Anti-Racism Practices and PAR

1. Anti-Racism Practices and PAR Prepared for Dr. Tim Pyrch Prepared by Sunny Shuang

2. Definition of “Race”(Barker, 1999) • The major subdivision of human species whose distinguishing characteristics are generally transmitted. • Many characteristics by which people seek to distinguish racial groups are not generally transmitted but culturally learned.

3. Jewish Journalist Executed Daniel Pearl, the Jewish Washington Post journalist kidnapped three weeks ago in Pakistan, has been declared dead after a video depicting his killing was handed over by someone knowing his Islamic extremist kidnappers. Believers in Islam, in Pakistan, and worldwide, have condemned the execution by kidnappers who claimed to be nationalists but made a mockery of the Islamic faith which believes in non-violence. They  falsely claimed that Pearl was a  CIA spy, then changed this accusation to scapegoating him as a spy for Israel. The Wiesenthal Institute is demanding that his killers be returned to the US, when they are found, for justice. Pearl and his pregnant  wife, a Buddhist, were peace-loving people who had fond words for the people of Pakistan and the people of Islam. (Feb, 23/02, AAR)

4. Race Concept (Castagna & Dei, 2000) • Is important for its social and political consequences. • To deny the race concept is to deny the lived historical realities of many peoples. • Race is an ideological and political construct with both subjective reality and a material base.

5. Together, we can make a difference... • "Since wars and violence begin in the minds of men, women and children, it is in the minds of men, women and children that the defenses of peace and non-violence must be constructed.“ (Unknown, 2002)

6. Racism… what is it? • Stereotyping and generalizing about people, usually negatively, because of their race; commonly a basis of discrimination against members of racial groups. (Barker, 1999)

7. What does “Racism” do…? • "Racism in its many forms is one of the chief barriers to individual fulfillment and happiness in our own society, and a major component in wars, persecutions, and ongoing slavery elsewhere in the world. • I hope that people will finally come to realize that there is only one 'race'--the human race--and that we are all members of it."(Margaret Atwood)

8. Racism… a “Power-Over”Concept • Racism goes beyond ideology, however, involving discriminatory practices that protect and maintain the position of certain groups and sustain the inferior position of others.

9. Racism…a “Power-Over” Concept… a Superior Thinking • "Like tribalism, fundamentalism, homophobia and all other shallow responses of one person to another, racism concentrates on 'what' you are, and ignores 'who' you are." (Timothy Findley )

10. The Sharpeville Massacre

11. March 21, 1960: A large crowd of Black South Africans assembled in front of the Sharpeville police station to protest the pass laws imposed by apartheid. The pass laws were statutes requiring all black men and women of South Africa to carry a reference book with them when they travelled outside of their homes.

12. The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), led by Robert Sobukwe, together with Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC), organized the protest for the nation's blacks to join together to demonstrate peacefully against apartheid. Rarely in South Africa before 1960 had so many black people demonstrated their defiance of the laws in any way. The police were highly apprehensive, not knowing what to expect. Suddenly, tensions were released: the crowd pelted the policemen with stones, and the edgy policemen retaliated with gunfire.

14. In the end, sixty-nine protesters were killed and one hundred and eighty were wounded (some shot while trying to flee) in what came to be known as The Sharpeville Massacre

15. The Canadian Concentration Camps– Another “Power-Over” After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in the United States, the Canadian government passed the "Order in council PC 1486" expanding the power of the Minister of Justice to remove any and all persons from a designated protected zone (100 mile radius of the BC coast). This was part of the War Measures Act. On March 4, 1942, the BC Security Commission was established and 22,000 Japanese Canadians were given 24 hours to pack, before being incarcerated, interned, and separated from their families.

16. Like the American assembly centers, which housed internees at Santa Anita and other race tracks, the Japanese Canadians were initially housed in a temporary facility just as demeaning in Vancouver called Hastings Park Race Track.

18. Men were separated from their families and forced to work on work crews building roads, railroads, and sugar beet farms. The women and children and older people were sent inland to internment camps (desolate ghost towns and farms made into small cities) in the interior of British Columbia at Greenwood, Sandon, Kaslo, New Denver, Rosebery, Slocan City, Bay Farm, Popoff, Lemon Creek, and Tashme.

19. "Self-supporting" camps were established in Lillooet, Bridge River, Minto City, McGillivray Falls, and Christina Lake. 1,161 internees paid for their relocation and leasing of farms in these desolate areas that provided a less restrictive, less punitive environment. These Japanese Canadians were still considered "enemy aliens" by the government. About 945 men worked on road construction camps at Blue River, Revelstroke, Hope, Schreiber, Black Spur. Those men who complained of the separation from families (Nisei Mass Evacuation Group) as well as other "dissident men" who violated curfew hours were sent to the "prisoner of war" camps at Angler and Petawawa in Ontario (699 men). They were forced to wear shirts with round, red targets on their backs.

20. Similar to the the emasculation and impoverishment of the Jews before the roundup to the German concentration camps, the Japanese Canadians had property, businesses, cars, and boats confiscated and sold by the Canadian government before they were forced into labor camps. Without their property, assets, or jobs they were then charged inequitably for their internment. Harold Hirose, a veteran of the second world war, had five acres of Surry farmland (a neighboring area of Vancouver) which was confiscated and sold for $36. He received a check for $15 which included charges for the administrative costs in a transaction which he did not approve. He subsequently made several appeals to the government to recover the land but these failed. (see Justice in Our Time, The Japanese Canadian Redress Settlement, Roy Miki and Cassandra Kobayashi, 1991,Talonbooks, pp.81.)

22. Unlike the Japanese Americans the Japanese Canadians were not allowed to join the military until after 1945. In spite of the incarceration, the Japanese Canadians volunteered to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces. In 1945 the Canadian government extended the War Measures Act which allowed the MacKenzie King government to execute the "final solution" which forced these Japanese Canadian citizens to repatriate to Japan (a country most of the Japanese Canadians had never been to before) or a forced a "dispersal" to eastern or midwest Canada. Until 1949 it was illegal for the Japanese Canadians to return to Vancouver or western Canada, despite the end of the war.

23. For the Japanese Canadians there were no homes, farms, and other property left behind before internment. They were forced to start their lives over, with no economic resources, in an estranged and racially repressive environment of midwest and eastern Canada. In 1988 redress for the Japanese Canadians was passed and the Prime Minister issued an apology for the miscarriage of justice that led to internment and incarceration. Yet the $21,000 of redress money hardly compensates for the lost years of incarceration, property confiscated, family separations and disruptions, and the invisible psychological scars and memories of racial injustices that remain.

24. Power… • The possession of resources that enables an individual to do something independently or to exercise influence and control over others.(Barker, 1999)

25. One more news flash…“Chief launches probe into assault allegation” Chief Christine Silverberg has launched an internal investigation into allegations by a Latin American man who says he was savagely beaten by undercover police officers. Juan Domingo Melendez, 37, alleges he was jumped by officers during a sting operation into Calgary's sex trade in a case of mistaken identity.

26. “Mistake??? I don’t think so!!!” the city's Latin American Community Association came out in support of Melendez's claim and said there have been more incidents where Calgary police officers have mistreated other Latin Americans. "What happened to Melendez is the last straw," said a news release. "There are other Latinos who have had similar incidents like Melendez. But they are afraid to speak publicly."

27. In a statement obtained by the Herald, Melendez, an electrical engineering student at SAIT, said he was walking home from school at the time of the beating, which occurred in the 300-block of 11th Street S.E. He said he was beaten by several members of the Calgary Police Service and the man who originally jumped him never identified himself as a police officer..

28. Dago Correa, from the Latin American Community Association, said the target of the sting operation was a native man. Correa questioned if Melendez's dark features led police to mistake the student for the target of the operation. In the statement, Melendez alleged he was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and kicked.He also said he was mocked by officers after he was taken to the police station. "Some cops passing by made fun of my bleeding face, saying I had fallen hard on the ground," Melendez's statement reads

29. Melendez has been charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest in connection with the incident. A formal complaint has not been launched. Don Wise, speaking on behalf of Melendez, said they were not going to launch the complaint, preferring to go public through the media to garner the attention of top police brass. (Calgary Herald, Sept. 13/01, By Kelly Harris)

30. What now…??? • If the power is over me and my people, who are marginalized in this world, then what should we do? How do we act that is not as immature as people who are power over us?

31. Some wisdom thinking… • Power can be interpreted in a number of ways and to influence it – to change power relationship – we must understand the environment and the culture where that change is to occur. (Tim Pyrch, 1998)

32. Change the Power Relationship • PAR is about POWER….. • People Of Wisdom Equally Represent the POWER… • People of Wisdom should Participate in Action…because • Sum is stronger individuals, which • Creates Larger Power • With Each Other….

33. From“Power Over” to “Power With” • Power with is power that is created out of equals working together. It is the kind of power that is typically (although not always) found in friendships, self-help groups or groups working for social change. (Denise Young (1999), Rehabilitation Reviews 10(10))

34. So, Change “Racism…”to “Anti-Racism” • First Step: Self – Awareness Knowing where I am from and who I am… after all everyone is unique, no one is better or worse… • Second Step - Promoting Cultural Understanding in the Classroom & Community Fear of or intimated by people who are different from us is caused by the lack of proper understanding of diversity.

35. Learn to Become an Ally… • "Becoming an ally" has also become an increasingly popular topic of conversation in many circles. • Allies are people who work with members of a minority group toward the goal of ending oppression (or replacing power over with power with).

36. Join the hands… • Listen to others’ stories • Participate in actions that promote diversity and eliminate the discrimination • Enjoy the differences and celebrate the diversity

37. Listen…Talk… Conversation… • Pass on to the person who is next to you whenever you are • Talk to people and understand what they are thinking, if necessary, challenge them… with manner • Dialogue.. Conversation…Find an ally to build the “power” with… Now see what the expert said??

38. Becoming an Ally – Anne Bishop (1994) • Work toward your own liberation - learn, reflect and act against oppression, • Listen, listen, listen...(If you find yourself waiting for your turn so you can convince the "other" of your "truth," you're not listening!), • Remember that those who are oppressed see oppression more clearly than those who are oppressors,

39. More strategies..from Bishop • Try to avoid the trap of "knowing what is good for them," and • Support unlearning oppression with members of your own group (to help them understand how they oppress).

40. Do these points meet with one’s expectation? • Anti-Racism… a Power-with concept • To Walk the talk • To take a strong stand to oppose undesired racial discrimination

41. Education… • It all starts with the youth in school

42. With people’s power join together, Power will become from within, the individual’s heart, when time is right.. Final thought…