Afrocentrism and segregation
Creating a school focused on one race is a bad idea
Rachel Coombs
In Toronto, an “Afrocentric” school has been suggested to rectify the low graduation rates among black high school students. While this decision may hold potential for rectifying the problem, I do not believe that it is the right solution. Simply put, it is segregation.
Afrocentricity is a worldview that emphasizes the importance of African peoples in culture, philosophy and history. Robert Todd Carroll, founder of the online Skeptic’s Dictionary, said that the goal of Afrocentrism is to encourage black nationalism and ethnic pride “as a psychological weapon against the destructive and debilitating effects of universal racism.”
Though Afrocentrism is an ideology that could potentially give confidence and pride to African-Canadians, a school environment that focuses only on one particular ideology to the exclusion of others might serve to reinforce barriers between ethnicities, rather than help to remove them.
To separate one race from another is segregation. Historical examples of the dangers of segregation can be found in the South Africa apartheid, the Jim Crow laws of the southern United States, and the Nuremberg laws in Nazi Germany. Each of these attempts at segregation crashed and burned for good reason.
Canada’s largest city is Toronto, and the general population is made up of 49 per cent “visible minorities.” This is a large number of people who came together to define the term “multicultural.”
Our government is based around democracy, our immigration laws allow people of all races and religions to enter, live and practice their beliefs here, and our school system allows us to work alongside others of different beliefs and values.
Because I grew up in Canada, I feel that I have a great appreciation for other cultures that differ from my own, simply from exposure to the cultural mosaic that exists here. Wouldn’t it be hypocritical to identify Canada as a cultural mosaic and then divide everyone into different corners?
Exposure to other races and nationalities gives people a better understanding of ideas different from their own. Doesn’t understanding produce growth and break down barriers? And doesn’t awareness defeat ignorance? I think so, and although ignorance is simply easier, it is not always bliss.
Martin Luther King fought to break down the barriers that had been put in place to keep races separate. He stood up for equality and acceptance; he wanted people to move forward with their thinking. By creating a school in Toronto that focuses on the notion of racially intrinsic qualities, the direction suggested here is not forward but backward.
I attended a Christian school and, in doing so, I was segregated from non-believers. The books we read were selected to benefit the beliefs of our religion, and the songs we sang were also focused on our religion. This school had the benefits that a close-knit community would, but everything that I learned had a slant to it. This slant was to learn to internalize what the school stood for, which, since it was specifically Christian, included education about other religions being wrong.
I am not trying to suggest that an Afrocentric school will preach prejudices against other races and beliefs, but it is important to recognize that young minds are easily molded and must be handled with care since any bias at all can have an enormous effect on both individuals and society.
Though it might sound dramatic to suggest that one Afrocentric school will change the very foundations of Canadian multiculturalism, it is nonetheless a slippery slope that we’re stepping out onto, and people should be wary. It may start with one policy and then continue with many more.
A better solution would be to include more education about different cultures and races into the regular school system, because it is our system, meaning everyone who lives here in Canada.
