual winners.

Samuel Getachew

By Samuel Getachew

Once upon a time, while I was an aspiring journalist at a student run newspaper at Carleton University, I called Liberal Spin Doctor, Warren Kinsella, for a potential interview. The topic I was working on was on former Carleton University Student Association presidents, in which he was one of many and what they have been up to since they left the position they once held. For obvious reasons, Kinsella was a very public persona and of a great deal of interest to our readers. As soon as I identified who I was, he hung up the phone saying, “Kinsella got no time for you.” (Kinsella recently denied this event ever took place.)

Believe him or me, but soon after that event which I assure you did happen, the whole plan of doing an interview fell through. Had he been kind enough to take the time to speak with me, I would have asked him why, as an Alberta native, he was a Liberal; after all he did grow up through the infamous years of western alienation that most historians have given Trudeau’s Liberals much credit for creating in the first place.

I initially became a Liberal because of the universal misconception of what the Liberal Party of Canada / Ontario is all about. I remember my history teacher in high school, explaining to us how the Liberal party liked “immigrants and black people” in very rosy and simple terms where as the conservatives were “racist”. His explanation and biased understanding gave me the foundation of who I would later become as I traveled on a long Canadian political journey. Since my high school days, I have very much been involved in every Liberal election big and small that I came across. I gave countless hours, knocked on thousands of doors, gave money and told my friends and family members of how important it was to vote and help the Liberals.

For instance, when Sheila Copps decided to run for the Liberal leadership in 2003, I became her lone elected delegate from Ottawa South. When Nelson Mandela came to Ottawa, I volunteered to be used by the party so that the international cameras would witness as much “diversity” as possible, as a Liberal staffer explained to me. At home, I would listen and read speeches by great Liberals of the past such as Trudeau, Laurier, C.D. Howe and even St. Laurent. Then, as I got older, I started becoming very disillusioned by the party. I hated the idea of being “used”. As I moved from being a mere immigrant to a full fledged citizen, I started questioning my deep blind loyalty to the party.

No matter how good I have become over the years, I was always seen as a representative of an ethnicity. I was to be used during elections and especially for nomination races. For example, in the nomination races in St Paul’s for the Liberal nomination that pitted the now Immigration Minister Eric Hoskins with a local young Bay Street lawyer, I was recruited by Eric Hoskins personally to help him sign up instant members from the Ethiopian Canadian community, in which I am one of thousands in Toronto. I helped sign up as many as 70 instant members for his campaign and worked long hours and brought about 50 of them on nomination day in a rented car. I used what I learned from the previous years to convince them to support the candidate and spoke highly of him. He ultimately won the Liberal nomination with only 34 votes. In a posh riding of St Paul, the newest and neglected African immigrants mattered.

Once the nomination became his own, I was no longer needed by the party nor the candidate. There was no opportunity to apply for any positions nor be considered for other opportunities. For him and in fact the Liberal party, I was just an ethnicity  – never an individual with rare gift and talent. It seemed they have given one too many of us an exclusive opportunity. After voting Liberal and helping Liberals for almost all my adult life, save a brief flirtation with the NDP, I will support the Conservatives onward. What appeals to me most about the Conservatives is the principle that I would be judged for my merit rather than my “ethnic” community. In fact, that is what is starting to be reflected in electoral successes all over Canada when it comes to the electoral destinations of immigrants’ and visible minorities.

Senator Hugh Segal was once asked why he had become a Progressive Conservative in his youth. He talked in detail about the time he had written a letter to both then Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson and Conservative Leader John Diefenbaker and receiving a personal letter from the Conservative Leader.

For me, it is as a result of a life time of disappointment with the Liberals. It is about the idea of wanting to be treated as a Canadian rather than an Ethiopian only – a country I left when I was barely 10. It is the idea of wanting to belong and to be more than a cheer leader but a contributor. I remain friendly with the Ontario Greens and their young inspiring leader, Mike Schreiner. I am inspired by many great Ontario Premiers such as Leslie Frost, who gave way to the Ontario Human Rights Commission and pay equity as much as I am with the great leadership of former Premier William Davis in Ontario. These are great people and they were both Progressive Conservatives.

On Thursday, I will proudly cast my vote for Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives. The same political party of my political hero, Lincoln Alexander.

By Karen Welcome

Dark Girls is an uplifting film with the aim of eliminating self-hatred through the means of knowledge and exposure. The film builds an exciting opening with Dr. Cheryl Gillis explaining the history of prejudice and bias based off of skin colour as a result of slavery and colonism and addressing issues of colourism and pride arguing, “we have to understand our resiliency as a people.”

Dark Girls also features the thought-provoking testimonials of women who have experienced discrimination as a result of their skin colour and includes perspectives of men, the world and the media. While the testimonies were not the easiest to watch – from young girls admitting that they once wished they could scrub their skin colour off to men expressing a fear of having dark-skinned children – I craved more. I found them to be more effective than the observances of the professionals featured in the film.

It was refreshing to see people being so open and honest in conversations that usually occur behind closed doors. What was also uneasy to watch was the re-enactment of the popular doll experiment originally conducted by Kenneth and Mamie Clark in 1939. A collective sigh moved throughout the audience as a young black girl pointed out the darkest child as the “dumb” and “ugly” child simply because she was black.

D. Channsin Berry and Bill Duke

After the screening, directors D. Channsin Berry and Bill Duke allowed time for questions and comments. While many expressed their thanks for a film that identified with the prejudice faced by those with darker skin tones, others argued that the film was not without its ironies. Audience members challenged the fact that quite a few of the women that provided testimonials had straightened hair.

What was also questioned was the presence of actress Viola Davis (providing an emotional testimony suggesting one’s insecurities can be overcome) who recently portrayed a maid in the film The Help and I wondered the same thing myself. I had a hard time connecting to Davis throughout the film being aware of my distaste for her portraying a maid, a character which is all too common amongst black women featured in Hollywood films. Interestingly enough, I was more attuned to the words of comedien Micheal Colyar who while also being hilarious delivered the message that discrimination is “about whether you accept it.”

D. Channsin Berry and Bill Duke expressed that the idea for the film came out of personal dilemmas, stating the issue needed a voice and I feel that the documentary did just that. It provided exposure to the emotional turmoil these women face. I walked away content with the film’s overall message; the difference in our skin tones is nothing but a difference in levels of melanin. No matter what our skin tone, we’re beautiful, and we have to do our best to remind our daughters of their own beauty and worth so they don’t go looking for that reminder in all of the wrong places.

Berry and Duke have more films in the works including the upcoming feature The Yellow Brick Road which delves into the discrimination that is faced by lighter-skinned black women. As for Dark Girls, this sentient documentary is scheduled for screenings in Nashville and Chicago. The Dark Girls team encourages women to upload videos and share their stories at www.darkgirlsmovie.com.

Fashion’s relationship with race has always been fickle. From blackface at Vogue Paris to the controversially iconic Benetton ads, pushing the colour line seems a part of fashion as much as the clothes.

The issue of diversity has also been discussed and debated by fashion industry heavyweights. It was even the subject of a documentary called The Colour of Beauty starring Canadian model Renee Thompson. Despite the attention, Black models on runways and in magazines continue to wane.

One publication that has done a better job than most at diversifying its content is Vogue Italia, which, in 2008, released an all-Black issue. It featured models, makeup artists and photographers of African descent.

So it was quite a surprise when a post titled “Slave earrings”, written by Vogue Italia journalist Anna Bassi, appeared on the magazine’s blog. It read: “Jewellery has always flirted with circular shapes, especially for use in making earrings. The most classic models are the slave and Creole styles in gold hoops. If the name brings to mind the decorative traditions of the women of colour who were brought to the southern United States during the slave trade, the latest interpretation is pure freedom. Coloured stones, symbolic pendants… and the evolution goes on.”

The blogosphere quickly condemned the racist piece.  Editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani renamed it “Ethnic earrings” and explained the gaffe in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. “We apologize for the inconvenience. It is a matter of really bad translation,” she said. “The Italian word, which defines those kind of earrings, should instead be translated into ‘ethnical style earrings.’”

The enslavement of Africans, especially during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, is an enormous smear on world history (the effects of which are still felt). For Vogue Italia to refer to such a horrific crime against humanity so flippantly, and to simultaneously trivialize and glamourize such an atrocity, is in extremely poor taste.

Changing the post’s name to ‘Ethnic earrings’ is no better. Somali-born model Iman didn’t buy Sozanni’s explanation, either. “The naming of it, I don’t get it,” she told Fashionista.com. “Slave does not make it ethnic. Mind you, it’s not lost in translation. The word slave, we know what it is. They might as well have called them ‘ni–er earrings.’”

For the record, the Italian word for slave is ‘schiavo’ while ‘ethnico’ translates to ‘ethnic’. The suggestion that ‘African’, ‘Creole’ and ‘ethnic’ are all synonyms for ‘slave’ is an inflammatory assertion. Equally offensive are historical inaccuracies the writer presents as truth. When Africans were enslaved and displaced from their homelands, they were stripped of everything: languages, religions, names and jewellery. They were not afforded the luxury of adorning themselves with gold earrings as Bassi suggests. Also according to the post, the southern United States was the only participant in the slave trade. This is an egregious assertion, especially considering Italy’s relationship with slavery—one that according to early records, dates back to the early 15th century.

Fashion is a mirror that reflects society, and the “Slave earrings” post echoes larger societal issues involving race and racism. However, when these everyday racist acts arise, those who dare to voice their discontent are shot down with: “You’re being too critical” and “Racism doesn’t exist anymore. There’s a Black president.” All discussion is killed, as are any assignments of responsibility.

An opportunity to correct such inherent weaknesses within the fashion industry should be received openly rather than attacked by guilt and denial. Racism comes in many forms. Sometimes it whispers and sometimes it roars. It’s time for us to start roaring back.

Septembre Anderson is a freelance journalist and fashion blogger whose work has appeared on FASHIONMagazine.com, FILLER Magazine and Huffington Post Canada.