It was a long time ago when I first came to Canada. I was on a bus, going somewhere. I was seated, and the seat next to me was empty. At a stop, a Jamaican woman got on and sat beside me. She was quite large, and she seemed to be almost on top of me. I kept quiet. After a while, she took out a newspaper, opened it to two pages, and started reading. She held the newspaper in such a way that half of it was on me. I was very uncomfortable and inconvenienced. I could tell by her body language that she was doing it intentionally. After thinking for a while and finding no solution, I got up and sat on the other side. Even today, when I remember this incident, I feel uncomfortable. I still wonder what I should have done at that moment. Should I have talked to the woman politely and resolved the matter? Although her demeanor suggested that she was not in a compromising mood. Talking to her would have been pointless. I still wonder what I should have done then.
When we think about racism, we often imagine a white person or a white group who are the perpetrators. But it’s not always that simple. People of different ethnicities are being oppressed in Canada and around the world. A relative of mine got a job at a Tim Hortons branch. Most of the staff there were immigrants from Sri Lanka, and the manager was also Sri Lankan. My relative, being new to Canada, thought everyone was equal here. She couldn’t understand their vibes. They made her do more work and treated her poorly. Eventually, she couldn’t work there anymore. These two cases show that people of other nationalities also abuse their power. In other words, whoever has the power and opportunity in a given situation tries to exert their dominance. This means that people from different groups are victims of racism depending on the environment and situation. What should be done in such cases? One thing comes to mind: we must tirelessly work against racism day after day, year after year, all over the world. It is essential to work to eradicate racism and promote it widely. Doing it once is not enough; we must do it repeatedly and indefinitely in various ways. This must be a continuous process. And we must cultivate a friendly and positive attitude towards people of other ethnicities.
BCS (Bangladeshi-Canadian Community Services) in Toronto has taken initiatives to eradicate racism and discrimination. This is an ongoing campaign of BCS. BCS has undertaken two projects to eliminate or combat racism and discrimination. Together End Racism in Toronto (TERT) and the Education and Allyship Program (EAP). In these two projects, 75 young people are working to reduce racism. TERT has launched the project from March 26, 2024 and will continue till March 2025. A group of young women have taken it upon themselves to eradicate racism.
Recently, a workshop on TERT project was organized by BCS at BCS office in Danforth on July 23, 2024. The objective of the event was – Workshop on Community Journalism and Outreach Planning. Along with anti-apartheid campaign, BCS organized an educational workshop regarding community journalism and community outreach planning. The session was held in a hybrid format, with 4 participants attending via Zoom and 23 attending in person from BCS offices. Dr. Mahbub Hasan and Dr. Nasima Akhtar welcomed the participants and inaugurated the event. The agenda of the event included – reception, introduction and discussion. The topic of discussion was advocacy and the role of community journalism in BCS activities. Dr. Asma talks about her personal experience of community journalism. Outreach plan module for community animators is also discussed.
All the participants are treated to dinner and their networking session starts at the same time. Next, Dr. Hassan discusses how they can educate others to eliminate racism through dialogue, nonviolent action, and advocacy. During the event, a total of 27 youth joined and 4 of those members joined virtually via Zoom. Urbi Khan led the session on various topics of community journalism through a slideshow. He discusses how to play an effective role in community journalism and how to highlight stories of personal experience. Dr. Asma’s work as a writer for the Bangladeshi community is highlighted. He has written more than 100 articles on various subjects. He discusses his experiences in community journalism. He mentions that as a community journalist, his aim is to write new articles for Bangladeshi community members and to translate various articles to make various types of community information accessible to all.
Dr. Mahbub wants to know if any of the youth have experienced racism. Among the participants, Maisha Mahbub shared her personal experience. She said she was harassed by a man in the elevator of her school’s library. The unknown man thought that Maisha could not go in the same elevator with him, because she is a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. He asks Maisha to get out of the elevator. Maisha told everyone that she was deeply hurt by this bias.
Urbi Khan, Dr. Hasan and Dr. Asma and other speakers all spoke about the importance of community journalism in eradicating racism and discrimination. The speakers all emphasized community journalism by providing, in Urbi Khan’s words, “a voice to the voiceless” and focused on delivering a concise and compelling statement against racism in what they called a spark speech.
BCS Youth on Racism had another recent presentation on September 21, 2024 at the Centennial Recreation Center in Toronto. A program on seven non-profit organizations (Celebration of differences) takes place there. BCS’s TERT project youth presented their experiences in eradicating racism and also outlined their work progress and strategies through a slide show.
Canada is a country of immigrants. People of different nationalities live here. Especially in Toronto, if you want to live peacefully with everyone, you have to keep away from racism and discrimination. Whatever the barriers of racism and discrimination may come – we have to put those barriers aside and move forward with the people of different countries. If we maintain a rigid mentality, we will not develop friendship with people of any ethnicity. Keeping racism at bay will not be easy without a friendly mindset.
Through various activities, BCS educates youth to combat racism and discrimination. BCS appeal to Torontonians, come forward to eradicate racism and discrimination. Find out how these young people can stop racism and discrimination. All Torontonians must come forward to end racism and discrimination in Toronto. Change must be brought about worldwide. All people should be loved, friends should be made. We have to believe that all people are the same under the skin of different colors. We all have the same blood flowing in our veins. Because black and white only on the outside, everyone is equally colored inside.
Toronto, Canada
