a history of colour
Feb. 18th, 2007 06:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhanFeburary 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.
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.
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Date: 2007-02-19 01:31 am (UTC)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....