White Privilege - Macklemore
I see so many people lost who really try to pretend
But am I just another white boy who has caught on to the trend
When I take a step to the mic is hiphop closer to the end?
'Cause when I go to the shows the majority have white skin
They marketed the windmill, the air flair and head spin
and white rappers albums really get the most spins
the face of hip hop has changed a lot since Eminem
and if he's taking away black artists profits I look just like him
claim the culture wasn't mine, the way the american
hip hop is gentrified and where will all the people live
it's like the central district, beacon hill to the south end
being pushed further away because of what white people did, now
where's my place in a music that's been taken by my race
cultural appropriated by the white face
and we don't want to admit that this is existing
so scared to acknowledge the benefits of our white privilege
cause it's human nature to want to be part of something different
especially when your ancestors are European Christians
and most whites don't want to acknowledge this is occuring
cause we got the best deal, the music without the burden
of being black in a system that really wants you to rock
cause all you need is a program and you can go and make hiphop
and we hate the mainstream cause we're the ones that took it
now we listen to Aesop Rock and wear t-shirts that say Brooklyn
but it's not about black and white right
I mean good music is good music regardless of what you look like
but when you don't give them props isn't that selfish
that's like saying rock music was actually started by Elvis
so where does this leave me?
I feel like I pay dues but i'll always be a white MC
I give everything I have when I write a rhyme
but that doesn't change the fact that this culture's not mine
But I'm gonna be me so please be who you are
this is something that's effortless and shouldn't be hard
I said I'm gonna be me so please be who you are
but we still owe'em 40 acres now we've stolen their 16 bars
hiphop started off in a block that I've never been to
to counter act a struggle that Ive never been through
if I think I understand just because I flow to
that means I'm not keeping it true, nope
hiphop started off in a block that I've never been too
to counter act a struggle that Ive never been through
if I think I understand just because I flow to
that means I'm not keeping it true, I'm not keeping it true
now I don't rap about guns so don't label me conscious
but I don't rap about guns cause I wasn't forced into the projects
see I was put in the position where I could chose my options
Blessed with the privilege that my parent's could send to college
Now who's going to shows the kids on the block starving
or the white people with dough that can relate to my content?
marketed the music now adapted to the lifestyle
what happened to jazz and rock and roll is happening right now
where's my place in the music that's been taken by the media
with white corporations controlling what their feeding ya
I brought up Aesop Rock but I'm not even dissing dude
We love hiphop and what do you think Caucasians are listening to
and I speak freely when I write this
If a black MC examined race there goes half their fan base, white kids
and this is so true. and we didn't even have to fight the system
we just went and picked up the microphone too
and we got good at it so we should be rapping
but only supporting them is like burning Jimmy and buying Clapton
now Clapton's incredible, but no Jimmy no foundation
so here comes history and the cultural appropriation
white kids with do rags trying to practice their accents
from the suburbs to the upperclass mastering a language
but hiphop is not just memorizing words
it's rooted in authenticity something you literally can't learn
But I'm gonna be me so please be who you are
This is something that's effortless and shouldn't be hard
I said I'm gonna be me so please be who you are
but as I'm blessed with the privilege, they're still left with the scars
hiphop started off in block that i've never been to
to counter act a struggle that I've never even been through
if I think I understand just because I flow too
that means I'm not keeping it true, nope
hiphop started off in a block that i've never been to
to counter act a struggle that I've never even been through
if I think I understand just because I flow too
that means I'm not keeping it true, I'm not keeping it true.
#1 Questions
At first glance the issue of privilege seemed simple. There are those who are and those who are not...right? I live in Canada and I thought surely race has nothing to do with privilege, but I began to see that is most definitely does.
I am white. I have been brought up as invisible, as a member of the ‘norm’ (Kern, 2005). I have been taught to not see race. Really?? NO it’s not possible... I thought as I read that “white privilege is an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious” (McIntosh, 1988).
I am oblivious. In fact as I began this discussion with myself I was insistent that I could not possibly be privileged, not in relation to most other Canadians and that surely my race had nothing to do with any of the privilege I may have.
Do I see race? Do I have privilege? What is privilege anyways, the things I have or what I am able to do, or both? Can it be quantified? Who has the privilege in my daily life and how does it affect me, restrict me or push me forward? These are the questions I'm asking.
#2 My Daily Life
I will begin with myself. I am a 25 year old Christian white woman of Irish descent. I have grown up for the most part in middle class neighborhoods and have lived a lower middle class life. My parents were divorced when I was 9 and as the oldest of three girls I became the nanny/cook/maid while my mother worked two or three jobs before she remarried four years later.
I now attend the University of Toronto. Does this mean I am privileged?
On our campus most students are commuters and many, about 12% are international students. Most students can afford to drive to school everyday, many have their own car. Many of the international students have a bank account filled by their parents whenever they need money, many do not worry about where they will find rent money or how they will pay tuition. Many do worry about these things constantly and I am one of them.
This is my bias and it makes it challenging for me to see how race disproportionally affects those who are 'visible'. Yes I am white and in my world currently do not feel or see how that affords me any privilege, but that's not to say it does not exist. It surely does.
For the last three years I have lived in what would be considered low-income housing, many of it is government subsidized housing for refugees. Living in this place has exposed me to toxins from beg infestations and exterminations, molds and pollutants. Every year I am privileged enough to gain grants and loans from the government as a low-income status student. I now have over 25 000 dollars of debt. Even with these loans many times I have not been able to make rent and now without a job, consistently subsidize groceries with going to a food bank.
I do not see this financial difficulty as being related to my race. I hope that it is temporary and it likely is. I am getting an amazing university education which many are not able to. I cannot help but notice that 98% of the community I have been living in made up of a visible ethnicities, many of them new arrivals to Canada.
I often go for runs down into the ravine towards the lake and there are beautiful houses which line the edge of the ravine. I wonder how many of them are fully of white families?
You can see these divisions all throughout Toronto. Income, race and social status are intricately woven with health, education and overall well-being and even in such a diverse city those of 'colour' are unequally impacted.
In Peggy Macintosh's article she makes the point that as a white woman, “When I am told about our national heritage or about 'civilization,' I am shown that people of my color made it what it is“ (1988). While this may be true in the United States or elsewhere I do not feel this is relevant for Canadians. In school students learn extensively about Aboriginal history, the history of slavery and of the United States as well as the white people who DID form the country. That is not a lie at all so why should it not be taught? If I went to Nigeria I would hope that I would learn about what really happened and how their country was formed as well as learn things of relevance to Nigerians.
Race and identity I feel is more complex than just black and white. If I were to address a crowd of coloured individuals I would refer to myself as white. If they were Americans I would be Canadian specifically, not just Caucasian. If they were Canadians of all races I would identify as Irish. My race then is dynamic and dependant upon those around me and how I choose to present myself. Is this a part of white privilege or can all races do this?
As a Christian my religious traditions and beliefs are often considered and taken into account as Canada was founded upon this religious tradition. I know that I will not be made to work on Sundays if I choose not to, as well, I will never have an exam or class on that day. I have nearly all of my religious holidays off as national holidays. Although I am often the only Christian where I live, and as a person of faith am often ‘persecuted’ I know that I can practice my beliefs without physical harm and with a large amount of support from those in places of power.
I now attend the University of Toronto. Does this mean I am privileged?
On our campus most students are commuters and many, about 12% are international students. Most students can afford to drive to school everyday, many have their own car. Many of the international students have a bank account filled by their parents whenever they need money, many do not worry about where they will find rent money or how they will pay tuition. Many do worry about these things constantly and I am one of them.
This is my bias and it makes it challenging for me to see how race disproportionally affects those who are 'visible'. Yes I am white and in my world currently do not feel or see how that affords me any privilege, but that's not to say it does not exist. It surely does.
For the last three years I have lived in what would be considered low-income housing, many of it is government subsidized housing for refugees. Living in this place has exposed me to toxins from beg infestations and exterminations, molds and pollutants. Every year I am privileged enough to gain grants and loans from the government as a low-income status student. I now have over 25 000 dollars of debt. Even with these loans many times I have not been able to make rent and now without a job, consistently subsidize groceries with going to a food bank.
I do not see this financial difficulty as being related to my race. I hope that it is temporary and it likely is. I am getting an amazing university education which many are not able to. I cannot help but notice that 98% of the community I have been living in made up of a visible ethnicities, many of them new arrivals to Canada.
I often go for runs down into the ravine towards the lake and there are beautiful houses which line the edge of the ravine. I wonder how many of them are fully of white families?
You can see these divisions all throughout Toronto. Income, race and social status are intricately woven with health, education and overall well-being and even in such a diverse city those of 'colour' are unequally impacted.
In Peggy Macintosh's article she makes the point that as a white woman, “When I am told about our national heritage or about 'civilization,' I am shown that people of my color made it what it is“ (1988). While this may be true in the United States or elsewhere I do not feel this is relevant for Canadians. In school students learn extensively about Aboriginal history, the history of slavery and of the United States as well as the white people who DID form the country. That is not a lie at all so why should it not be taught? If I went to Nigeria I would hope that I would learn about what really happened and how their country was formed as well as learn things of relevance to Nigerians.
Race and identity I feel is more complex than just black and white. If I were to address a crowd of coloured individuals I would refer to myself as white. If they were Americans I would be Canadian specifically, not just Caucasian. If they were Canadians of all races I would identify as Irish. My race then is dynamic and dependant upon those around me and how I choose to present myself. Is this a part of white privilege or can all races do this?
As a Christian my religious traditions and beliefs are often considered and taken into account as Canada was founded upon this religious tradition. I know that I will not be made to work on Sundays if I choose not to, as well, I will never have an exam or class on that day. I have nearly all of my religious holidays off as national holidays. Although I am often the only Christian where I live, and as a person of faith am often ‘persecuted’ I know that I can practice my beliefs without physical harm and with a large amount of support from those in places of power.
#3 Advantage/disadvantage
I am white....
I can travel and not be stopped and searched at every border....even when carrying items not permitted.
I have moved nearly fourteen times and travelled to over sixteen countries and have never had a problem finding a place to live/sleep/eat/get help.
I see people of my colour represented widely in positions of power and throughout the media. I know that I can do anything.
Usually when I am the ‘other’ it means I am showered with respect, food and anything I need. In most third world settings it is seen as an honour to have me enter ones home, just because I am white and foreign.
I can criticize our government and not be seen as an outsider who doesn’t know anything, although in truth I have no clue as to what is going on.
As someone in development my colour gives me instant privilege overseas and in job applications. I am often seen as someone who can fix their problems, although the opposite can be true as well.
I am Canadian...
When I travel I rarely need a visa, I am usually loved and accepted into outside cultures.
I am able to access health care relatively easily and affordably as well as education and employment. There are social services I can access no matter my race, colour, income status or background.
I live in a country which has the second highest annual rainfall amount each year. I never have to walk or carry my water. I never go thirsty.
The land and environment I live in is moderately protected and spaces are created for leisure, rest and relaxation. I know that my children will be able to see the same parks and wildlife I see today.
On the other hand...
I have been denied service because I am white, in Canada for housing and in Barbados for hair and food.
Where I live, and in many places I travel I am afraid to walk home because of my race and gender. I am fully aware of how it makes me vulnerable. Kern (2005) supports that whiteness can make you the other too.
My friends in North America assume that my whiteness and my status as a university student means that I have disposable income, I often feel inadequate and pressure to live beyond my means to fit in and have a social life- they do not understand.
When traveling my colour makes me a target for ransom kidnappings, robbery and rape, as well as my gender. I am seen as ‘easy’ in many countries, although this is the furthest thing from me.
On campus I am minority and do not relate to most students, besides having the same school in common. I do not speak all of the multiple languages and often feel alone.
Contradictions
I did not grow up learning about the contributions of my people in the history books. I am Irish, Protestant.
When I walk down the halls of my school I am most likely to hear a language I do not understand. Most faces I see do not match mine. I do not relate.
In Canada I am privileged. In Barbados I wanted to get a haircut. I could not because no one would cut white hair.
There I was in another country, I was the outsider. In Canada I am from the line of those in charge, the whites. This gives me an advantage over those ‘outsiders’ who are most likely seen as people of colour.
I am both disadvantaged and advantaged. I have power and privilege while not being able to access certain things. These lines are constantly shifting as society and I shift. Within this dynamic tension I have a position, a sphere of influence where I have privilege and can affect change. In some cases being underprivileged is an advantage. Living in a community where the majority of people feel unempowered we decided to start community action groups and children/youth groups. These quickly caught on and people were inspired to make their community a better place. This common goal and motivation which is so powerful, the motivation to rise from difficulty and the resilience which people in these communities possess, can be incredibly powerful when harnessed and can bring about great change.
#4 And so..
I am white. I am a white woman. Which comes first, the whiteness or the woman? Often I am fully aware of both, sometimes neither. When I interact with someone of another colour I am usually acutely tuned to see if they respond to my colour in any way. Will they not want to speak with me, will they be cordially but never become my friend? Do they think I am judging them? Am I?
I am fully aware of my whiteness. Is this because I carry around with me the burden of guilt from centuries of past and current oppression, racism and injustice by the hands of my race.
I do not want to be racist. I am in development. I want to save the world. Me the white person can fix it...some white colonial mentality seeps out...
This line of thinking is exactly the type of thought perpetuated throughout development and justified with the theory of modernization - that underdeveloped nations are somehow backwards and need us, the developed Westerners to help them.
I live in a ‘white world’. Canada is multi-cultural and in Toronto 47% of the population are visible minorities according to the 2006 census. It is possible that combined visible minorities are no longer a minority. In Scarborough, where I live 68% of the population are visible minorities. Yet it is the white population that still holds more power.
Visible Minorities in Scarborough
I have been born into a history which carries authority, power and prestige, along with fear and oppression. I can see it when I travel to Kenya, Uganda or Haiti or China, Egypt and Brazil. I am a white ruler... and oppressor. Respected and honoured, though not always loved. My race makes me stick out like a sore thumb but often I do not receive insults I receive praises, offers of marriage and friendship, attention and reverence. I come from the land of abundance, dreams and plenty.
I travel across borders with nothing more than a slight worry regarding being kidnapped purely because my skin colour says I am rich and worth something. I have never been questioned or held because of my ethnicity or colour, or because of being from a country of colour.
I am assumed to be well educated (and I am) to have all the answers (which I don’t) because I am from the land with power. The land of white colonial legacy. My old roommate is incredibly smart, from Nigeria and just as well educated as me if not more. She has ‘shocked’ many people by saying she is attending U of T. All I have done is barely meet expectations.
I have been driving for almost 10 years. I have never been pulled over because of my colour, in fact I have never been pulled over.
I have had my own room since I was 10, usually the size of the majority of homes in the rest of the world.
I could read on my own by 6 years old... much of the world is still illiterate. Many kids at the age of 6 have to go into prostitution to support their families.
I grew up with a single mother and very little money, we always packed lunches if we had money for food. Often it would be processed meat on white bread with processed sugary snacks. Our lunches were always packed in plastic. As Shane (2008) discusses this exposure to BPA and other pthalates has exposed me to harmful levels of chemicals which can increase rates of cancer and harm my health. Safe packaging and food in general is simply not available for those with low income and little time to spare.
I have used an invalid train ticket and was checked and the cop assumed I didn’t know better, was this because of the stereotype I fit of an innocent, well educated white girl who couldn't possibly knowingly break the law?
When I travel people admire me for ‘roughing it’ and having an adventure even though the majority of the world lives that way. For them... “it’s just how it is”.
I was expected, encouraged and groomed to go to university. To be successful. I had potential, was not a hooligan. I fit the white mold.
Living in low-income housing has exposed me to many health/environmental hazards. We often would have our water turned off without notice, and once had no power in the middle of winter, also with no notice. No one complains, no media is contacted, no outrage raised. Most tenants are immigrants and maybe assume this is normal here in Canada, as it is assumedly better than what they lived in before. Others, like myself, cannot be bothered to do anything, and convince ourselves that nobody would listen to us, to the poor. We are invisible. Those, the privileged, they who hold power can easily dismiss the poor, the immigrant, the woman, the student, those apparently without power.
The area I lived in is largely minorities, it is also one of the most polluted areas in the GTA for air pollution, water contamination and has some of the highest incidences of respiratory illness and cancers (Welsh, 2008). The few blocks surrounding the community I lived in used to be a landfill and now have methane gas vents throughout abandoned fields. These kinds of hazards are typically in areas where the poor and visible minorities live. This clearly demonstrates the lines of privilege which were created historically and are perpetuated today. There are studies illustrating the health impacts of living near old landfills such as increased low birth weights, congenital defects and cancers, although there have not been nearly enough (Gradient Corporation, 2007).
Though I seem to have these circumstances which may tie me to those who are underprivileged my whiteness distances me from them. My white privilege can never allow me to fully understand. I am white and I cannot understand. Perhaps my white face represents the authority which discriminates them, which doesn’t see them and so I am shut out.
How has it become this way? Why have we accepted this as ‘the way it is’?
I am fully aware of my whiteness. Is this because I carry around with me the burden of guilt from centuries of past and current oppression, racism and injustice by the hands of my race.
I do not want to be racist. I am in development. I want to save the world. Me the white person can fix it...some white colonial mentality seeps out...
This line of thinking is exactly the type of thought perpetuated throughout development and justified with the theory of modernization - that underdeveloped nations are somehow backwards and need us, the developed Westerners to help them.
I live in a ‘white world’. Canada is multi-cultural and in Toronto 47% of the population are visible minorities according to the 2006 census. It is possible that combined visible minorities are no longer a minority. In Scarborough, where I live 68% of the population are visible minorities. Yet it is the white population that still holds more power.
Visible Minorities in Scarborough
I have been born into a history which carries authority, power and prestige, along with fear and oppression. I can see it when I travel to Kenya, Uganda or Haiti or China, Egypt and Brazil. I am a white ruler... and oppressor. Respected and honoured, though not always loved. My race makes me stick out like a sore thumb but often I do not receive insults I receive praises, offers of marriage and friendship, attention and reverence. I come from the land of abundance, dreams and plenty.
I travel across borders with nothing more than a slight worry regarding being kidnapped purely because my skin colour says I am rich and worth something. I have never been questioned or held because of my ethnicity or colour, or because of being from a country of colour.
I am assumed to be well educated (and I am) to have all the answers (which I don’t) because I am from the land with power. The land of white colonial legacy. My old roommate is incredibly smart, from Nigeria and just as well educated as me if not more. She has ‘shocked’ many people by saying she is attending U of T. All I have done is barely meet expectations.
I have been driving for almost 10 years. I have never been pulled over because of my colour, in fact I have never been pulled over.
I have had my own room since I was 10, usually the size of the majority of homes in the rest of the world.
I could read on my own by 6 years old... much of the world is still illiterate. Many kids at the age of 6 have to go into prostitution to support their families.
I grew up with a single mother and very little money, we always packed lunches if we had money for food. Often it would be processed meat on white bread with processed sugary snacks. Our lunches were always packed in plastic. As Shane (2008) discusses this exposure to BPA and other pthalates has exposed me to harmful levels of chemicals which can increase rates of cancer and harm my health. Safe packaging and food in general is simply not available for those with low income and little time to spare.
I have used an invalid train ticket and was checked and the cop assumed I didn’t know better, was this because of the stereotype I fit of an innocent, well educated white girl who couldn't possibly knowingly break the law?
When I travel people admire me for ‘roughing it’ and having an adventure even though the majority of the world lives that way. For them... “it’s just how it is”.
I was expected, encouraged and groomed to go to university. To be successful. I had potential, was not a hooligan. I fit the white mold.
Living in low-income housing has exposed me to many health/environmental hazards. We often would have our water turned off without notice, and once had no power in the middle of winter, also with no notice. No one complains, no media is contacted, no outrage raised. Most tenants are immigrants and maybe assume this is normal here in Canada, as it is assumedly better than what they lived in before. Others, like myself, cannot be bothered to do anything, and convince ourselves that nobody would listen to us, to the poor. We are invisible. Those, the privileged, they who hold power can easily dismiss the poor, the immigrant, the woman, the student, those apparently without power.
The area I lived in is largely minorities, it is also one of the most polluted areas in the GTA for air pollution, water contamination and has some of the highest incidences of respiratory illness and cancers (Welsh, 2008). The few blocks surrounding the community I lived in used to be a landfill and now have methane gas vents throughout abandoned fields. These kinds of hazards are typically in areas where the poor and visible minorities live. This clearly demonstrates the lines of privilege which were created historically and are perpetuated today. There are studies illustrating the health impacts of living near old landfills such as increased low birth weights, congenital defects and cancers, although there have not been nearly enough (Gradient Corporation, 2007).
Though I seem to have these circumstances which may tie me to those who are underprivileged my whiteness distances me from them. My white privilege can never allow me to fully understand. I am white and I cannot understand. Perhaps my white face represents the authority which discriminates them, which doesn’t see them and so I am shut out.
How has it become this way? Why have we accepted this as ‘the way it is’?
#5 Expectations
People assume my whiteness means I am rich. That I have wealth to give. That I can heal their hurts. "Help me come to Canada Liz," they say. "Help me get to school." "Help feed my children." They do not understand the lines within the colours. Although I am white and North American and possess much more privilege than they, I am also in a position of disadvantage. I am heavily in debt - banks willingly give me loans of huge proportions which I cannot pay back just based upon the word of my white parents. They trust I can pay it back. I eat at a food bank. Live near governments subsidized housing. Do not drive and have no health benefits. And yet I am trustworthy to pay back thousands of dollars?
But I am white so I must be able to do things on my own.
It is not assumed that I am lazy or living off the system.
I know that the privilege of whiteness exists when I walk down the street and have children run to greet me, hug me and walk with me just to say they are friends with the foreign white girl.
As a woman I am one of the millions who are impacted by poverty, who live under the low-income cutoff and who are not considered ‘productive’. My work is not valued as a member of society, nor was it when I was helping my mother to raise a family. In fact I am considered lazy and incompetent to many as I am not able to work and go to school full time. Marilyn Waring (1999) published a very significant article on the economic systems which are in place that exclude the value of women's work. Vandana Shiva (2004) also supports this stating that, "the devaluation of women's work, and of the work done in sustainable economies, is the natural outcome of a system constructed by a capitalist patriarchy." I am a productive member of society, but not according to the accepted defnition.
As a student I sometimes go to Walmart to shop, due to the low prices and the fact that it's the only shopping center within walking distance to my house. But there is a high cost to these low prices. I am perpetuating the cycle of undervaluing women’s work. Most of the product at Walmart is shipped from around the world made in factories by women younger than I, working in terrible conditions and for very little pay (Kerr, 2003).
I expect as a Canadian to be able to influence political decisions and to be considered as a member of the polity... I am usually not. I am appeased by those in power, who are privileged to make our laws. I am made to believe that I am making a difference in my environment through personal lifestyle choices, both for the environment and my own health. This does not make sense though when so much of what impacts us each day is controlled by larger structural influences.
Jensen (2009) makes the point that the majority of water usage is by industrial, corporate, agricultural and military uses, not by individuals. Why then does the government spend so much on trying to convince us to shower less? To take the subway or walk? Are they really concerned about us and our environment or are they trying to point the blame away from themselves, so they will not have to lower their usage?
In Canada the leaders who govern us are for the most part white and male. Almost all of Stephen Harper’s cabinet is white and male. I expect that in a country as diverse as Canada the structures that make up our governing system would reflect that diversity.
But I am white so I must be able to do things on my own.
It is not assumed that I am lazy or living off the system.
I know that the privilege of whiteness exists when I walk down the street and have children run to greet me, hug me and walk with me just to say they are friends with the foreign white girl.
As a woman I am one of the millions who are impacted by poverty, who live under the low-income cutoff and who are not considered ‘productive’. My work is not valued as a member of society, nor was it when I was helping my mother to raise a family. In fact I am considered lazy and incompetent to many as I am not able to work and go to school full time. Marilyn Waring (1999) published a very significant article on the economic systems which are in place that exclude the value of women's work. Vandana Shiva (2004) also supports this stating that, "the devaluation of women's work, and of the work done in sustainable economies, is the natural outcome of a system constructed by a capitalist patriarchy." I am a productive member of society, but not according to the accepted defnition.
As a student I sometimes go to Walmart to shop, due to the low prices and the fact that it's the only shopping center within walking distance to my house. But there is a high cost to these low prices. I am perpetuating the cycle of undervaluing women’s work. Most of the product at Walmart is shipped from around the world made in factories by women younger than I, working in terrible conditions and for very little pay (Kerr, 2003).
I expect as a Canadian to be able to influence political decisions and to be considered as a member of the polity... I am usually not. I am appeased by those in power, who are privileged to make our laws. I am made to believe that I am making a difference in my environment through personal lifestyle choices, both for the environment and my own health. This does not make sense though when so much of what impacts us each day is controlled by larger structural influences.
Jensen (2009) makes the point that the majority of water usage is by industrial, corporate, agricultural and military uses, not by individuals. Why then does the government spend so much on trying to convince us to shower less? To take the subway or walk? Are they really concerned about us and our environment or are they trying to point the blame away from themselves, so they will not have to lower their usage?
In Canada the leaders who govern us are for the most part white and male. Almost all of Stephen Harper’s cabinet is white and male. I expect that in a country as diverse as Canada the structures that make up our governing system would reflect that diversity.
# 6
There is no end or conclusion to this blog and there never will be. This is a discussion that we must keep going. Talking, communicating, being honest with ourselves and each other is the only hope that we have to end racism.
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