Systemic Racism
We must remember that laws and policies in colonized countries like Canada and the United States were established to benefit the colonizers.
Laws that were set up in the early years of Canada’s formation were designed to give advantages to white colonizers and, consequently, disadvantages to BIPOC people. This shows up in our justice, healthcare, education, employment, social welfare systems. Though some issues are beginning to be addressed now, these unfair systems continue to harm people.
The conditions present when a system begins (an organization, a business, a relationship, a class/training, or anything that involves multiple people) deeply impact its future trajectory. Patterns, beliefs, and practices that are present at the conception of that system build on each other and, in turn, continually shape its future path. Most people involved in creating and perpetuating the system are likely unaware of this dynamic because it is all they have ever known –“It just is what it is.”
Making changes requires thoughtful, intentional, focussed deconstruction. So when we are busy – and busyness is a high value in our dominant culture – and especially when we aren’t experiencing direct harm within a system, we don’t often stop to question what is and isn’t working within that system. As we’ve talked about in other parts of this training, we humans like predictability and certainty so we tend to avoid challenging the status quo unless we really need to. Often we don’t even notice the status quo needs changing until we are personally negatively affected by a system. One way colonization affects us today is that we get stuck in our little individualized silos, which makes it very easy to barely notice what life is like for someone who has different challenges than we do.
Shifting broken systems is really difficult because there is no one person or entity that can change all of them. Systems are complex and multilayered. All participants in a system (including us) play a small role in sustaining them. Systems continually impact one another. For example, consider the various ways the foster care system, the education system, the judicial system and the healthcare system intersect and impact one another.
The scope of the problem doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to make changes. Though it can feel discouraging and hopeless when we start digging into these systemic issues, the only way to change them is for a strong majority of people to notice these harmful systems and begin to question and deconstruct them.
We must begin with ourselves. We must educate ourselves on systemic issues, address our own implicit biases and the ways in which we reinforce the harm within these systems. We can’t know everything about every harmful system, but what is so beautiful about working together as a collective is that you don’t have to know everything. You can focus on what you are passionate about while listening and supporting the work of others who know mo