Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

1. Justice: fixing the system to offer equal access to both tools and opportunities
2. Equity: custom tools that identify and address inequality
3. Equality: evenly distribute tools and assistance
4. Inequality: unequal access to opportunities

Institutional: policies and practices that reinforce racist standards within a workplace or organization

Structural: multiple institutions collectively upholding racist policies and practices (ex. Society)

Interpersonal: racist acts and micro-aggressions carried out from one person to another

Internalized: the subtle and overt messages that reinforce negative beliefs and self-hatred in individuals

Racism: the belief that your race is superior to others (must have power and influence to believe so)

Prejudice: a preconceived opinion or belief that is not based on reason or experience (disregard for, or lack of, factual reason)

Discrimination: acting on one's prejudice

• This can be denying someone their rights or access to spaces because of their gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sex, etc.

Oppression: a prolonged cruel and unjust treatment of a group by harnessing prejudice and discrimination within the legal, social, economic, and cultural parts of society

• This is rooted in historical, institutional, ideological, and structural forms of power

Intersectionality is the interconnected nature or social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

Examples: 

• I am a gay, White male
• I am a Black woman
• I am an upper-class Asian female
• I am a Black man with a disability

The goal of intersectionality is to acknowledge and show how multiple overlapping identity markers interconnect.

"Anti-racism is not an identity or a checklist; its an ongoing decision to uproot the ways white supremacy resides within you, your relationships and the systems you navigate each day."- Andrea Ranae

It is fear and hatred of "others" for their difference. Using COVID-19 as a method for further instilling fear of the Asian community is one form of Anti-Asian Xenophobia. Engaging in this form of anti-Asian xenophobia and racism reinforces harmful stereotypes and spreads discriminatory misinformation which directly impacts the well-being and safety of individuals of Asian descent.

 

What Can You Do As An Ally to Help Stop The Stigma?

1. Continue to educate yourself and others from reputable resources such as public health officials.
2. Share accurate information about the pandemic.
3. Speak up if you witness xenophobia or racism through the spread of misinformation
4. If you experience anti-Asian racism, you can virtually submit a complaint to the student code of conduct through this link.

Resources

PROTECH - aims to reduce the negative psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese Canadians and other affected groups while promoting community resilience.
Addressing Anti-Asian Racism: A Resource for Educators - A TDSB resource to empower educators to take action against anti-Asian racism.

Actively working towards anti-racism begins with education. Here are some resources on racism and anti-Blackness that you can use for self-education.

Microinvalidations: subtly or obviously denying or attacking the experiences, feelings, and thoughts that people of colour have

• Ex. "I don't see colour, we are all human beings, all lives matter," and grouping different experiences a of racial/ethnic group
• What it does: can make people of colour feel invisible and frustrated

Microinsults: verbal and nonverbal insults that demean or discredit people of colour

• Ex. "you speak so well/articulate, he's so angry/she's spicy, I can't believe you wrote that," judging appearances
• What it does: can affect the self-esteem of people of colour

Micro-assaults: very explicit verbal or nonverbal attacks against people of colour

• Ex. Using racial slurs, avoiding eye contact, saying things like "Black men scare me/FEM (female to male transgender individuals) are not real men."
• Ex. Guilty before innocent for Black youth

Racism & Anti-Blackness in Canada is very real. It is deeply woven into the fabrics of society and normalized in everyday practices. Silent solidarity or simply re-sharing social media posts is simply not enough. Everyone has a role to play in creating change. Here’s what you can do.  

Being in a position where you can learn about racism through theory, rather than through lived experiences is a privilege you were born into. Using these privileges in everyday practices are unavoidable. However, while benefiting from systemic privileges and power, you can also do your part as an ally to actively practice and commit to fighting racism wherever you find it, including in yourself.

Racial trauma is the physical and psychological responses to the cumulative effects of racism and discrimination. Like survivors of other forms of trauma, racialized and Black people may experience the mental and physical symptoms of racial trauma after constant exposure to racism.

There is no one universal way to cope with racial trauma but we want to offer you a few tips to help you cope with your own experiences of racial trauma.

The person who can decide how to process racial trauma is the person who is experiencing it. As allies, your responsibility is to offer the support and space your friends, peers, and colleagues need to cope with the racial trauma.

Here are some ways that you can support someone in need:

• • Send a message to your friends who are impacted by this the most. Recognize that you may not receive a response, and that is fine as that is part of the grieving process.

• • If possible, drop off contact-less care packages to your friends who are impacted by this the most. Be sure to take the opportunity to include items and resources that you know they could really use right now.

• • Donate in your friends’ names to Black-owned non-profit organizations that are offering resources to the Black community.

• Offer your friend the space to call/facetime and freely talk without feeling the need to offer solutions or “fix” the problem. The problem is systemic. You can do your part to change the system in your everyday practices. But when giving your friend the space to grieve, it is okay to not have to “fix the problem”.

For those who would like to access additional support, you can do so by accessing Western Health & Wellness. Those who are experiencing racial trauma can access a safe and compassionate space to talk about their experiences and receive support without necessarily needing to contextualize. We are in support of your well-being.

 

For those who would like to submit a report, you can access the online incident reporting tool through the Human Rights Office. The Western Human Rights Office (HRO) is here to help; they can provide advice and support to all members of Western's campus community: students, staff, faculty, and leaders.