Visible Minorities And Racism: More Surveys, More Statistics, Same Problem

As I see it, the problem with any statistical analysis of racism is that it is always on a micro-individual level--i.e, founded on the pretense that individual behaviour or attitudes towards minority groups are the root problem. What numbers and percentages do not take into account is the pervasive systemic racist structure of Canadian society, and North American capitalist society for that matter. Being called a racial slur or epithet is not the problem. It is only a symptom of the disease that is so embedded into every facet of our culture that it has become an undetectable beast no one can explain. Individual racist behaviours can be thought of as mere byproducts of that structure.

Racism is not about isolated incidents such as an Iraqi woman from Toronto, who was quoted in the Toronto Star as having been repeatedly told: “Go back to your country.”4 It cuts much deeper than that. It is the depiction of people of colour in the six o’clock news. It is in the stereotypical images of people of colour in movies. It is the invisible glass ceiling that exists at our places of work. It is the lack of representational diversity in the teachers at our schools. Racism lives on because we choose to ignore that the structure of our society is such that it encourages racist practices to continue.

In respect to the Diversity Survey, it is itself part of this overlying structure, because these studies are the only sort of "evidence" of racism that the mainstream (white) culture takes seriously--and the surveys themselves are part of that culture. Even asking people about their experiences with racism is complicated and is affected by the questions asked and by the questioner, says Jeffrey Reitz of the University of Toronto, one of the country’s leading researchers on race.3 In other words, people who experience racism may be reluctant to say exactly what they have gone through when participating in a survey by the dominant culture, and any response they give may very well be affected by the fact that the person asking the question could be a white person.

University of Toronto sociologist Wsevolod Isajiw, an expert in Canada’s multiculturalism and immigration policy, has said “the study, by and large, shows the partial success of our multiculturalism policy. But as we all know, discrimination still exists in our society.”6

Why is it assumed that we all know that discrimination still exists in our society? I would argue that unless you experience it first-hand or are socially conscious enough to question racial assumptions, you do not feel that Canadian society is racist.

I recently had the opportunity to hear bell hooks (all lower case), a renowned black feminist and social activist speak in Toronto. She told the audience about how two white colleagues of hers (both of whom were feminists) raved and praised a movie as one of the best of the year and told her to go see it. When hooks saw the movie, she found it to be one of the most blatantly racist films she had ever seen as it was riddled with stereotypes of black female sexuality and black male misogyny. How could these women, who were feminists and liberal academics, not see what hooks saw?

The reason is that the dominant culture still has not become truly aware of its own racism, despite countless statistics and surveys that have already shown the extent to which visible minorities perceive experiences of racism. Implicit in such research is that it is at the hands of a white person – a member of dominant culture, and removed from the experiences being studied. So why are we doing more surveys on experiences of racism? Why are no surveys being done to expose the pervasiveness of this latter problem?

But ending racism after all is not about looking at statistics or reading surveys; it is about creating true equality for all persons regardless of race. That is, equality in opportunity; equality in proportional representation; and equality in whose story gets told and how. As Dr. Reitz notes further in the _Globe and Mail_ article, "impressions of racism do not decline the longer people live in Canada, especially if they were reared 'with an expectation of equality' in a society that prides itself on openness and acceptance."7 The facts are that the dominant structure and racial hierarchy of our society has virtually remained the same since the colonization of the Native Indians. Mainstream in today’s verbal discourse is really synonymous with white. As long as the mainstream is kept safely secure then all is well. For all those outside the mainstream, any attempt to alter ‘the way things have always been’ is considered a threat to the very facet of our culture.

Should it really have been a shocking surprise that of the groups included in the survey’s visible minority population, Blacks were more likely to report feeling that they had been discriminated against or treated unfairly by others because of their ethno-cultural characteristics?8 Do any of these researchers even remember North American slavery? As a Black Canadian, the subject of such statistical ‘proofs’, I have absolutely no response to this survey or others like it. They carry as much worth as statistics showing that Native Canadians feel disenfranchised in Canadian society. Why do the lived realities of people of colour only mean something when they are quantified and presented in statistical format?

Perhaps when all Canadians are able to have an open discussion on racism things will really begin to shift. Regardless of what any survey says, the truth can’t be white-washed.

Sources:
Visible minorities report racism in study
Ethnic Diversity Study
Racial bias 20% feel the sting

----
Cheryl Thompson is an aspiring writer/journalist living in Toronto, Canada. She has a B.A. in Criminology and is pursuing an M.A. in Media and Communication through Ryerson University. Cheryl believes that part of our survival as human beings is being able to express ourselves, and hopes to be able to influence those who have the power to bring about change through her writing.

Note: Visible minorities repo... Ethnic Diversity Study Racial bias 20% feel th...