I attended a Black Lives Matter community forum today in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and found it inspiring and thought provoking. As I listened to the speakers relate personal stories of racism and oppression, it dawned on me that it is the black and indigenous peoples who are the true heroes. To have your land taken away, or escape slavery, live in poverty, live with segregation and residential schools; and not only survive, but THRIVE —this should be celebrated, not ignored or downplayed by white people. Imagine being told by the white majority that you are not equal, that you are second class. And in extreme cases, not really human. Imagine this inhumane treatment happening for 400 years. It’s challenging for white people to try to comprehend the depths and reach of white privilege. We should all be proud of black and indigenous citizens and of how they have succeeded in spite of racism and oppression. There is so much white people can learn from them, from their resilience and community strength.
If whites had escaped enslavement or survived residential schools, they would have been lauded as cultural heroes and icons. It’s telling that many of our monuments are for the men who were the greatest oppressors. The colonialists, slave traders, land barons. Why can’t we have more monuments for those who succeeded even when everything was stacked against them?
Black Lives Matter is very important in 2020. For all those who say All Lives Matter, I say that’s true, but imagine living in a world where the playing field is slanted in the other team’s favor (and has been for hundreds of years). Could white people even survive in such an inhumane world?
I am a white man who has known white privilege his whole life and I’m happy to be part of this cultural change.
