This lecture will provide participants with insight on how racism is a design element, not a flaw, of settler colonial states like Canada. Citizens of Canada (and those subjected to its power) unwittingly carry behaviours that manifest racism in our social, political and economic structures. Those who benefit from this structural racism develop personal stakes in a settler colonial system that continues to harm Indigenous peoples, Black people, and racialized peoples more broadly.
Without behavioural change, knowledge of structural racism can only lead to apathy and immobilization. In this lecture, we invite participants to learn the stepping stones for personal embodiment of anti-oppressive practices as preparation for reconciliation.
This is the first lecture in the Taking Action! series, part of a partnership between SFU and the Resilience BC Anti-Racism Network.