It Is Official: Toronto District School Board Agrees To Open Black Focus School In September 2009
In the past I would of said it is wrong for the Toronto District School Board to open a black focus school. There has been a passionate debate that I believe is a hindrance. The truth is 40% of black teens are dropping out of school in the Toronto area. Also, only 5.2% of the teachers in the greater Toronto area are black. Only 9.6% of the principals are black.The question is why are a disproportionate number of black kids not completing their education? Let’s be real and honest here the attitudes of some racists are that black kids are stupid, lazy, and lacking discipline.
It is obvious to me the issues some black children are encountering go deeper and deal with the psychological such as alienation, hopelessness, worthlessness, and despair. Next, people will whisper quietly of course that “the Asians and the white kids are adjusting and not having problems so why are some black kids struggling?” The covert racists will use this rationalization as an excuse to maintain the state sponsored racist curriculum that is detrimental to black youth.
The answer is obvious different groups are treated differently by the system. In the city of Toronto black Canadians we have consistently been branded as the “out-group” and categorized as “the other”. Toronto has a racial hierarchy and in this racist hierarchy blacks are demonized consistently in the Canadian media and society compared to Asians. The editors, managing editors, editor in chiefs of Canadian newspapers are whites and Asians. Pick up a Canadian newspaper you will notice no black people in high power media positions. And don’t think this is just a coincidence either. The racism is institutionalized. If more blacks were in power positions in the Canadian media the Canadian media would be run very differently then the lax journalism that currently takes place.
The Canadian media has a propensity to publishing in print or broadcasting on television and radio racist anti black pieces in order to create a pathology about us. Also notice there are Asians that work in top media positions in Canada but blacks are excluded. Do you even have to wonder why? Race is socially constructed, and when a group of people are bashed consistently it can have a negative psychological effect on some members of a community.
Black lesbian Canadian feminist Dionne Brand wrote a book about the racist attitudes of the Canadian media in her groundbreaking 2001 book “A Map To The Door Of No Return”. Please, I urge you go to the public library and read Ms. Brand’s excellent book about the ways in which the Canadian media and culture pathologize and demonize black folks. Also, read Dr. Joseph Mensah’s wonderful book “Black Canadians” Dr. Mensah provides statistical evidence with a strong polemical message about the entrenched racism against black Canadians. Both books are available at your local public library.I am sure since its black history month both books will be on “display”.
Dionne Brand and Joseph Mensah’s books didn’t receive a lot of ink in the Canadian press because Canada has this pretentious image of being less racist then America. The truth is Americans are more real about racism then Canadians. Canada is a place where covert racism thrives and grows like a cancer. Some of these kids may even be depressed they don’t feel the material they are studying is engaging or interesting. When kids are interested in something the passion will emerge and they will try. When children have teachers that are anti racist that actually care about black kids they can achieve. However, the Toronto District School Board has a history of being racist against the Toronto black community and this is a fact.
However, I know from personal experience with the Toronto District School Board the course work is boring and anti black. Black kids are being alienated by racist teachers, racist principals, a system that is a form of systematic racism. I don’t understand the eruption of anger here there is only going to be one black focus school opening in the city in September 2009.
My question is where the hell does the segregation argument emerge from? The term “segregation” is an explosive word. However, aren’t black kids being segregated and alienated anyway by a racist Toronto education system that is anti black? Why is there such an imbalance in the number of black teachers teaching in the greater Toronto area? Teachers also have their own racist prejudices and biases against the black community. I remember when I was a kid back in the early 1990s I had several battles with the racist teachers that wanted to hold me back because I am black.
Also, another important issue the media ignores is about the racist teachers that keep on discriminating against black kids. It is well known in Toronto that black students are treated differently then the whites and the Asians. In the 1990s in the city of Brampton which is a suburb of Toronto there was a teacher that was fired in the year 1993 he was a part of the Ku Klux Klan. Isn’t that scary the Peel District School Board didn’t even do a background check? The Peel District School Board allowed a member of the Ku Klux Klan to teach impressionable children.
However, I now understand this new school for black students that will open in September 2009 is so important. The bottom line is some black children are simply slipping through the cracks and it has taken the Toronto Board of Education this long to realize something needs to be done. I think one school is not the solution but a step in the right direction. It is obvious to me that the hiring practices of the Toronto District School Board needs to change they need to hire more black teachers.
The curriculum also needs to change immediately! Why should black children be forced and subjected to reading racist anti black books such as Harper Lee’s garbage white savior novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” or study just European history? Why can’t black kids learn about the history of the African Diaspora? There needs to be more diversity in the course material to engage and interest black kids.
Some people are getting all emotional but this is only one school so the vast majority of black children in the greater Toronto area still will have to attend regular school. I just hope the Toronto District School Board wakes up and realizes this is just a band aid solution. The real culprit is their apathetic attitude to the concerns of the black community. Why should black kids be subjected to reading Shakespeare? Who cares about Shakespeare? Why can’t black kids read about Canadian writers of colour such as Makeda Silvera or Evelyn Lau?
Link: http://www.thestar.com/News/article/298714
THis is prolly why there seems to be a bit of a trend with parents home-schooling their kids.
I thought it was all ice cream and cake in Canada. Boy oh boy it looks like you guys are at a crossroads. Study the failures below the border.
I’m really excited about this too!!!!
I’m sick of the (mostly) racist hysteria in the media about this issue and the constant throwing out of that tired “segregation” boogie man. it’s funny how no one wants to talk about the ways the public school system is already “segregated” when black students continue to be marginalized and pushed out in appalling numbers. I am also curious about why “race” and “skin colour” are suddenly an issue NOW when people in our community are attempting to provide strategies that seek to address our realities and deal with the issues that affect our communities -no instead we get all this talk about how black schools will not prepare black kids for living in the “real world” (i.e. that multicultural hub aka Toronto) after all “having kids learn together” is so important cause young racialized kids being exposed to the values of the dominant culture is so conducive multiculturalism.
Thank you Jason for speaking the truth! Black students are already marginalized due to racism. I think the media is just feeding into the mainstream’s prejudices about blacks they don’t want to see black kids do well! The real issue I also have is the hiring standards they need to hire MORE black teachers and change the course work ASAP!
Hi,
I totally disagree with the black focus schools. I think that, yes, finally people are actually publically acknowledging the problems that are faced by black kids in the public schools, but this does not look like a solution to me AT ALL. It is segregation, on a public level. Having schools based on race or the colour of your skin is segregation. And done on a public level, I really don’t understand how this is going to help anyone. Honestly, great, there’s a wonderful little school that will allow for the development of black culture on a minor scale. What about the rest of Canada? What about the white kids–they’re not supposed to learn anything about black culture either? What about the latinos, ‘white trash’ kids, and any other lower class citizen whose problems are being ignored? Don’t they get the benefit of recognition within the system? Also, questions: who is going to pay for this system? will they actually get enough money? Racism is abundant in the education system allready, I’m not positive that this will miraculously change because of one public ‘black’ school. And if anything that might highten problems: you’re a black teacher, go teach in your own school…i could see that kind of thinking catching on. It feels to me that people are acknowleding that racism is a problem in Ontario school systems and then going ‘fuck it, let them deal with it themselves’, without taking into consideration that this is a national problem. It involves everyone in the education system, and a need to revamp it. This “bandaid” solution, as someone else put it, will not help in the long run. I think it will only cause further alienation between the black and white communities as they define each other as ‘other’.
Furthermore, when people compare black focus schools to the Catholic school system, they need to remember that those are PRIVATE systems.
And whatever happened to the civil rights movement? Segregation on this level is not a “boogey man”. Even if you think it’s the right thing, call a spade a spade and get it over with. There’s no way that this is not voluntary segregation.
I don’t know…these are just my immediate reactions. I just feel like there are better ways to deal with this issue now that it’s finally been acknowledged. If people want to argue with me, I welcome it. I want to understand this issue better and get a fuller view of the situation. I just heard about it yesterday, which is also disgraceful. I can’t believe the lack of publicity it has!
The constant inferences made to “segregation” are really -really problematic for several reasons
One is that it is used to generate a reactionary response that completely ignores the various ways black youth are currently marginalized, discriminated against, and well criminalized within the public school system and in society in general. So instead of addressing the way black youth are disproportionately and negatively affected by a racist public school system, instead we get all this hysteria in the media about “race based” schools, but it is funny when initiatives are put forward BY members from OUR communities that “race” is now suddenly a factor. This is disingenuous and I’m sorry the assumption creates these false divides that don’t neatly fit into the lives of black youth, I also believe that they do not even begin to adequately address the various complexities of our experiences living in this society.
I also find the constant references to the civil rights movement and the media’s use Jordan Manner’s mother to discredit the decision to be really -really exploitative and just another way of “reframing” if not distorting the issue.
People keep talking about separate “walls” separate “buildings” etc. well, we don’t need separate walls or buildings to feel “segregated” when we have laws, institutions, media, and a culture -all (re) enforced by a dominant ideology that maintains whatever level of marginalization (re: “segregation”) we experience in our lives -a distinction that is well, ignored given the constant and very disingenuous trotting out of the term.
And for all the “out cry” over this –people seem to forget that there are a number of TDSB funded alternative schools designed to meet the various needs of youth (yes, even marginalized, at risk youth) in safe equity based learning environments like Oasis Alternative S.S. (Triangle Program) or SEED or First Nations School of Toronto so should I look forward to media and other mainstream scrutiny of these institutions?
Jason I cosign with your argument you make some excellent points. I attended an alternative high school when I was a teenager over a decade ago and it help me get on the right track. The TDSB already has programs available for disadvantaged youth for the homosexuals and First Nations. So why can’t black kids also have a school program too? The pernicious anti black racism is the real culprit. When 40% of black teens in Toronto are dropping out of school in alarming numbers this is so sad and shocking. The media and the haters don’t seem to care about the real issue here and that is helping black kids that feel alienated by a racist education system. Nobody is thinking about the concerns of black children all the while ignoring the bigotry of the system.
Tell me about it. I went to a Catholic High school which “just happened to be” uh mostly white and needless to say it wasn’t a great experience and I know all about having to sit through classes learning about the great Harper Lee or History class learning about the “slaves” and the disappearing “native people” I didn’t even know about “alternative schools”. I totally support this -I want to see back youth have real opportunities for growth and success just like other marginalized youth we deserve to have our needs our education our experiences respected and prioritized on our own terms and not have to beg for white culture and or institutions to see us deserving in order for us to have issues that affect out communities “put on the table”. Honestly, I think if I had the chance to go to an alternative school I would of had a very different and a way more experience then the one I had. I want that for all youth esp. back youth getting fuck over by this racist system…
^ insert positive enriching experience
I think for far too long Jason black Canadians we have been too quiet about the racism in Canada. We can’t just sit back and go with the flow. We know it is the time to rock the fucking boat! We cannot sit here and watch black youth drop out of school and become alienated by a racist Canadian society. The black children that are having problems were born in Canada they are a product of Canada.
I can honestly say Jason that alternative high school saved my life. You are so right Jason all we ever learn about black people in history class is the negative shit. We discuss slavery and the underground railroad and all that. What about the stuff going on in black history right now? Black children are marginalized and the scapegoats and racist haters ignore the fact 40% of black teens are dropping out. The black school is being created because we are in a crisis. If the gays and the Native kids can have alternative schools why can’t blacks? What is the difference? I feel there is a fear and the explosive issue of anti black racism is being exposed.
When I was fifteen years old I was a mess I just started to attend an all white high school and I hated it. I felt so alone. I hated school, I hated myself and I hated my life. I started to skip school and my parents found out about an alternative high school. Alternative high school really helped me to be comfortable. I started to take school seriously, I worked hard and graduated high school and went on to university and completed a B.A. degree. I believe black children can achieve in school in the right environment.