CHI4U Exam Prep

Abolition

• The act of officially ending, stopping, or getting rid of a system, practice, or institution

Black Lives Matter

• A decentralized international social movement and civil rights organization dedicated to fighting systemic racism, white supremacy, and anti-Black violence.

Equality

Giving everyone the exact same resources (assumes everyone starts from the same place).

Colonization

• The act or process of a foreign power establishing settlement and control over a territory and its Indigenous inhabitants

Intersectionality

• The analytical framework for understanding how an individual's overlapping social and political identities (e.g., race, gender, class, sexuality, ability) combine to create unique modes of discrimination and privilege.

Interpersonal racism

• It occurs between individuals and involves the expression of racial prejudice, bias, and bigotry

• Includes public expressions of prejudice, hate, bias, bigotry, or microaggressions, such as using racial slurs, avoiding people based on race, or making assumptions about someone's abilities

Microaggression

• A subtle, everyday comment, action, or environmental slight that communicates a derogatory, prejudiced, or negative attitude toward a member of a marginalized group.

Privilege

• A special right, advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by a particular person or group.

Cultural appreciation

• Means taking the time to learn about, understand, and respect a culture that is not your own

• It bridges divides through genuine education, mutual exchange, and honoring the deep historical or spiritual significance behind cultural traditions, setting it apart from cultural appropriation.

White saviourism

• The belief and practice of white individuals intervening to help, rescue, or uplift non-white people in a patronizing manner. It assumes people of color lack the agency or capability to solve their own problems and often centers the white helper's emotional fulfillment rather than meaningful systemic change

Systematic racism

• The policies, practices, and entrenched cultural norms embedded within societal institutions (like the legal, economic, educational, and healthcare systems) that routinely produce racially inequitable outcomes, even without individual, intentional prejudice

White fragility

• The state in which even a minimal amount of racial stress becomes intolerable for white people, triggering defensive responses

Cultural appropriation

• The adoption of elements from a marginalized or minority culture by members of a dominant culture

Social location

• An individual's unique position within a society, shaped by the intersection of their social identities

African Diaspora

• The worldwide collection of communities of people of native or partial African descent who live outside the African continent.

Colonialism

• The practice of one nation or group extending its political, economic, and cultural domination over a foreign territory and its people

Incarceration

• The act of confining or imprisoning someone in a correctional facility, or the state of being detained there

Unconscious bias

• The automatic, unintentional stereotypes or prejudices people form about certain groups

Racial profiling

• Any action taken by authorities or institutions that relies on stereotypes about race, color, ethnicity, or religion rather than on reasonable suspicion or evidence to single out an individual for greater scrutiny or different

Prison to schools pipeline

• Systemic trend where harsh school discipline and policing push marginalized children out of the classroom and directly into the juvenile and criminal justice systems

Oppression

• The prolonged, cruel, or unjust exercise of power and authority over individuals or groups

Stereotypes

• A fixed, oversimplified, and generalized belief or idea about a particular group of people.

Allies

• A person, group, or nation united with another for a common purpose or to provide assistance.

Enslavement

• The act of forcing a person to become a slave, or the state of being held in bondage

Overt racism

• Racism that is clear, undeniable, that everyone sees and can agree is racist behaviour.

Covert racism

• Racism is less visible but more normalized in our society

• More difficult to combat

Systemic racism

• The big picture - the whole system; the entire society.

• Even if racist things are not said openly, the system produces unequal results.

  • EG: Indigenous communities without clean water

  • Black citizens stopped by police more often.

Structural racism

• Arrangement of society’s structures that are to advantage to some groups and disadvantage to others

  • Housing, education economy, justice system

    • streamlining racialized students in to less academic pathways (redlining)

Institutional racism

• Racism built in within an institution

• Schools, prisons, governments, companies

  • Black students dress codes

Historic racism

• Racist laws, policies, and practices from the past that shape present day inequality

  • Residential schools

  • Chinese head tax

Internalized racism

• People from marginalized racial groups start believing negative stereotypes about their group

  • colourism

Racism in education system

• Black students usually attend the same schools as other students, they are sometimes overrepresented in lower academic streams and underrepresented in gifted or advanced programs.

• They may also face racial bias in discipline, expectations, and access to opportunities

Racism in criminal justice system

Systemic biases, policies, and practices that result in disproportionately negative outcomes for racial minorities at every stage of the justice process, including policing, bail, sentencing, and corrections.

History of black and Indigenous people in Canada

• Colonial Era: Both groups subjected to chattel slavery under French/British rule until legal abolition in 1834.

• Indigenous State Erasure: Forced off land; cultural destruction via the Indian Act (1876) and Residential Schools (last closed 1996).

• Black State Erasure: Faced De Facto segregation (business bans), segregated schools (until 1983), and community destruction (Africville).

• Modern Systemic Legacy: Overrepresentation in prisons (carding/profiling) and school streaming (prison-to-schools pipeline).

Black Canadians vs Black Americans Similarities

• Slavery: Both nations have a history of enslaving African and Indigenous peoples, though the scale in the US was vastly larger due to the plantation economy.

• National Narratives: The US often uses the "melting pot" narrative (assimilation), while Canada promotes the "cultural mosaic" or multiculturalism. However, both narratives have historically masked deep-seated systemic racism.

• Racially Restrictive Covenants: Both countries used legal property deeds to prevent Black, Jewish, and Indigenous people from buying homes in certain neighborhoods.

History of Slavery for Black Canadians vs Black Americans

Canada: Enslavement existed under both French and British rule until it was abolished across the British Empire via the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (effective 1834).

United States: Enslavement was constitutionally protected and central to the Southern economy until the Thirteenth Amendment abolished it in 1865 following the American Civil War.

Segregation and Discrimination

De Jure vs. De Facto: The US relied heavily on de jure segregation (legalized via Jim Crow laws). Canada relied more on de facto segregation (social practice, restrictive covenants, and localized policies), though legal segregation did exist in schools and businesses.

Immigration and Race

Exclusionary Policies: Both countries historically restricted non-white immigration to maintain a "white settler" demographic (e.g., Canada’s Immigration Act of 1910 and the "continuous journey" regulation; the US Immigration Act of 1924).

Indigenous and Black Experience

• Parallel Oppression: Both groups faced state-sanctioned erasure. Indigenous peoples faced land theft, treaties violated by the state, and forced assimilation (e.g., Residential Schools in Canada, Boarding Schools in the US). Black individuals faced chattel slavery, segregation, and systemic exclusion.

• Intersectionality: A framework (coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw) showing how race interacts with gender, class, and sexuality to create unique, overlapping systems of discrimination.

Allyship

The continuous practice of leveraging personal privilege to support, advocate for, and amplify the voices of marginalized or underrepresented groups. It is a lifelong process of building relationships based on trust, consistency, and accountability, rather than a self-proclaimed identity

Colourblind Racism

The assertion that one "does not see color." This is harmful because it ignores the real, lived experiences of racism and the structural inequities that persist.

Recognizing Privilege

Understanding the unearned social, economic, or political advantages one possesses based on aspects of identity (e.g., white privilege, male privilege).

Equity

Distributing resources based on specific needs to ensure everyone has access to the same opportunities and outcomes.

Historical Segregation in Canada

• Separate Schools: Ontario and Nova Scotia legally permitted racially segregated schools well into the 20th century. The last segregated school in Ontario closed in 1965; in Nova Scotia, it was 1983.

• Communities and Businesses: Black Canadians were frequently denied service in hotels, restaurants, and theatres (e.g., Viola Desmond in New Glasgow, NS, 1946).

• Housing Discrimination: Use of racial covenants to prevent non-whites from purchasing property, pushing Black communities to the margins (e.g., the forced displacement and destruction of Africville in Halifax during the 1960s).

Modern Segregation and Systemic Barriers Today

• Systemic Racism: Institutional patterns, structures, and policies that result in unfair treatment of specific racial groups, even without explicit individual prejudice.

• The Prison-to-Schools Pipeline: Disproportionate disciplinary actions (like suspensions and expulsions) that push Black and Indigenous youth out of the school system and into the criminal justice system.

• Carding/Street Checks: The police practice of stopping, questioning, and documenting individuals when no offense has occurred, which disproportionately targets Black and Indigenous people.

Performative Allyship

• a superficial display of support for marginalized groups where an individual’s words or gestures do not match their actual actions. Driven by a desire for social status or public recognition, it focuses on appearances rather than the hard work needed to dismantle systemic inequality.

• surface level actions - like on social media

• those with privilege profess support - helps to distance themselves from scrutiny.

• Can be trying to protect a brand

• Maintains status quo of leadership and power. Many in the organization may want to enact change but fear repercussions from leadership.

Segregation

the physical or social separation of individuals or groups, typically based on race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status

Why African History Matters

• Challenging Stereotypes: Counters Eurocentric myths that Africa was a "dark continent" without history, governance, or civilization before European contact.

• Historical Erasure: The deliberate or systematic omission of African achievements from global history textbooks to justify colonialism and transatlantic enslavement.

Contributions of Major Civilizations

• Mali: One of the wealthiest empires in history; home to the university city of Timbuktu, a global hub for Islamic trade, science, and literature under rulers like Mansa Musa.

• Songhai: Succeeded Mali; featured highly centralized government structures, standardized weights/measures, and thriving trade routes across the Sahara.

• Ghana: Known as the "Land of Gold"; controlled the trans-Saharan gold-for-salt trade using advanced military strategy and taxation.

• Kush: Located south of Egypt (Nubia); famously conquered and ruled Egypt as the 25th Dynasty ("Black Pharaohs") and excelled in ironworking.

• Axum (Aksum): A powerful maritime trading empire in modern-day Ethiopia; developed its own script (Ge'ez) and was one of the first empires in the world to adopt Christianity.

Breaking barriers