I Still Have A Stomach Ache

As a black person living in Canada, I have encountered many individuals who believe that racism does not exist in Canada, or they come out with the line I hear the most, “It’s not as bad as in America.” A case in point; I had an encounter last summer that still gives me a stomach ache when I think about it. I was chatting with an older white woman who knows me quite well and I guess felt comfortable enough with me to say, “You know Sheryl, you people are your own worst enemy, you see racism where racism doesn’t exist.”

My response was nothing. I was in shock, I sat there in front of her mummified, frozen, mouth open but no words came. How does one respond to this? This type of ignorance requires so much more schooling than a single response could ever deliver. I needed help, I needed backup, and she needed help. I realize now that a part of me thinks it’s hopeless to change someone who has such embedded beliefs, hopeless to change systemic racism, so why do anything? But I know that I must do something, we must do something. We have to do exactly what I didn’t want to do at the time. We must engage, educate, embrace if we are ever going to move forward. Books are a good place to start. Here are my picks.

1. The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole This book is an eye-opener on systemic racism in Canada. It chronicles specific events that took place in 2017.

2. So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo - If you would like to learn how to talk about the issues, this book is a great place to start.

3. White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo - DiAngelo dissects the resistance/inability of white people in America, and I would add Canada,  to discuss race in a meaningful/honest way.

4. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

This is a work of fiction that so poignantly mirrors the real-life horror of yet another unarmed young black man being shot by a white police officer. We are drawn into the conflicts between the community, the police force, and the only witness to the crime.

5. Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper

As Cooper describes in The Root, “…this is the book you get if you come over to my house and sit on my sofa, and we have a glass of wine and we’re chopping it up about what feminist politics actually mean in the real daily lives of black women.”