a history of colour

[the_siobhan]

Feburary is Black History Month in Canada. I have the vague idea that it might also be Black History Month in the US, but only because of something I saw on The Daily Show.

My workplace prides itself on being very pro-diversity. So now when we walk onto my floor from the elevators we pass right by a display that talks about black Canadians of note. I stopped to read it the other day, and realized that all the plaques are titled "Contributions of African-Canadians".

And if my lily-white Celtic self spotted this, you can bet it did not escape the notice of all the Carribbean-Canadians who work there, and who probably outnumber the employees of African birth or descent by a ratio of about 80 to one.

Now I know why every time somebody mentions the subject of Black History Month the Jamaican guy who sits next to me yells, "You mean African-Canadian History Month" and then falls over laughing.

Comments

[machineplay.livejournal.com]

Now I know why every time somebody mentions the subject of Black History Month the Jamaican guy who sits next to me yells, "You mean African-Canadian History Month" and then falls over laughing.

Lordy, yes. I think we've kept our British tendancy to the obtuse, as a nation. :p

[shara.livejournal.com]

"Black History Month" is, IMO, completely counterproductive in Canada. We didn't import quite as many Africans as the Americans did and subsequently most people here who could reasonably be described as "black" are either carribean or very recently arrived in Canada, and feel little kinship with the history related by "black history month".

My brother tells us that any brown kid in his school gets press-ganged for activities during "black history month" which seems to me to be just another kind of racism (I mean really, there's no shared history, just colour.) Most black canadian artists interviewed by the papers for the month politely point out that these are not their stories, but they have plenty to tell if you're interested.

If we're going to declare months to make sure the marginalized are recognised, maybe it would work better if we did so by issue rather than by colour or culture? Slavery history month, genocide history month, refugee history month, &c? Get to the point, rather than assume there's a connection between culture, colour and history?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's a bad idea to have a campaign that increases the awareness of black Canadians who did cool things. It emphasises the fact that not everybody of note in this country came here from England or France. And many of the people on the list may in fact be African-Canadian.

It just struck me as really bizarre to call it Black History Month and then completely ignore the existance of the biggest segment of the black population.

It really turns into something that just looks like some empty-headed well-meaning gesture instead of a genuine effort to educate.

[sonjaaa.livejournal.com]

It's stolen from USA and is a good concept but doesn't adapt as well to Canadian culture. It should be Black Canadian or Afro-Canadian but not African-Canadian.

Why don't we have a Chinese-Canadian month or something.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I think we should.

And an indigenous Canadian month.

[sonjaaa.livejournal.com]

Ya ya! you mean like First Nations?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Yup.

Your curious and wanting to be educated neighbor to the South.

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

Really, there isn't a First Nations History month in Canada? I'm surprised. I think I'll go post all the various specific-US history months in my journal.

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

Was it really stolen from the US? How long ago? Are there other good concepts that are borrowed from the US and become official policy?

There's no "Asian-American History" month in Canada? There is in the US.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Turns out we do - in May (http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/multi/asian-asiatique/index_e.cfm"). Shows what I know. I don't see a First Nations month though.

I actually did a quick lookup on the history of Black History Mnth, and it was in fact borrowed from the US. Which is why it falls in February, which has some historical significance in the States but not so much here.

Lest anyone think I'm a jingoist.

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

I think there are some good concepts that should be borrowed from Canada, like health-care for all, for one.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Asian History Month.

http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/multi/asian-asiatique/index_e.cfm

How embarrassing that I didn't know that. Guess it doesn't get much airtime.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember trying to explain to a black friend in the USA why it would make no sense to say "African-Canadian" as a more modern / polite / formal way to say Black in Canada. He didn't think he'd ever met any Caribbean immigrants himself.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

And another thing - African-Canadian has seven syllables. It is my impression that Americans who make speeches use about four syllables to say African-American.

[http://users.livejournal.com/cincinnatus_c_/]

Ha. I gave you your token black guy. :)

A friend of mine teaches at a school in north Etobicoke (one of those infamous neighbourhoods, either Jamestown or St. Jamestown), the main constituents of which are Somali and Jamaican, at something like a 2:1 ratio. The Somalis, he says, refer to the Jamaicans as "black"; they're not "black" themselves. But they're not exactly anybody's idea of "African-Canadians", either....

[nemesis-to-go.livejournal.com]

This tendency to use the prefix 'African' as an indiscriminate synonym for 'Black' reminds me of an episode, some years ago now, when Nelson Mandela was on a visit to the USA.

He attended some highfalutin' function, full of the political great and good. When he got up to make a speech, he was taken aback to find himself introduced as 'African-American'.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Ha! I remember that.

[sonjaaa.livejournal.com]

It proves how Americans simply use the word as a polite way to say "black" and forget that it means "African-American", i.e. an American person who had African ancestors in this case.

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah... it is Black History Month in the US. Images of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks are dutifully being trotted out. At the end of the month, they'll be put back in mothballs.

I don't mean to downplay the contributions of either to US society, but I do get tired of so many people treating the contributions of different ethnic and racial groups as something to be trotted out for one month a year... and none of the more challening issues get discussed.

And... how DARE you leave out your Nordic, pre-Celtic, and other selves? Sheesh.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I just discovered that March is Irish-Canadian month.

Like. What?

[silentq.livejournal.com]

Once, when I told someone that I'm half Jamaican, I was amused when they said "But you don't *look* black". :)

[caspervonb.livejournal.com]

Hahah