racismfreeontario

[racismfreeontario]

[added] Definitions you should take note of. The RFO website is down, but feel free to peruse these.

from racismfreeontario.com (deena hai) and http://fuckyeahethnicwomen.tumblr.com/definitions

SET 1 (will organize all together later)

Assimilation: means being absorbed into the cultural tradition of the dominant society and consequently losing one’s historical identity. This is in contrast to acculturation in which there is an adaptation to a different culture but retention of original identity (Garcia & Van Soest, 2006; Pinderhughes, 1989; Potapchuk et al., 2005; Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 1998; Soto, 2004; Thompson & Neville, 1999).

Cultural Appropriation: Cultural appropriation is the adoption of some specific elements of one culture by a different cultural group. It can include the introduction of forms of dress or personal adornment, music and art, religion, language, or behavior. These elements are typically imported into the existing culture, and may have wildly different meanings or lack the subtleties of their original cultural context. Because of this, cultural appropriation is sometimes viewed negatively, and has been called “cultural theft. ( Haig‐Brown, 2010)

Discrimination: is often codified by laws, regulations, and rules. People experience oppression when they are deprived of human rights or dignity and are (or feel) powerless to do anything about it. Sometimes the negative act is in the form of exclusion, in which people are denied the opportunity to participate in a certain right, benefit, or privilege. Sometimes the negative act is in the form of marginalization, in which people find that they are on the fringe of political, social, or economic consciousness. That sense of invisibility results in decisions being made by those in power that may be harmful simply because the needs were not considered.

Ethnocentrism: is the tendency to automatically interpret reality from one’s own perspective as normative and or superior. Other groups are judged in relative to one’s own cultural beliefs (without cultural relativism), thus dismissing other perspectives as inferior or insignificant.

Eurocentrism: is a belief or position that asserts the moral or evolutionary superiority of Anglo-European culture as the standard by which others are measured and evaluated and found to be deficient (Fleras and Kunz).

Internalized racism: In contrast to white privilege, internalized racism is the development of ideas, beliefs, actions, and behaviors that support or collude with racism against oneself. It is the support of the supremacy and dominance of the dominant group through participation in the set of attitudes, behaviors, social structures, and ideologies that undergirds the dominating group’s power and privilege and limits the oppressed group’s own advantages (Potapchuk et al, 2005; Tatum, 1997).

Orientalism:

“For there is no doubt that imaginative geography and history help the mind to intensify its own sense of itself by dramatizing the distance and difference between what is close to it and what is far away.”

– Edward Said

The idea behind Orientalism, according to Edward Said, is that the West has created a dichotomy between the romantic, exoticized notion of “the Orient,” and the reality of “the East.” Asia and the Middle East are viewed through a prism of racism and prejudice; they are constructed as a singular, monolithic race that is backwards, and without culture and history. In order to enlighten the primitive societies, (“modernize”) the West has created culture, history and a future for them. The vantage point from here is from “the West,” versus “the Other.”

Through Orientalism, women are objectified, their nationalities reduced to the “uncivilized,” and their identities to static, gender tropes. Asian women, for example- meaning women from anywhere within the continent of Asia- are products of this mysterious “Orient.” Western culture, as noted, depicts the “Orient,” as a savage, patriarchal land of harems, samurai and geishas. Elements from differing cultures around Asia are obscured and exoticized. (Deena Hai)

Otherizing: The process by which minority women and men are portrayed as people who are removed in time, remote in space and marginal to society. They are considered unbefitting of equal treatment because of their inferiority or irrelevance. Also “othered” or “othering.”

Prejudice: is the negative (or positive/idealized) attitudes, thoughts, and beliefs about an entire category of people formed without full knowledge or examination of the facts. And discrimination is acting on the basis of prejudice.

Racism is the practice of discrimination and prejudice based on racial classification supported by the power to enforce that prejudice.

Three subtle types of racism are captured in the concepts of symbolic racism, aversive racism, and micro-inequities.

a) Aversive racism: is another subtle form of prejudice. People who engage in the practice see themselves as non-racists, but they will do racist things, sometimes unintentionally, or they will avoid people without overt racist intent. What they believe about themselves and will attest to is the importance of fairness, equality, and justice, but because they have been exposed to the ever-present societal racism just by living in the United States, they will reflect it in their conduct (Durrheim & Dixon, 2004; Tatum, 1997).

b) Symbolic racism: is expressed by those who may or may not perceive themselves as racist, but justify their negative judgment of others by asserting that the others do not abide by traditional values of the dominant group. People can perceive themselves as being fair and practicing equality by holding forth certain values, such as “individualism” or “work ethic” or “self-reliance,” and take negative action because the focal group does not share those values. So they perceive themselves as operating based on certain “objective” standards or “universal truths” rather than in opposition to the group based on their race (Durrheim & Dixon, 2004).

c) Micro-inequities: Finally, good people can do bad things to others in ways for which there is no formal grievance, but still have negative (sometimes unintentionally) effect. This refers to micro- aggressions or micro-inequities. Micro-inequities are “those tiny, damaging characteristics of an environment, as these characteristics affect a person not of that environment. They are the comments, the work assignments, the tone of voice, the failure of acknowledgement in meetings or social gatherings. These are not actionable violations of law or policies, but they are clear, subtle indicators of lack of respect by virtue of membership in a group” (Rowe, 1990). These are forms of racism that as members of this society we all commit. People of color may commit these acts or maintain these attitudes against other people of color. The charge is to become able to recognize them and move ourselves and others beyond them to facilitate systemic change.

Shadism: is a form of internalized, racial “self-hatred.” It is a legacy of cultural imperialism, and  is a form of skin tone bias that identifies groups and individuals on the basis of their degree of pigmentation. It is an evaluation of people that registers traits such as skin color, hair, and facial features in order to construct racially charged social hierarchies.

Whiteness: a form of hegemony that allows one group to use its power to dominate a group in a position of less power” (Yee & Dumbrill, 2003, p. 102).

White privilege: is one issue that must be confronted as a precondition to releasing the energy required to successfully challenge institutional racism.  It is the collection of benefits based on belonging to a group perceived to be white, when the same or similar benefits are denied to members of other groups. It is the benefit of access to resources and social rewards and the power to shape the norms and values of society that white people receive, unconsciously or consciously, by virtue of their skin color (Kivel, 2002; McIntosh,1988; Potapchuk et al., 2005;)

Yellowface: at its core, is not only the practice of applying prostheses or paint to simulate a crude idea of what “Asians” look like; it is non-Asian bodies (usually white) controlling what it means to be Asian on screen and stage, particularly in lead/major roles. Tied to blackface and the portrayal of African Americans on the stage by whites in the nineteenth century, the term yellowface appears as early as the 1950s to describe the continuation in film of having white actors playing major Asian and Asian American roles and the grouping together of all makeup technologies used to make one look “Asian.”

SET 2 for racismfreeontario.com by Sean Gee

Critical Race Theory is an academic discipline focused upon the intersection of race, law and power (Critical Race Collective). 

Default Subcategory Erasure is the phenomenon in which the dominant group is considered the standard by which other groups are defined. In race discourse this is seen in stereotypes, but is not limited to stereotypes. An example of such is the stereotype that “Asians are smart.” Clearly here, people of Asian descent are not the standard (which is not overtly stated; it is erased), their status is measured in relativity to the dominant group. It is not the case that “White people are lacking in intelligence,” as white people are the standard by which other groups are defined (Critical Race Collective). See: Whitenormativity and Linguistic Markedness.  (links below)

Whitenormativity is the underlying assumption at an individual or structural level that white is normal or prototypical of unmarked categories. Simply put, the assumption that, unless overtly stated, white is the norm of any given particular thing. Whitenormativity is the phenomenon ofDefault Subcategory Erasure as it applies to the white dominant group (Critical Race Collective). 

Eurocentrism is the holding of European values as a standard in which all other values are compared and contrasted to (Critical Race Collective).

Holism is the view that one must study all aspects of a culture in order to understand the whole culture (Miller and Esterik, 2010). 

Gender performativity is the tacit collective agreement to perform, produce, and sustain discrete and polar genders as cultural fictions is obscured by the credibility of those productions – and the punishments (see: the Heterosexual Market) that attend not agreeing to believe in them (Butler 1999, p 179).

The Heterosexual Market is the metaphor which describes the peer social order that develops in adolescent years which considers masculinity and femininity as complementing functions (Eckert 1996).  The Heterosexual Market acts as a control of behaviour through social evaluation of peers.

Gender is not something one is born with; it is not something one has; it is something that one does (West and Zimmerman 1987). Gender is something we perform (Butler 1990).  Gender is the performance of learned behaviours associated with social constructs of masculinity and femininity (Cahill 1986). [Butler’s definition, there are other ideas about gender]

Cultural Relativism is the view that each culture must be understood in terms of the values and ideas of that culture and must not be judged by the standards of another culture (see: Ethnocentrism) (Miller and Esterik, 2010).

Absolute Cultural Relativism is the ideology in which whatever practices occur within a culture must not be questioned or changed because doing so would be ethnocentric (Miller and Esterik, 2010).

Critical Cultural Relativism offers an alternative view that poses questions about cultural practices and ideas in terms of who accepts them and why, and who they might be harming or helping (Miller and Esterik, 2010).

Ethnocentrism is the judging of other cultures by the standards of one’s own culture (or the dominant culture) rather than by the standards of that particular culture (Miller and Esterik, 2010).

provided by Sean Gee and Deena Hai

[racismfreeontario]

Is your Halloween costume racist?

[racismfreeontario]

Bringin’ this back.

Not only because Halloween is coming up, but because the lovely golden-zephyr was gracious to make one about Romani “costumes”!

Remember, as this-is-not-native reminds us, there are endless cute, sexy, funny, even offensive costumes that don’t perpetuate racist stereotypes. There is really no excuse.

[racismfreeontario]

Actors Sundance Nagrial and Afroz Khan from last night's performance of "Oh Canada, Oh Komagata Maru!". Photo by Vero Dg  (via Brown Canada)

Visit browncanada.ca

[racismfreeontario]

Brown Canada Showcase Sharing Our Stories: Creating New Legacies Wednesday June 27th, 2012 5:30–9:00 p.m Grace Church 41 Britain Street, Toronto (east of Queen station) Dinner served from 5:30-6:30 pm. Program starts at 6:30 pm, sharp.

This is a Free Event, but space is limited; please RSVP before June 25th at eventbrite or by contacting browncanada@cassa.on.ca or 416 932 1359 x14. http://creatingnewlegacies.eventbrite.com/ www.browncanada.ca CASSA’s Brown Canada team proudly invites you to our project’s Showcase, an Informative and entertaining event featuring: · The premiere of the original play “Oh Canada, Oh Komagata Maru!”  · A screening of the Brown Canada DVD · The “Our Stories, Our Histories” South Asian history exhibit · An interactive discussion about Racialized & Indigenous histories · A free resource booklet on South Asian histories in Canada Visit www.browncanada.ca for more info & to share your story online! The Brown Canada Theatre Project will be presenting “Oh Canada, Oh Komagata Maru!” a series of vignettes written and directed by Alia Somani. “Oh Canada, Oh Komagata Maru!” is about one of the least known yet most significant episodes in the history of Canada. What is called the Komagata Maru incident took place in 1914, when a group of 376 Punjabi migrants aboard a Japanese ship – the Komagata Maru – was turned away from Canada’s western seaboard and refused entry into the country. The Komagata Maru incident may have occurred almost 100 years ago, but it has not been forgotten. Instead it continues to haunt us, to reverberate in our nation’s consciousness. In fact, in 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood up in Bear Creek Park and declared that on behalf of Canada, he was sorry for the events of 1914. “Oh Canada, Oh Komagata Maru!” explores, among other things, this apology; it considers how much of our past is remembered and how much still remains buried; and most importantly, it asks us to relive the experiences of those who traveled to Canada in 1914 in search of a better life, and a better future. Eventbrite: http://creatingnewlegacies.eventbrite.com/

Tumblr: http://browncanada.tumblr.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/browncanadaproject

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/204810092975235/

Website: https://www.browncanada.ca/

[racismfreeontario]

“Stop sending expired food”….”fried chicken 64.99” 

IQALUIT, Nunavut — A head of cabbage for $20. Fifteen bucks for a small bag of apples.

A case of ginger ale: $82.

Fed up and frustrated by sky-high food prices and concerned over widespread hunger in their communities, thousands of Inuit have spent weeks posting pictures and price tags from their local grocery stores to a Facebook site called Feed My Family.

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20120608/inuit-food-prices-protest-120608/#ixzz1xKWAJkGe

[racismfreeontario]

Brown Canada Showcase Sharing Our Stories: Creating New Legacies Wednesday June 27th, 2012 5:30–9:00 p.m Grace Church 41 Britain Street, Toronto (east of Queen station)

Dinner served from 5:30-6:30 pm. Program starts at 6:30 pm, sharp.

This is a Free Event, but space is limited; please RSVP before June 25th  by registering your free ticket at eventbrite. Questions? Email browncanada@cassa.on.ca or  call 416 932 1359 x14. http://creatingnewlegacies.eventbrite.com/ www.browncanada.ca CASSA’s Brown Canada team proudly invites you to our project’s Showcase, an Informative and entertaining event featuring: · The premiere of the original play “Oh Canada, Oh Komagata Maru!”  · A screening of the Brown Canada DVD · The “Our Stories, Our Histories” South Asian history exhibit · An interactive discussion about Racialized & Indigenous histories · A free resource booklet on South Asian histories in Canada Visit www.browncanada.ca for more info & to share your story online! The Brown Canada Theatre Project will be presenting “Oh Canada, Oh Komagata Maru!” a series of vignettes written and directed by Alia Somani. “Oh Canada, Oh Komagata Maru!” is about one of the least known yet most significant episodes in the history of Canada. What is called the Komagata Maru incident took place in 1914, when a group of 376 Punjabi migrants aboard a Japanese ship – the Komagata Maru – was turned away from Canada’s western seaboard and refused entry into the country. The Komagata Maru incident may have occurred almost 100 years ago, but it has not been forgotten. Instead it continues to haunt us, to reverberate in our nation’s consciousness. In fact, in 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood up in Bear Creek Park and declared that on behalf of Canada, he was sorry for the events of 1914. “Oh Canada, Oh Komagata Maru!” explores, among other things, this apology; it considers how much of our past is remembered and how much still remains buried; and most importantly, it asks us to relive the experiences of those who traveled to Canada in 1914 in search of a better life, and a better future. Eventbrite: http://creatingnewlegacies.eventbrite.com/

Tumblr: http://browncanada.tumblr.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/browncanadaproject

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/204810092975235/

Website: https://www.browncanada.ca/

[racismfreeontario]

Komagata Maru Play Volunteers Call Out

For the Brown Canada Project. 

Komagata Maru Play Volunteers

Brown Canada: Komagata Maru Plays Volunteer Posting (Part Time – Until end of June) 

Start & End Dates : May- end of June 2012

Brown Canada, lead by CASSA, is a community-led history project to encourage South Asian communities to create and document their histories in Canada creatively, through writing, video, interviews, art, theatre or other means. Our collective entry point for this project is through the Komagata Maru incident of 1914, when a ship of South Asian people was denied entry into Canada due to restrictive immigration policy known as the continuous journey regulation. Through this project, we are creating an interactive website, offering educational and creative workshops, producing a short video as well as seeking to tour a short theatre piece to raise awareness of the incident and spark community dialogue within Ontario.

The Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA) is currently recruiting a team of volunteers to help out with the final Komagata Maru Play that will be held on June 27.

We are looking for a team of volunteers to be responsible for assisting in media relations, community outreach, stage hands, costume design . These positions will work closely and report to the project coordinator.

Responsibilities:

Community outreach to spreak word about the event

Stagehands & lighting 

Help out with set designs, makeup, and  costumes

Qualifications:

Volunteers of all ages are welcome

Relevant interest in theatre or experience

Interest in educating others about South Asian/PoC history is always a bonus!  

If you do not have experience working with community members, community organizations and agencies, and or theatre, but are interested in working on the play, feel free to send in your resume.

  We are hoping to have a volunteer meeting as soon as possible, so please email Deena  at deena@cassa.on.ca before June 15th if you are interested in working with CASSA on this project.

  CASSA is committed to employment equity & encourages applicants from equity seeking groups.

Follow our facebook fanpage , brown canada tumblr, and website for more information. http://browncanada.ca/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brown Canada & CASSA

Position Type: Arts / Crafts, Community Outreach, Event Helpers, Performing

Duration: Short term (Less than 6 months)

Location(s): Toronto

Great For: Youth (ages 13-18), Youth (over 18), Groups, 40 hour high school program, Physically Challenged, English as a Second Language, Virtual (can be done remotely), Wheelchair Accessible

Charity village link

[racismfreeontario]

Please help in locating Glen Wesley, 29. Glen was noticed missing Wednesday Sept 15th, 2010 in North Bay. Wesley is described as a native man who is 6’3” in height, weight 220-230 lbs, large framed, short black hair with brown eyes. DOB September 15, 1982. He was last seen wearing black pants and a black hoody jacket. He could be anywhere. There were reported sightings in Cochrane, Ontario last October. He has also frequented Sudbury, Ottawa, Kingston, Barrie, Sault Ste.Marie and Toronto. If you see him or have any info at all about where he may be, please call the family, contact# is 705-360-1008 North Bay Police #705-497-5555 or your local police department with this information! Any info at all would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Please reblog and help spread the word!

[racismfreeontario]

Rocking Girls & Thundering Women: A Fundraising Night-Out

Rocking Girls and Thundering Women

Type

Arts & Culture

Date

Friday, May 25, 2012

Time

7pm

Location

The Projection Booth 

Description

Fundraising Night for Raging Asian Women Taiko Drummers. "Girls Rock!" The Movie ["Battling over band names, lyrical intent, microphone time, musical direction, and loose ideas of artistic merit (Amelia is a child who treasures her noise), these budding rock stars are a bewitching bundle of personalities who feel the triumph of every successfully landed riff and the familiar crush of social exclusion. It's a captivating five days inside the core of this exceptional outlet for creativity and expression; a film not just to be commended and enjoyed, but a remarkable camp that should be a requirement for every teen girl out there in dire need of empowerment and focus." - Brian Orndorf] then RAW drummers perform live! All proceeds to Raging Asian Women Taiko Drummers: Toronto Taiko Festival. 

1 Night: 2 Shows! * Girls Rock! The Movie [documentary; 56 min] * Raging Asian Women Taiko Drummers [live performance] <<< Girls Rock! >>> At rock'n'roll camp, girls 8 to 18 are taught that it's OK to sweat like a pig, scream like a banshee, wail on their instruments with complete and utter abandon. What happens to the girls they are given a temporary repreive from being sexualized, analyzed, and pressured to conform is moving and revolutionary. <<< RAW Taiko Drummers >>> 8 Women, 1000 pounds of drums. RAW is Toronto's own all-women taiko ensemble. Thundering and raging, yet resolutely joyous, RAW is big in sound and big in spirit. The drummers will be present to hang out, tell all about the upcoming Taiko Festival, and play you a couple of their favourite pieces. 6:30pm Door 7:00pm Show Tickets: $20 (sliding to $15) $10 (under 19) At: http://guestli.st/100380 Toronto Women's Bookstore or from RAW members 

Contact

young@ragingasianwomen.ca 

Website

http://www.ragingasianwomen.ca 

via  Facebook event

[racismfreeontario]

Submit to Action Speaks Louder's Fall 2012 Issue!

What is Action Speaks Louder?

Action Speaks Louder is the bi-annual newsletter of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG-Toronto), a volunteer driven, anti-oppression and consensus-based organization at the University of Toronto. We facilitate education, research and action around issues of social and environmental justice. Action Speaks Louder is a forum for activists to explain and analyze the current political climate on campus and in the city. 

In past issues, we have published articles about austerity measures, the commodification of education, anti-racist activism, sex work decriminalization, anti-mining organizing, Indigenous sovereignty and solidarity, anti-poverty mobilizing, direct action tactics, the #occupy movement, migrant justice and anti-imperialism, and much more.

Send us a pitch!

If you are passionate about a particular political issue or are organizing a campaign, we would love to publish your work in our Fall 2012 issue! Please send a short pitch (100 words) to actionspeaksloudertoronto@gmail.com by Thursday May 24, 2012. Please ensure that your pitch includes clear explanation of your topic and angle, and feel free to submit accompanying photographs or artwork.

First drafts are due on Monday, June 25, 2012. Max: 850 words.

Please note: We know that writing is intimidating and difficult. The ASL editorial collective is committed to working closely with authors to build skills and confidence. We believe that writing is essential to political struggle, and that collaboration is essential to writing.

[racismfreeontario]

Captions:

The Komagata Maru story matters because

It makes you realize that multi-cultural means it’s white only true Canada

It relates to me the Reality of South Asian history in Canada

Struggle of South Asians in Canada

I need to know my history

I had no idea what my history is!

(via Komagata Maru)

[racismfreeontario]

Komagata Maru By The Numbers

376: number of passengers on Komagata Maru when it arrives in Vancouver Harbour     12: number of Hindus aboard Komagata Maru     24: number of Muslims aboard Komagata Maru     340: number of Sikhs aboard Komagata Maru  90: number of people declared medically unfit to land  20-24: number of people who claimed to have Canadian domicile and were allowed to disembark $150,000: Amount of damages claimed by Gurdit Singh for Canada not allowing him to land and sell coal stored aboard Komagata Maru 15: Number of core members of Sshore Ccommittee, local South Asians who were mobilizing to support the Komagata Maru passengers  500: ??Unknown: number of local South Asians present at meetings to support Komagata Maru passengers, held at the the Khalsa Diwan Society at Gurdwara  $5,000: amount collected at once at first meeting at Gurdwara by local South Asians to support Komagata Maru passengers $17,000: amount collected at future meetings by local South Asians to support Komagata Maru passengers  150: number of immigration officials and police who attempted to board Komagata Maru on July 17, 1914  $4,000: value of provisions Canadian government placed on board the Komagata Maru for the return trip  2: number of months the Komagata Maru stayed in harbour off the coast of Vancouver 2: number of years shore committee struggled legally with government after Komagata Maru was forced to return to Asia $3,000: further legal expenses of shore committee after Komagata Maru forced to return to Asia 6: number of months Komagata Maru passengers spent aboard 

via Brown Canada Project: Komagata Maru

[racismfreeontario]

Canadian history: Komagata Maru key players

The Komagata Maru incident involved a number of key players – individuals whose actions played a significant role impacting the lived experience of Komagata Maru passengers. These key players can be viewed within four three main groups:

Komagata Maru Passengers

Canadian Officials

Legal Personnel

Shore Committee Members

Each individual’s complete story is not captured here; instead these profiles provide snapshots of each key player, and some context of their lives. For some of these individuals, their profiles have become legacies by the memorialisation efforts of scholars, activists, community members and artists.  For other individuals involved in the Komagata Maru incident, they remain unnamed or their stories are unknown. For example, little is known about many of the passengers. There is not enough information about the hundreds of South Asians already living in the Vancouver area who were passionate about supporting the Komagata Maru passengers. There is scarce documentation of the white allies who attended ing community meetings. For those who died upon their return to British occupied India, there must have been so many unanswered questions for their unnamed friends and families. For the 28 individuals who were unaccounted for after the Budge Budge (Baj Baj) incident, some like Gurdit Singh we know a lot about – but for others, where did their lives take them?  With the intention of this website to invite readers to reflect on the broader impact of the Komagata Maru incident, this section asks you to interrogate how we remember the individual people in communities, how we write (or do not write) their stories. Komagata Maru Passengers  This is very short list of some passengers who played key roles in the departure of the Komagata Maru from Hong Kong, and its experience once in Canadian waters. Gurdit Singh Gurdit Singh was a successful businessman who decided to charter the Komagata Maru from Hong Kong after meeting with and speaking with other Indians there. Singh (sold tickets up until two days before the Komagata Maru’s departure, and was briefly held by officials for selling illegal tickets for what was deemed an illegal trip). Singh was a nationalist, who believed in an Independent India. At the Baj Baj (Budge Budge) incident, he escaped capture. After remaining a fugitive in India for several years, he finally surrendered after prompting by Mahatma Gandhi (whom he respected deeply) and served a five-year jail term in Punjab. It was after Singh’s prompting did the federal government of newly-independent India erect a plaque at Kolkata (then known as Calcutta) memorializing the Komagata Maru.  Munshi Singh Munshi Singh, one of the 376 passengers aboard the Komagata Maru, was selected as the representative for the test case. He was a Sikh farmer from Punjab, someone who was interested in migrating to Canada for the purposes of buying some property and farming.  Canadian Officials Government agents very obviously played a heavy role in the Komagata Maru incident. Both Hopkinson and Reid held very strong anti-South Asian views and prior to 1914, both had been actively pushing for exclusionary immigration. For Reid, his daughter felt (in the 1980s) that the way he was remembered was unfair1; for Hopkinson, an often-staged play by Sharon Pollock fictionalized his mixed-race heritage and his surveillance work, which could be described as internalized racism2. Malcolm Reid  Malcolm Reid was the Chief Immigration Officer of Vancouver during the Komagata Maru incident. Posted to the position with no experience, his proposals of how to expel the Komagata Maru contradicted even those of the federal government. He was explicit in his anti-Asian sentiments, and was motivated to use whatever force necessary to remove the ship and its passengers. For example, on June 24, 1914, Reid wired Ottawa to ask for permission to have the Komagata Maru passengers forced onto the S.S. Empress of India, which was departing the next day. The answer was no – an appearance in court (through a test case) is how the federal government wanted to proceed. Martin Burrell  Martin Burrell was the federal Minister of Agriculture at the time the Komagata Maru was stationed in Burrard Inlet. He became involved at the very end of the two month period, at the urging of Prime Minister Robert Borden. It was Burrell’s letter to Albert Howard McNeill dated July 21, 1914, that seemed to bring forward a compromise. In it, he refers to the Shore Committee and community members who had provided financial support. Burrell said that he would “urge that full and sympathetic consideration be given to those who deserve generous treatment. I must point out, however, that this is conditional on the passengers now on the Komagata Maru adopting a peaceable attitude, refraining from violence, and conforming to the law by giving to the captain control of his ship immediately, and agreeing to peaceably return to the port when they came.”13 William Charles Hopkinson  William Charles (W.C.) Hopkinson was an immigration inspector at the time of the Komagata Maru. Working for the federal government since 1909, mostly based in British Columbia and working in the US as well, his focus was on the surveillance of Indian political activists. He was fully occupied with the Komagata Maru while it was in Burrard Inlet for two months. After the Komagata Maru was sent back, his role became important in the context of war – he provided information to officials in Canada and British India about Indian agitators on the Pacific coast who were supposedly plotting to return to India to “take up arms against the British while they were at war in Europe”4 Hopkinson was mixed-race (Anglo-Indian), which he both used in his work (he could understand Hindi and Punjabi) and denied outright. In 1914, he was killed by Mewa Singh at the Vancouver Court House.  Legal Personnel  In a hostile environment of British Columbia in 1914, two legal professionals took on the case of the Komagata Maru passengers. J. Edward Bird handled the bulk of the case.  J. Edward Bird, solicitor  J. Edward Bird was hired by the passengers of the Komagata Maru to represent the passengers as they lodged a legal challenge to the Orders in Council that were prohibiting them from being able to disembark. The government decided to only have one test case, and Bird was assigned the task of preparing his case very quickly. Bird made the argument on behalf of Munshi Singh (the test case) using constitutional terms, arguing that the passengers of the Komagata Maru were entitled to disembark and settle in Canada as British subjects. Unfortunately, the five judges disagreed with him, and the case was lost. Bird was a socialist, and was opposed to the anti-Asian sentiment around him in British Columbia – proving this by creating a space for Indian socialists to gather.  Albert Howard MacNeill  Partner to J. Edward Bird, he took over the Komagata Maru case in the latter stages after Bird received a threatening letter and opted to travel out of town. He was an established lawyer in Vancouver, with connections to many powerful individuals. He sent a personal cable to Conservative Prime Minister Robert Borden (McNeill was a member of the Conservative Party himself) to encourage him to think about the Komagata Maru situation beyond what he was told by immigration officials (like Reid and Stevens).  Shore Committee Members  While the Komagata Maru was forced to stay in Burrard Inlet, South Asian community members in the Vancouver area mobilized to support the passengers. The 15-member group, coming together initially at the Khalsa Diwan Society, was called the Shore Committee. The Shore Committee raised awareness, raised funds, spoke out about the exclusion, and was heavily involved in retaining legal representation for the Komagata Maru passengers.  Hussain Rahim  Hussain Rahim was one of the Shore Committee members, an active member of the Indian community in British Columbia, and the editor of the short-lived English newspaper The Hindustanee. Rahim spoke English, Hindi, Punjabi and Gujrati, and was vocal about his thoughts on the ways the governments of Canada and British Columbia treated Indians. Rahim was instrumental in mobilizing community members to support the passengers of the Komagata Maru.  Bhag Singh  Bhag Singh was one of the Shore Committee members, an active member of the Indian community in British Columbia, and Secretary of the Temple Management Committee at the Khalsa Diwan Society gurdwara. His own experience of challenging Canada’s immigration policy in 1911 meant that he was one of the very few Indians in Canada to have been able to be reunified with his wife and child. 

Visit km.browncanada.com & browncanada.ca for more info.

[racismfreeontario]

Photo: Leonard Frank, Vancouver Public Library, 6231 (via Komagata Maru)

Passengers, mostly unnamed, on the Komagata Maru. Gurdit Singh can be seen in the white suit with his son and fellow passengers, 1914.

[racismfreeontario]

Updated version

Brown Canada Creative Arts Workshops. Legacies of the Komagata Maru: Digital Storytelling

Legacies of the Komagata Maru: Digital Storytelling workshop with Mariam Ahmad & Asam Ahmad, Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 & Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 5-8pm @ Don Montgomery CRC

Workshop content provided by:  Asam Ahmad, Graduate of Asian Arts Freedom School, Mariam Ahmad

What: In these workshops we will explore the marginalized and/or hidden histories of the South Asian diaspora in Canada, what it means to be a racialized youth/immigrant today and how to tell our stories through art-based media. In two workshop sessions, we will create a stop-animation short film that tells a collective story, with individual vignettes, and themes and content led by group participants. In the first session we will begin talking about our complex histories, learning about stop-motion, and  brainstorming ideas for the video. The second workshop will be comprised of story-boarding the narrative, recording individual stories and voiceovers, and crafting the actual visuals for the film.

When:  Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 & Tuesday, June 5th, 2012, 5:00 to 8:00 pm

Where:  Don Montgomery CRC, 2467 Eglinton Ave E

Fully Accessible. Ward: 35, District: Scarborough. Near: Midland & Eglinton

TTC Information: Travel to Kennedy Station. Board the 86A Scarborough and travel to 2495. Walk west to 2467 Eglinton Avenue East.

Who:  Youth & young adults, ages 16-30 welcome

How: Space is limited! Please contact Deena Hai at deena@cassa.on.ca to register / or location contact

Please register by Friday, May 25th, 4 p.m

Follow Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/171294869666168/

Follow Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/browncanadaproject 

Visit: http://km.browncanada.ca/index.php

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Brown Canada, lead by CASSA, is a community-led history project to encourage South Asian communities to create and document their histories in Canada creatively, through writing, video, interviews, art, theatre or other means. Our collective entry point for this project is through the Komagata Maru incident of 1914, when a ship of South Asian people was denied entry into Canada due to restrictive immigration policy known as the continuous journey regulation. Through this project, we are creating an interactive website, offering educational and creative workshops, producing a short video as well as seeking to tour a short theatre piece to raise awareness of the incident and spark community dialogue within Ontario.

http://km.browncanada.com/

http://www.browncanada.ca/

http://www.cassaonline.com/

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The Asian Arts Freedom School is an art-based radical Asian history and activism program for Asian/Pacific Islander youth in the Greater Toronto Area. Asian = South Asian, West Asian (a.k.a. Arab or Middle-Eastern), Southeast Asian, East Asian, and Central Asian,Pacific Islander, diasporic via the Caribbean and Africa…mixed-race, adoptee, suburban, hood…just got here or been here since the 1800s. Asian stretches from the Phillippines to Palestine, North China to Sri Lanka, Trinidad to Tibet, and all of it ends up in Toronto. We cover various artforms including writing, spoken word, music, visual arts, film, breakdancing, theatre and dance. We are currently running a drop-in creative writing workshop series in Victoria Park, and a theatre/drag musical program to be showcased during Pride Toronto 2012. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/asianartsfreedomschool/

asianartsfreedomschool@gmail.com

[racismfreeontario]

Brown Canada Creative Arts Workshops. Legacies of the Komagata Maru: Digital Storytelling

  Workshop content provided by: Asam Ahmad

Graduate of Asian Arts Freedom School

  What: 

In these workshops we will explore the marginalized and/or hidden histories of the South Asian diaspora in Canada, what it means to be a racialized youth/immigrant today and how to tell our stories through art-based media. In two workshop sessions, we will create a stop-animation short film that tells a collective story, with individual vignettes, and themes and content led by group participants. In the first session we will begin talking about our complex histories,  earning about stop-motion, and  brainstorming ideas for the video. The second workshop will be comprised of story-boarding the narrative, recording individual stories and voiceovers, and crafting the actual visuals for the film.

   Brown Canada is a community-led history project to encourage South Asian communities to create and document their histories in Canada creatively, through writing, video, interviews, art, theatre or other means.  Our collective entry point for this project is through the Komagata Maru incident of 1914, when a ship of South Asian people was denied entry into Canada due to restrictive immigration policy known as the continuous journey regulation. Through this project, we are creating an interactive website, offering educational and creative workshops, producing a short video as well as seeking to tour a short theatre piece to raise awareness of the incident and spark community dialogue within Ontario.

  When:  Tuesday, May 30th, 2012 & Tuesday, June 5th, 2012, 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Where:  Don Montgomery CRC, 2467 Eglinton Ave E

Fully Accessible. Ward: 35, District: Scarborough. Near: Midland & Eglinton

TTC Information: Travel to Kennedy Station. Board the 86A Scarborough and travel to 2495. Walk west to 2467 Eglinton Avenue East.

Who: Youth, ages 16+

How: Space is limited! Please contact Deena Hai at deena@cassa.on.ca to register / or location contact

Follow Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/171294869666168/

Follow Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/browncanadaproject 

Visit: http://km.browncanada.ca/index.php