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Educators in Canada are joining the fight to put an end to systemic racism against Black and Indigenous populations.
Last week, a two-day event called Scholar Strike Canada brought professors together to host online teach-ins on police brutality and violence against Black and Indigenous populations throughout Canada.
Scholar Strike Canada Calls for Racial Justice
The two-day strike, which took place on Sept. 9 and 10, was inspired by protests from professional athletes against anti-black, racist police brutality in the United States, Canada and elsewhere around the world.
“Scholar Strike originated in the U.S. from a tweet by Dr. Anthea Butler who, inspired by the striking WNBA and NBA players, put out a call for a similar labour action from academics,” according to ScholarStrikeCanada.ca.
“The Canadian action is aligned with the one in the U.S., in its call for racial justice, an end to anti-Black police violence and it adds a specific focus on anti-Indigenous, colonial violence.”
The Scholar Strike Canada website invited university workers to participate in the strike as much as possible. For those who are unable to engage in the digital public teach-ins during class time, amplifying the Scholar Strike Canada message on social media was suggested as a way to spread the word.
Dr. Butler told Global News that the WNBA and NBA strikes inspired her to launch the Scholar Strike in the United States.
“That was the catalyst,” she said.
Approximately 30 instructors reportedly sat out of their classes during Scholar Strike Canada. The strike was endorsed by more than 500 post-secondary institutions in Canada.
The free online sessions were hosted by activists and academics and featured topics such as racial justice, labour equality and police violence.
El Jones, a professor at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, led two online sessions during Scholar Strike Canada. She reportedly says that it is important to have a public forum to discuss these topics in a substantial way in order to create lasting change.
“As we’re talking about what a different kind of society might look like, and what different solutions might look like, having that discussion is the way that we’re going to work out what it is we think the solutions are, and where to go with it,” Jones said.
Jones also says the Scholar Strike provided students and educators with an opportunity to move away from the academic bubble and engage with the outside world.
“We tend to believe the university is this ivory tower, and it’s somehow different,” Jones said. “We have to think about the classroom as connected to this world and that what happens outside the classroom and how we’re going to negotiate it.”
U.S. Sports Teams Protest Police Brutality
Massive protests sprung up worldwide after the May 25 death of a U.S. Black man named George Floyd. Floyd was killed by officer Derek Chauvin, who held his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes during an arrest. Chauvin, along with three other officers, have been charged.
On Aug. 26, NBA players opted to sit out of their playoff games to protest the Wisconsin police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man. The NBA strikes were started by the Milwaukee Bucks, and forced the NBA to postpone the playoff games.
Following this bold move, Major League Baseball players, National Hockey League players, and players from other professional sports began taking similar actions to protest the police killings and systemic racism.
Teaching Students about Systemic Racism is Not Enough
Dr. Butler says that it is not enough to teach classes on ethnic studies. Instead, she said it is up to the institutions and administrators to be proactive.
“How much of this are we supposed to continue to take in America as educators?” Dr. Butler asked.
“Specifically as an African-American professor, am I supposed to just be happy to go to my job and teach this history of African-Americans when they are killing Black people on the street every day?”
Min Sook Lee argues that Canada suffers from a “cultural amnesia” that leads residents, elected officials and the media to deny systemic racism.
She sums up the importance of Scholar Strike Canada by saying: “Change is not given to you. It’s not gifted to you. You fight for it. You make it happen. It’s very much an opportunity for our students to understand how we make history in the moment.”
What do you think about the two-day Scholar Strike Canada? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!
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