Recently, the Toronto-based Centre for Social Justice published a new booklet called “Expanding the Circle: People Who Care About Ending Racism,” designed to help white Canadians understand racism, how they have historically benefitted from it, and how they must help to end it. The 24-page booklet includes a historical overview of Canadian race relations, encourages whites to consider how they often quietly benefit from racial injustice, and discusses ways of weakening racism.
The Varsity spoke with Ann Curry-Stevens, author of the booklet, about the need for “Expanding the Circle.”
“The booklet is primarily targeted at a white readership,” said Curry-Stevens. “I am trying to get whites to acknowledge how they have been harmed by racism and how they have to take the responsibility for putting an end to it. It can be difficult to educate about racism without a live, personal connection, but it is important to try.”
Curry-Stevens has organized racism workshops in the past and said she knows the terrain well.
“There is often a lot of resistance to this education; students can attack the credibility of the presentation or question the existence or extent of racist attitudes in Canada,” she said, describing some of the difficulties she has encountered.
“If white people do not actively resist racism, then they benefit from it,” she continued. One part of “Expanding the Circle” says, “… white people, simply by being white, uphold systems of domination.”
“All forms of prejudice, whether economic or sexist, are problematic,” said Curry-Stevens, who has also done work on economic injustice at the centre. “Racism isn’t necessarily more important or problematic than these, but you have to deal with one problem at a time. One of the problems educators sometimes face in Canada is the notion that racism is an American issue, that Canada never had that sort of history.” The key, she said, is to personalize the issue.
For instance, one section of the booklet includes a checklist to help whites realize how that they often enjoy privileged status over visible minorities. For example, the list poses true-or-false questions designed to challenge whites’ preconceived notions. “If I ask to speak to the person in charge, I can be pretty sure I will be speaking to someone of my race,” reads one. “My cultural celebrations are holidays that are recognized by the government,” says another.
The booklet also encourages whites to see racism as detrimental to their self-interest. One of the most effective points made in “Expanding the Circle” says that Canada’s economic growth is diminished when people of colour earn less, since this means they have lowering purchasing power. The booklet claims that under-use of immigrant skills costs the Canadian economy about $2.4 billion a year.
In “Expanding the Circle,” racism is considered a systemic feature of Canadian society that has been persistent and difficult to eradicate. “Assume racism is everywhere, everyday,” it says, and, “behind particular [racist] incidents and interactions are larger patterns.” At times, there is a sense that the whole of Canadian society is a mess: “understand the connections between racism, economic issues, sexism, and other forms of injustice.”
To balance the condemnation and despair which threaten to overwhelm the pamphlet, there is also a section on anti-rascist activists such as Harriet Tubman (active in the 19th-century Underground Railway), Carrie Best (publisher of Canada’s first black newspaper). In addition, several whites who have been active in opposing racism are profiled, including diplomat Stephen Lewis and Toronto Star columnist Michele Landsberg.
