October CCS Friday – Indigenous-Racialized Youth Scholars Program
Our Friday, October 25th CCS Friday presentation was an online conversation with Jonisha Lewinson and Ryan Kisi who are members of the United Church’s Indigenous-Racialized Youth Scholars Program. Each participant in the program conducted a research project related to culture, racialization, and the church.
Jonisha is a 23-year-old who studied Creative Writing and Publishing at Sheridan College. She has been affiliated with The United Church of Canada since she immigrated from England at a young age. She is a mentor in the Young Black Scholars Program and developed the United Church’s Anti-Racism Training for Youth (ages 13-18) curriculum.
Ryan is a 22-year-old of Zimbabwean heritage living in Edmonton and studying at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. His research is on the impact of racism on society’s perceptions and expectations of Black men in Canada.
CCS Mentor (and former student) Elizabeth McAdam wrote a reflection on Ryan’s presentation and its impact on her for the local Quaker newsletter:
Racism in Canada — personal reflections after listening to another’s experience
The Centre for Christian Studies event CCS Fridays is a hybrid event taking place once a month from 12-1 pm. A guest speaker presents a topic of interest, usually with discussion to follow. In October CCS Friday welcomed a student and a mentor from the Indigenous Racialized Youth Scholars program.
As a white person, I found the student, Ryan Kisi’s, presentation ‘Evolving Expectations’ particularly enlightening. Ryan made several points about the ‘impacts and effects of racism in Canada on Black men’, especially noteworthy because Ryan stated that, back in Zimbabwe, they were taught that Canadians were nice and polite; there was no racism in Canada. It seems not only Canadians believe the national myth. Ryan said that although no one here is rude to him, “just being nice is not enough.” It’s the subtle racism that gets to you; that leads young Black men into gangs to feel they belong; that adds to the pressures of adapting to a new culture that often treats them as suspect or lazy or so strong they can handle anything.
Ryan invites us to ask ourselves, “Am I a racist?” Am I a victim of racism? Am I a supporter of someone experiencing racism or a defender of the system that is the aggressor? If (and I say if because often people, especially white people, of the dominant culture often don’t recognize racist behaviour) we witness racist behaviour, what do we do? Might I have done something differently?
The daily microaggressions people of colour face have an ongoing and long-lasting effect on their independence, their families and on their mental health. It is up to those of us who carry our privilege on our skin to inform and educate ourselves on these issues and to do the hard work of seeing how our actions and inactions maintain our privilege.
- by Elizabeth McAdam
CCS Fridays: Online conversations to help us all respond faithfully to emerging issues in local contexts. These workshops are open to anyone who might be interested. Each session will be on a Friday from 12:00 to 1:00 CT and in the form of a Zoom workshop. There will be a presentation that will be recorded for future viewing, plus opportunities to engage with the ideas in small groups.
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