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Making a Difference
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White women must be
sensitive to the fact that just as they continue to face sexism and patriarchy
everyday, non-white women face racism everyday. |
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Working with white women's organizations has taught me a lot. It
has given me the opportunity to learn about feminism and see how gender and not
only race and class affects my life and helps to define who I am. I see now
that it is not enough to fight against racism and classism but that patriarchy
is a very real oppression which like racism and classism has many different and
far reaching forms.
To be an anti-racist educator is not an easy task. At the heart
of the work is the belief in the equality of human dignity and the commitment
to forward social change. These ideals, while high and noble, are difficult to
put into practice. I constantly face denial that racism exists. Even when it is
acknowledged, individuals often don't want to change the status quo to
eliminate it.
Racism is everywhere. In art, language, music, television,
sports, culture, entertainment... Every action sometimes to me seems motivated
by racism. Often I get discouraged and wonder why I do what I do. Then I
remember that my work allows me to learn and to grow. And as I get farther and
farther along I can see that-although real, lasting change takes a long time-I
am making a difference.
Beryl Tsang is a senior program consultant in
Multicultural and Anti-racist Services of the Addiction Research Foundation.
She has worked as an anti-racist educator for several years.
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BIANCA, AN ANNIVERSARY POEM
My
daughter sleeps under the ice,
her eyes and fingernails
transparent,
her bridal opening filled
with curious fish.
Her story is white-
a silence frozen in water,
aborted poems and styrofoam cups,
my milk
hardening between her lips.
I am her radio
tuned to the mirror between
us.
She is my unfinished song,
my footsteps loud on her grave,
the
sound of breaking glass,
her foot in my mouth,
the smile shaped scar on
my belly.
She is my winter fugue
and not a drowned child really,
but
only my sister sleeping.
Linda Rogers
Victoria, B.G: |
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Discovering
the strength
of our voices:
Women and literacy programs
This is the report of
the first phase of a CCLOW research project into women and literacy programs.
Researched and compiled by Betty-Ann Lloyd, this report documents the concerns
and questions of women students and teachers in four literacy programs in
Canada.
To order, send
$10.00/copy for CCLOW members and community-based literacy programs or
$20.00/copy for non-members and institutions (less 20% for orders of 5 or more)
to
 CCLOW
47 Main Street,
Toronto, Ontario
M4E 2V6
Please add 10% for
postage and handling and 7% GST to the total |
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