Black History Month 2021: Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement

Harry Belafonte once observed about his long-time friend, Dr. Martin Luther King:

“[Dr. King] had felt that in many ways, dealing with the south was a more predictable outcome because in the north, the racial hypocrisy was very subverted and gave the impression of being not like the south. The south was the centre of all evil and the north was a place of a higher experience. And Dr. King said, ‘No, that’s not the case.’”

I could as well replace the references to the north and south with Canada and the United States respectively, because Dr. King’s remarks about the north pretty much sum up my experience of racism in this country. And while some may disagree, I would go as far as to suggest that the modern-day fight against injustice, police brutality, bigotry and racism in Canada is very much like the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s.