Jul 23

Jul 23 Representation Matters

Because representation matters… 👏🏻👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾👏🏿. I recall one of the first times I really reflected on this. I was visiting a friend at her local church in Brampton. The ethnic background of the church appeared to be 80% brown and black. In the front row seated were the pastors and staff all who appeared to look Caucasian. The juxtaposition of the front row versus the rest of the church was stark. I’ll admit as someone who has lived with white privilege, it’s no wonder why I haven’t thought about the lack of cultural representation as an everyday occurrence and microaggression [it could be intentional too] like POC would feel all the time. By no means am I attacking that church as they seemed genuinely kind and lovely, however; I learned a lesson that day that wasn’t covered in the sermon. Representation matters.

I may not be able to control the demographics of my predominately white city or family, but I can find other ways to promote an anti-racial awareness. This is a starting point as the work never ends, but I’m realizing even simple things like multicultural dolls and anti-racist books can make a positive impact on my little ones.

For a deep dive on racism, check out my post, “Enough is Enough.” Here is an excerpt:

As a white mom, I can’t fully understand the fear a mom of colour has when her kids leave the home.
As a white person, I am learning and listening and leaning in to show my support. I have to challenge any unearthed prejudice or bias I carry. I must advocate.
As a white parent raising white kids, I realize I play a huge role in this movement starting right at home as I am shaping my kids view of the world and others. I need to educate my kids to appreciate other cultures and acknowledge other ethnicities as “colour blindness” does a disservice since it sweeps the history, economics and politics of racism under the rug. I have already instilled in them the need to love everyone, yet I need to take this a step further by teaching them about racism, their white privelege, and how to be an ally in an ongoing manner.