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Back to all Forum Categories Back to Youth Dialogues - From the Abolition of the Slave Trade to the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Racial Discrimination
This year, March 21 has a special significance: 2007 is the year the international community commemorates the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, enacted by the British Parliament on March 25, 1807. The Act paved the way for the emancipation of the women and men who were exploited as slaves for centuries throughout the British Empire. Upper Canada played a central role in this regard, as it was the first jurisdiction in the British Empire to limit slavery.
However, just as in other countries where slavery was instituted, emancipation in Canada did not come easily. Even after slavery was abolished, Blacks and Aboriginal peoples found themselves confined to the bottom rung of society and denied their most basic rights. It was not until 1960 that racial segregation was rendered illegal in Canada.
Today, our country has changed dramatically. As citizens of Canada, we are all equal before the law. Communities across the country now reflect and celebrate their cultural and ethnic diversity, which has made our country a beacon of stability, social harmony, and democracy around the world.
But we are not totally immune to racism. We cannot deny that decades of segregation and slave trade and exploitation has left a legacy of racial prejudices that can influence our mentalities, perceptions and behaviours. Yet, Canadians from coast to coast to coast are proclaiming loudly and clearly their commitment to building a society in which everyone is given the same respect, dignity and opportunities to flourish.
The Governor General has asked students, historians, researchers, authors, and artists to gather at Rideau Hall on March 21 to discuss this idea. She also invites you to share your opinion on her Citizen Voices Web site in a forum called “Abolition and the Elimination of Racial Discrimination”. The goal is to highlight the significance of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade act and to define how we can continue fighting racial inequalities and injustices in our time.
Why is it important to remember this chapter of our collective history? Have you witnessed racism in your life or in your community? How do you respond to racial discrimination?
Times of remembrance offer us an opportunity to reflect and assess our performance in regards to that which is being remembered. To ensure the integrity of the process, each person or community that initiates this act of remembrance must approach it with the solemnity and reverence.
On this occasion, we are called to perceive the underpinnings which manifested Slavery and Racial Discrimination and renew our efforts in ushering an age of enlightenment in our world. An age in which we grow into the mind set of and become one with our Maker, celebrating His Supreme accomplishment as expressed in the miraculous creation that we call the Universe!
Slavery and Racial Discrimination are born out of greed and ignorance!
Greed because there is a belief that if the other shares in the collective wealth of the Earth, I will be without. Ignorance because we are toddlers in comprehending the magnificent expression of the Rainbow tribes! So fueled by greed and ignorance, we concoct debased systems which seek to deny the elegance of the magnificent expression of creation.
Our present experience can be summed up thus: we have great computer hardware; however, our essential software is obsolete! Going forward requires that we replace this obsolete software with one that celebrates the magnificent creation represented by the Universe!
The Ancients understood this essential reality. Theirs was a society based on establishing a society on Earth that reflected the harmonious which is expressed in Heaven, the celestial realm of the Sky. They made a commitment to uphold the traditions of the First Time, the moment of creation, when all the eternal harmonic laws of the Cosmos were established. Theirs was a continuous commitment to attain the insight and the wisdom of the force behind the creation of the Universe and in the process preserve and protect the harmonic conditions on earth.
Since the time of the Ancients, the Earth has descended into a dark age. We have lost the knowledge and insight which the Ancients left us; we have descended into the age of ignorance and greed. However, remnants of this wisdom exist in the cultures of dominated peoples of the Earth.
Slavery and Racial Discrimination are but two of the fruits of the shackles of ignorance and greed. Others include: the existence of an economic system that enslaves over 6 Billion people on Earth for the benefit of a negligible few; the transfer of the collective wealth of the Earth into the hands of the privileged few (people/countries); the destruction of habitats for all life forms on Earth, Ethnic cleansing, suppression and abuse of women, the erection of artificial barriers to prevent the realization of the dreams of certain people to mention just a few.
We are called, on this momentous occasion, to be resolute in our resolve; that we will inaugurate an era to reclaim our birth right as citizens of the Universe; that we will transform the systems of the world into ones of trusteeship of the planet. That, the night of our ignorance will usher us into crossing the bridge into the day of enlightenment and wisdom on Earth.
As we renew this resolve, we must remember that the competing view point will try to frustrate our mission. President Lydon B. Johnson described this process the best in an address to the US Congress on March 15, 1965, as he sought passage of the Civil Rights Bill to give Blacks the right to vote:
“Many of the issues of civil rights are very complex and most difficult. But about this there can and should be no argument: every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to insure that right. Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes.
Every device of which human ingenuity is capable, has been used to deny this right. The Negro citizen may go to register only to be told that the day is wrong, or the hour is late, or the official in charge is absent. And if he persists and, if he manages to present himself to the registrar, he may be disqualified because he did not spell out his middle name, or because he abbreviated a word on the application. And if he manages to fill out an application, he is given a test. The registrar is the sole judge of whether he passes this test. He may be asked to recite the entire Constitution, or explain the most complex provisions of state law.
And even a college degree cannot be used to prove that he can read and write. For the fact is that the only way to pass these barriers is to show a white skin. Experience has clearly shown that the existing process of law cannot overcome systematic and ingenious discrimination. No law that we now have on the books, and I have helped to put three of them there, can insure the right to vote when local officials are determined to deny it. In such a case, our duty must be clear to all of us.”
President Lydon B. Johnson
“We Shall Overcome” Speech to Congress
March 15, 1965
We must convert the obstacles placed in our way into stepping stones to forge our ascension to the glorious height of life that we seek on Earth. We must be audacious in conceiving the pathway to its realization. We must not surrender to convenient but debased formats which will shipwreck our drive to the destination we seek; a world in which togetherness and common interest propagates, a world in which our energies are directed at realizing the fruit of the Glorious Earth!
How do we proceed from where we are at present? Realizing that our software and controlling systems are obsolete, we must surrender to the tides of the emergent but ancient reality.
We need to re-educate ourselves about the miraculous expression of creation. How is it that the Universe and for that matter our planet is what it is? Entering into this realm of understanding requires the establishment of a new format in education. One that is different that the existing system which is based on the reckless exploitation of the resources of Earth, humans included! The new system will have as its goal the attainment the principles of harmonious Earth. This will arrest our drive towards the precipice and self destruction.
In every hamlet of our world, we must mobilize those who presently share in this objective. We must institute permanent institutions which will mobilize our collective strength and serve as forums to propagate our view of the Glorious Earth. They will also serve as beacons for our world. It is through this congregation of our collective energy that we will show our world the glimpses of a different but Glorious Earth.
Some of our programs will include celebrations of cultural diversity and processes promoting togetherness, trusteeship of earth and all life forms. We must also transform our economic system into one that reflects the economic system of the Universe; one in which we take what we need while preserving the integrity of the Earth.
Already there exist many organizations around the world who share in the vision of a Glorious Earth! Though fragmented in their orientation, collectively they are working for the realization of this vision. Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Cultural Survival, Sierra Club are but a few of these organizations. We need to bring these organizations together to harness their collective power into a transformative resource for our world.
Underlying these groups is the 6 billion voices of our planet; the ones who bear the burden born of greed and ignorance. The hidden strength of the 6 billion voices will be unleashed into transforming our world into a paradise for all. This hidden strength can change all processes on Earth; from addressing issues of the environment, changing the economic system into one facilitating both the realization of the potential of people on Earth while maintaining our trusteeship of the planet.
As a ten year old African boy, I had occasion to perceive that the ways of the world were debased. As a young man in Canada, I experienced discrimination because I married an Italian Canadian. That marriage ended a few years later.
As a professional, I experienced the glass ceiling effect. As an entrepreneur, I encountered the falsehood of the promise society has made to minorities: that you will have access to the tools for your self realization if you attain higher education coupled with the necessary experience and superlative record. Having met all the conditions, I came face to face with the ultimate deception of this invocation.
Having recovered from this nightmarish experience, I am guided by the resolve forged in the critical moment of insight as a ten year old African boy. I have unmasked the ways of the systems of the world as they exist at present.
I am resolved, as I was at the age of ten, to finish my passage on Earth fostering and promoting frameworks for the attainment of the Glorious Earth. The seeds for this realization are around us; laying on the sand of time awaiting the commencement of the rainy season.
This rainy season is here now!
This occasion of remembrance is a milestone in the inauguration of the rainy season.
The seeds have felt the onset of the long expected rainy season. The process of their new expression and unfoldment has begun. In time the buds will come, then the flowering and finally the fruits of their experience will be served to both who desire to eat and those who need to plant for the next harvest.
May this occasion focus our insight and creativity! May we rise to the call of this remembrance?
May God Bless you in your deliberations!
T. Kofi Hadjor
The Serpent Bearer
www.universeafrica.com
Comme je le fais savoir, nous sommes là cette fois-ci à Montréal, au Québec pour y rester. Qu'on le veuille ou pas, nous sommes greffés à cette société, il va falloir nous accepter comme faisant partie intégrante de cette nouvelle tendance que ce soit à Montréal, Québec, que le reste du Canada.
La ségrégation a été abolie, nous n'allons pas retourner en arrière. Nous devrions nous organiser pour former une grande famille ou les enfants de la terre seront de toutes les couleurs avec leur parfum et leur culture sans avoir de la chicane dans la cabane. Quand vous avez accepté d'ouvrir l'Immigration vous saviez que le Québec et le Canada ne seraient plus ce qu'ils ont été par le passé. Acceptons de se donner la main et de se dire que nous pouvons vivre et laisser vivre les autres sans avoir peur d'apprécier la diversité.
R.T.Hansen CD
With great interest I read the book "Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves," by Adam Hochschild. They have it in Chapters, and if any one of you is ever there, take a look at it. Great story.
Whatever the colour of our skin, we're all just people.
This is the first time I've written in anything like this, and I'm finding the words aren't coming easy!
Just this... all the best to everyone, and let's build a better world by being better people.
Doug
For example, Sustenance Hunting status. Under the Canada "law", it's open to all races, but one must prove that most, 'though not all, of income comes from hunting and fishing.
However unless one is of the First race, he's thrown in jail soon as he admits he profited from hunting and fishing.
And that is only the tip of the racist iceberg.
But I believe there is no way to get rid of it.
There is always going to be someone hating someone because of thier race.
Q. Is racial discrimination born of Ignorance?
A. Yes and no, racial discrimination is an act of deliberate slurrings
whether educated or not. It is not right to say someone educated is ignorant, however, ignorance dominates the most ignorant, and the most ignorant is to slur untrue statements, and the most educated is to state facts!
Gosfield Black (Negro) Cemetery Celebration, Kingsville (Photo courtesy
of Yolanda Asschert, Kingsville Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee)
I hope a quick correction will be made to this racially prejudiced captioning.