so, february is black history month in canada and america, and even though i am not black, i think that it's important for everyone to stop and consider the event.  for years, i wore a "malcolm x" baseball cap (when i wore a cap) and as a visible minority (sort of), i've often felt that there was much that consideration of black history could teach us all and i'm more than a little ashamed at not having blogged about this sooner.

growing up in edmonton in the late 20th century, i think that it's fair to say that there weren't many black people around, but that didn't mean that i wasn't aware of the impact of black culture and history on our western society.  some of my most challenging lessons were learning about colonialization and the slave trade that fuelled it.  it's hard to think that mankind could be so misdirected and obtuse as to consider people of different origins and darker skin as sub-human and undeserving of even the most basic of human rights.  it's especailly hard to imagine how this could be possible having come through that era of history with all of its tragic and bloody lessons to realize that if it weren't for all of that suffering and despair, the western world might still be shackled by that pernicious prejudice.

i was born shortly after the civil rights movement and after the period of history where some of the greatest strife was fought to ensure equal treatment and opportunity for so-called minorities, and i still remember the vestiges of that struggle.  i don't remember segregation, but i do remember going to university lectures that would argue the validity of affirmative action or equal opportunity programs and laws.  i don't remember institutionalized hatred or exploitation, but i do remember talking with people who still considered blacks and other minorities in sweeping generalizations and speciesist terms.  i don't remember martin luther king jr. or malcolm x, but i remember apartheid and nelson mandela and stephen biko.  i think that it's worthwhile for all of us to remember what we can of the struggle to see fellow men, women and children, treated as men, women and children, when the prevailing belief was that they were not.

today at lunch, i remarked at how even here in toronto, arguably one of canada's most multi-national cities, i only know one or two black people.  even in super-white alberta, i did better than that.  toronto is also one of the most socio-economically stratified cities that i've ever been in, and even though i'm probably somewhere around the median of that curve, i expect that there is still a lot of disparity that can be detected along racial lines.  it's true that civilization has come a long way, but it still has very very far to go.  perhaps the nomination of a black democratic presidential candidate, and maybe even president, can help to inspire and motivate further change.  but perhaps fear and hate will give rise to more tragedy and more evidence that we have not advanced so far as a culture as we would like to hope.  as i say, i'm sure that we have a long way to go yet.

there are only a couple more days left in black history month, but i hope that you will take a little bit of time to think about these things, to think about how an entire portion of the human race, was systematically marginalized and how that could possibly happen.  most of all, i hope that you will all think about the ways in which even today, in the brightest start to a new century that mankind has ever seen, we still think of other races, cultures, creeds, sexual persuasions and religions as "other" when really, black history month should remind us that we are all first and foremost, people - varied, flawed, glorious, powerful, frustrated, challenged, and gifted, but all human.

- g