PT 2: Black Canadian writers on finding home in their work
What kinds of responsibility does a Black writer have? Is it enough to just write whatever inspires you, or is there an obligation to take on the big questions of culture, class, colour? In this two-part series, we hear from Black Canadian writers about the politics of everyday life and art.
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Posted: Feb 25, 2021 7:17 PM ET | Last Updated: February 26
From left to right: writers George Elliott Clarke, Afua Cooper and André Alexis all featured guests in our two-part series, Behind the Lines.(Submitted by George Elliott Clark/Submitted by Afua Cooper/Hannah Zoe Davison)
Winnipeg Free Press By: Karine Coen-Sanchez
Opinion Canada, I replied. No! I mean where are you really from?
I never understand that question, and why my answer isn’t sufficient. I have to explain my heritage and the reasons why I don’t fit the prototype of what a Canadian person must look like. Somehow, I can’t be both Black and Canadian. I must position myself in a way that doesn’t ruffle white Canadian fragility and its definition of Blackness.
It’s this kind of all-too-common experience that regularly reminds me that there’s a gap in the Canadian education system that prevents Black Canadians from being both Black and Canadian.
Editorial: Say no to racism Marchers take to the streets of Toronto Aug. 3 demanding an end to systemic racism in schools. Michael Swan January 28, 2021
The bottom line is there is still much to do.
It was on Dec. 14, 1995 that Jean Augustine, Canada’s first Black MP and a former principal with the Toronto Catholic school board, rose in the House of Commons to put forward a motion: “That this House take note of the important contribution of Black Canadians to the settlement, growth and development of Canada, the diversity of the Black community in Canada and its importance to the history of this country, and recognize February as Black History Month.” It was passed unanimously.
Posted: Feb 07, 2021 8:00 AM AT | Last Updated: February 7
Saint John writer Anna Minerva Henderson, pictured with her graduating class of 1905 at Saint John High School. (Submitted by Saint John High School) comments Grey wharves that know the way of wind and tide, Dim, drifting fog, the sea-gull s plaintive cry, A city, old and assured, wearing the pride Of epic memories and heritage ….
Few poems have so perfectly captured the grit and dignity of Canada s oldest incorporated city.
These lines, titled
Saint John, N.B. become even more remarkable when you learn the author was a Black woman born in 1887.
Anna Minerva Henderson, the daughter of a schoolteacher and a barber, grew up to be an award-winning civil servant and literary pioneer. Black literary critic and Governor General s Award-winning author George Elliott Clarke describes her as the first Black woman in English in Canada to dare to publish a chapbook of verse.
Editorial: Say no to racism catholicregister.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from catholicregister.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.