Racisms in a Multicultural Canada: Paradoxes, Politics, and Resistance

Chapter 11: Rooting Out Racisms: Anti-racism Interventions

223 ROOTING OUT RACISMS ANTI-RACISM INTERVENTIONS Introduction: Problematizing Anti-racism ost Canadians are no longer racists in the blatant sense of openly vilifying racialized minorities. Long gone are the days of brazenly demonizing others because of their racial appearance. Such incidents unlikely to return in light of numerous checks and balances, which include an anti-discrimination framework that ranks among the world’s best (Jedwab, 2008), would abort any repeat of such an occurrence in Canada. Canada’s defiantly anti-racist stance notwithstanding, racism continues to thrive in unobtrusive ways, deliberately or unconsciously, through action or inaction, at both individual and institutional levels. Racisms are rarely projected directly at others , thanks to the chilling effect of today’s politically correct climate, where even inadvertent criticism of minorities may be denounced as racist. Rather, racisms flourish through the cumulative impact of demeaning slights that quietly accumulate into a “ton of feathers.” The stealthiness of racism puts the onus on Canadians to do something about it because, as conveyed by Tim Wise, an American anti-racism educator: Those persons called “white” have a particular obligation to fight racism because it’s ours [emphasis added], created in its modern form by us, for the purpose of commanding power over resources and opportunities at the expense of people of color. Furthermore all whites ... have to address the internalized beliefs about white supremacy from which we all suffer. No one is unaffected by the daily socialization to which we are all subjected—specifically with regard to the way we are taught to think about persons of color in this society. (Wise, 1999, p. 17) CHAPTER 11 M 224 Chapter 11 Most would agree. To do something to someone because of his or her skin colour is racist, and somebody should pay for the transgression. But doing nothing to confront racisms may be no less racist in consequence; after all, fence-sitting (through inactivity or silence) should not imply impartiality. More accurately, such seeming neutrality should be seen for what it really is: a tacit acceptance of a racialized and unequal status quo. The only option in bridging the racialized divide requires an explicit anti-racism stand; otherwise , there is the unmistakable whiff of contributing to the problem rather than advancing a solution. Herein lie the salience and significance of anti-racism as a solution to the racisms problem. Reference to anti-racism involves a range of counter-hegemonic strategies that directly and openly challenge racism and oppressions based on race, class, gender, and sexuality (Dei & Calliste, 2000). By and large, the sprawling nature of anti-racism as discourse and practices reflects varying definitions of racisms. If racism is primarily framed about attitudes (racism as race) or beliefs (racism as ideology) or values (racism as culture), then individual-based strategies are in order. If racism entails racialized structures (both systemic and systematic), a more institutional approach is required. But wholesale transformations are due if racism refers to those Eurocentric foundational principles and power relations that undergird a society’s racialized constitutional order. Anything less than a comprehensive framework creates a level of effectiveness that is tantamount to applying a cotton swab to a hemorrhaging wound. Finally, framing racisms as multidimensional in form, process, and outcome calls forth an inclusive anti-racism program incorporating the individual-institutional-ideological-infrastructural nexus. The words of Goldberg (1990a, p. 345) are relevant: Just as a plurality may be required for moral condemnation, so no single mode of resistance to racism will succeed exhaustively. Racism ’s adaptive resilience entails that we have to respond with sets of pragmatic oppositions appropriate to each form that racism assumes. Institutionally overcoming apartheid must take on forms different from opposition to jury practices or discriminatory employment and housing practices…. In general, then, anti-racism can be defined as a set of strategies and tactics for actively challenging patterns of racism, institutional power, and interlocking systems of social oppression (see also Dei, 1996, 2005a, 2005b; Bonnett, 2000; Dei & Calliste, 2000). It consists of action-oriented strategies of transformative change that challenge (interrogate) the structure and dynamics of power, privilege, and social inequality (Hiranandani, 2012). A commitment to anti-racism reflects a level of direct involvement in combatting those cultural values, personal prejudices, discriminatory behaviours, Rooting Out Racisms 225 institutional structures, and colonial practices that perpetuate racism (Dei, 2005a, 2005b) Anti-racism...