Urban Equity blogs

enough.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&quality=89&ssl=1

I’VE HAD ENOUGH!!!

Enough with the systemic racism. Enough for the violence against blacks and other people of colour, regardless of gender and ability. Enough with the constructs that tell us to “wait our turn”. Enough with the fact that we have to “code switch” to conform to others’ insecurities just to get ahead. Enough with the “angry black woman” prejudices when they have to speak their mind. It is enough it took a pandemic for socio-demographic data to be collected, albeit in select jurisdictions, to determine how people of colour will have been disproportionately affected. I’m tired of it all!

My post has been nearly a week in the making. The events of recent days from Amy Cooper’s antics in Central Park in Manhattan, to the MURDER of George Floyd in Minneapolis to the continuing protests prompted me to write this blog post. Ottawa resident Kevin Bourne and Toronto Star reporter Shree Paradkar provided me with the push to write this post today.

While my post will be flanked by those with greater penmanship than myself who have written in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Globe and Mail, and the Los Angeles Times, to name a few, I could not stay silent on this issue any longer.

Originally, I hastily wrote a Facebook post with random observations – although biased with my own confirmations – on the Jane 35 bus after from my run along a closed Lakeshore Boulevard in Toronto.

Passengers on the Jane bus, who were predominantly people of colour like me, were insecurely negotiating their right to space and comfort. Many came from or going to work or grocery shopping. Some had their faces covered while others did not. Even with my earbuds on, it was difficult not to overhear tensions rising. There was constant paranoia between passenger who thought they were too close. There was some choice words even directed at the bus driver. At times, I thought a fight would break out. 

To put this in context, the Jane Street corridor between Bloor and Dundas Streets going northbound starts with the tony Baby Point neighbourhood. North of the railroad tracks lies several kilometres of low to middle income neighbourhoods – Woolner, Mount Dennis, Tretheway, Chalkfarm and Jane and Finch. These neighbourhoods are lined with strip plazas full of local businesses that are struggling to survive, cheque-cashing stores and liquor stores. These, along with public housing and aging infrastructure, are the forgotten densities that Jay Pitter speaks of when she discussed confronting distance between desire and disparity.

Democratization of public space is only part of the issue. I spoke about this in last summer’s Spacing post on perceived accessibility based on my lived experiences. Other occurrences over the years included:

  • Being called a “Paki” because of my brown skin.
  • Having personally experienced theft from another black male.
  • Being treated differently by a De La Salle High School vice-principal when I and a white student both skipped school.
  • Hiding my Trinidadian culture from women I dated because their families couldn’t accept me for who I am.

It is the institutions and their constructs that have brought us to this point. I raised the issue of a lack of racial equity in planning circles well over a year and a half ago. For this reason, it partially prompted me not to renew my Canadian planning designation.

Reading the vitriolic responses from insecure whites to Shree Pardkar’s Toronto Star article in response to the social distancing shitshow at Trinity Bellwoods Park from last weekend was shameful and disgusting.

Anti-black racism still exists. Housing discrimination exists. Spatial mismatch and lack of coordination by Greater Toronto Area transit agencies, which is a topic I raised 16 years ago, continues to exist. The lack of attention towards addressing racial and social inequities in transit service continues to exist. Pay gaps, lack of promotions in the civil service, and lack of diversity on non-profit boards continue to exist. It is the brutal unchecked police violence against black men and women that continues to exist. With all of these situations, there becomes the instilled fear, paranoia, impatience and unrest on both sides of the border. We cannot stand by and watch moment like these pass us by with inaction.

Audrey Smith. Andrew Loku. George Floyd. Tamir Rice. Rodney King. Amadou Diallo. Say their names!

I will end with the final paragraph in Kevin Bourne’s post:

For those who consider themselves allies, allyship means not only saying something on social media; it means saying something at the office, at church or in the community. Real change won’t come until allyship goes beyond social media and permeates our neighbourhoods, workplaces, and businesses. Until then it’s business as usual.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *



Follow us on social media

Stay on top of the latest news and events by joining our platforms.

Join our Patreon

Your support helps us create timely and relevant equity webcast content!

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up for the Urban Strategist newsletter for detailed roundups of what we’re working on.

Error: Contact form not found.