EXCLUSIVE: The BCTF says I’m now equipped to spot racism

PENTICTON — I finally completed Module 1 of the BC Teachers’ Federation anti-racism training program.“You have been introduced to many concepts in this learning module,” the text says.I certainly have. From Skywoman falling onto a turtle’s back, to Omari and Willis debating whether a cartoon Italian eating pizza qualifies as white, it has been a magical journey.“With this knowledge, you are equipped with enough information to identify racism and racist remarks and share your learning with others.”While I appreciate the congratulatory tone, I’m concerned the BCTF may be putting more confidence in me than I deserve.After completing Module 1, I’ve come to realize I didn’t even know what racism was before I started this course — and now I’m less sure than ever.I had come into this course with the understanding that racism was the unfair treatment or prejudgment of others based on their race. Apparently that was dead wrong.What is racism, then?To put it simply, and to borrow the working conclusion the material leaves you with: racism is everything..Perhaps it would be helpful if I provided an example.After completing Module 1, I now believe that hamburgers are racist. Not because of the beef. Not because of the pork. Not because of the lettuce, tomato, mayo or sesame-seed bun. That would be ridiculous.Hamburgers are racist because of the system that helped produce them.Racism, you see, is a “non-scientific” “social construct” permeating virtually all “policies, procedures, and practices.”As I type out this installment, I can’t help but notice a man who appears East Asian eating a hamburger. In a society that, according to the training, views “whiteness as normal,” the hamburger is the prevailing option on offer.This is white supremacy.Once racism is located in systems rather than in individual acts of prejudice, almost anything built by those systems can be brought under the label.I'm reasonably confident that this is correct because I passed my first knowledge test with flying colours.Race is scientific. Myth.Racism harms everyone, even white people. Fact.Race is used to create social policies. Fact.Racism depends on hierarchy and categorization. Fact..I scored 100% in 26 seconds. The course was satisfied — and so was I.The first module has delivered a creation story, a land-back poem, a territorial worksheet, a cartoon lesson in who is white, a fact/myth quiz, a definition of anti-racism as the redistribution of power, and a video of union “action.”It has not yet delivered a single practical tool for dealing with racial incidents, bullying or curriculum bias in a school.It has, however, left me equipped, according to the BCTF, to identify racism — which is to say, “everything.”This is the third installment of an exclusive series examining the BCTF anti-racism training. Further modules will be covered as reporting continues.

EXCLUSIVE: The BCTF says I’m now equipped to spot racism

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