Racetalk
This site was an attempt to more actively engage in our culture. The hope was to reflect on a range of issues surrounding race, privilege, power, colonization and whiteness.
John Crosbie’s joke was racist: National Post defends
For anyone that hasn’t heard, John Crosbie told a joke about a Pakistani suicide bomber last week. Strangely, it occurred at the inauguration of his new position as Lieutenant Governor General of Newfoundland and…
WWII and race in the Post-Nazi era
Part VI of a series on the history of race in Canada and the US. After the end of World War II, there was a significant shift in race-thinking. As the horrors of the…
Income Disparity: Part II
Of the G8 countries, the US has the largest income disparity between the highest and lowest income earners. Canada isn’t far behind.
Between the world wars: 1920s and 1930s
Part V of a series on the history of race in Canada and the US. As the western world was rebuilding itself in the wake of World War I, races continued to be seen…
1870s to 1924: Increasing immigration
Part IV of a series on the history of race in Canada and the US. “To become White has often been constructed as synonymous with becoming truly American” (Maher, 1997, p. 4). The end…
The “White Canada” Policy
Part III of a series on the history of race in Canada and the US. Canada is often described as a “nation of immigrants.” This telling of history often includes “Canada’s present-day Indian and…
Early race history: Slavery and Colonization
Part II of a series on the history of race in Canada and the US. In the US, whiteness was enshrined by Congress as early as 1790, when “all free white persons” had the…
A Brief History of ‘Race’ in Canada and the US
This is the first of a series that I will post on the history of race in Canada and the US. The word race, as it refers to biological or genetic differentiations among humans,…
Anti-racist cartoons
I just came across this great cartoonist who has a whole page dedicated to anti-racist cartoons. Intelligent, insightful and funny… this is the kind of culture I want to be part of creating! It…
Increasing disparity
A report released in 2008 by the OECD shows that in most developed countries the gap is growing between the rich and the poor. The important thing to note is that it is growing…
Build me a bridge …
An actual comment, left by an actual person on the Stuff White People Like blog: I am so sick and tired of the fucking double-standard!!! OMG! YES, ONCE UPON A TIME, WHITE PEOPLE HAD…
Colour Me Blind
Great video I just came across, it totally outs the way diversity gets used to shut down conversations about the impacts of racism …
The Social Construction of Race
“Not all experience is social but the consciousness of it is framed in social experience. The starting point, therefore, is the collective inheritance, differentiated by class or social group background – the received wisdom…
culture remix
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about whether it’s possible (or how it is possible) to intervene in culture in ways that make space for other ways of being/doing. Some say that culture jamming…
Natural attraction
An article about the aesthetic appeal of mixed-race faces was just listed on today’s links by racialicious. It definitely challenges the claims that are made about how it is ‘natural’ for people to find…
The web as democracy?
Increasingly, the web is an important locus of knowledge for Canadian and US culture. This is especially true for younger and white demographics who have the resources to be plugged in. However a “digital…
Guilt and Sacrifice
I’ve seen a number of films in the past little while that seem to have a reoccurring theme around those who are guilty sacrificing themselves for those who are innocent. Most recently, I saw…
Anti-racism tactics
Although I’m not the biggest fan of anti-racism work that is based on white people as allies, Paul Kivel (2002) has some great anti-racism tactics. His focus is on providing tactics to white people…
What’s wrong with being an ‘ally’?
On the surface it seems that there could be nothing wrong with wanting to be an ally to a social movement. Being an ally implies wanting to help, and what could be wrong with…
Ethical clothing: Merino Ads
Is this ad racist? Or reproducing racist imagery? I saw this ad in fiber options the other day. The person I was with did not initially read the male body as black (or even…
Another black athlete movie
I watched “The Express” a few weeks ago. It tells the story of Ernie Davis, a young black man who played US college football in the late 1950s. Like other recent movies (i.e. The…
Calgary Airport Indians
The luggage collection area in most airports is a pretty boring place. It doesn’t seem to be a part of the airport that gets much attention, despite the expensive renovations and art in many…
Class and race
I just came across this video, Neoliberalism As Water Balloon from Tim McCaskell. It’s concise and well done, and makes some good arguments about how our economy is currently functioning to the benefit of…
white associations
I’ve been reading Hazel Smith’s The Writing Experiment, and here’s one of the word association poems that I came up with. white white wash white soap white clean white whale white board white teaching…
Second Life
I am fascinated by the ways that people’s lives intersect on and off-line. Second Life is particularly interesting because of how realistically it is trying to replicate people’s off-line lives. Even more interesting is…
Four meanings of multiculturalism
According to a recent publication by the Parliamentary Research Branch, Canadian multiculturalism has four meanings: as a sociological fact, as ideology, as policy, and as a process of group interaction (Dewing and Leman, 2006,…