I met Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove about 5 years ago in Durham, North

Carolina, with a small group of other students from Rochester University.

He spoke about how everything in society is directed under a known or

unknown racial element. In truth, I really wasn’t sure I agreed with him at

the time, as it seemed to place so much weight on a pendulum swing towards

the guilt of a racialized society. It became that much more difficult &

uncomfortable for me when he turned & asked what the racial presence was

like here in Canada.

Attempting to answer, I stumbled to say that I really didn’t see racism

here in Canada like I do down in the States. Perhaps there was a comparison

with the Indigenous & First Nations people but, Black racial prejudice just

didn’t seem to be as overt to me. Looking back, I can now say I was

speaking from a place of privilege & while I may not have acknowledged the

hight of racial oppression here in Canada, it was very real & exercising

itself greatly through a numb & blind Canadian society.