{"id":73678,"date":"2021-02-16T13:00:26","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T18:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=73678"},"modified":"2025-10-15T10:53:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:53:29","slug":"black-history-month-anti-racism-initiatives","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/black-history-month-anti-racism-initiatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Black History Month: Carleton Focuses on Anti-Racism Initiatives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Black History Month: Carleton Focuses on Anti-Racism Initiatives\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Every February, Black History Month<\/a> honours the legacy of Black Canadians and their communities. The theme this year is \u201cThe Future Is Now\u201d \u2014 an opportunity to celebrate the transformative work taking place across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Carleton University, where an ambitious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan was recently approved<\/a>, an array of programs and courses are incorporating new initiatives, lessons and guest speakers focused on Black history and anti-racism efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Martin
Martin Luther King III<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur curriculums need to be broader so that every ethnic group is lifted up, and the value of every ethnic group is designated so that we have mutual respect for everyone,\u201d Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, said during his speech at Carleton\u2019s SOAR Leadership Conference<\/a>, which kicked off Black History Month on Jan. 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe job of colleges and universities is to set the tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRacial intolerance is at an all-time high and I really do believe that young people are determined to address this issue and rid our society of it,\u201d King added.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cMy father believed in education, not merely as a lever for advancement, but more importantly, as a tool for increasing understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Carleton\u2019s flagship Journalism program is one of the areas where change is underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Journalism school has established a Permanent Working Group on Anti-Racism and Inclusion<\/a> committed to \u201celiminating racism against racialized and Indigenous people, as well as inequities or other barriers based on ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender expression, sexual orientation or ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope our program\u2019s commitment to anti-racism and anti-oppression practices will benefit all of our students while they are here and that it will foster a wider culture of equity and inclusion in newsrooms of the future,\u201d says the Permanent Working Group on Anti-Racism and Inclusion\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Adrian
Adrian Harewood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To help build these newsrooms, the Journalism program launched a mentorship program for two Indigenous and racialized students<\/a> in partnership with the Globe and Ma<\/em>il and has started a new course \u2014 Journalism, Race and Diversity<\/a> \u2014 taught by CBC News Ottawa\u2019s Adrian Harewood<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis will be a little bit like a civics course: it provides students with the analytical tools to ask better questions,\u201d says Harewood.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cUnderstanding race equips students to look at the world from multiple perspectives and to challenge mainstream frames of reference. It\u2019s a tool that enables a journalist to be disruptive \u2014 to go out into the world and tell stories with breadth, depth and perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Journalism school is also hiring for the Carty Chair, Diversity and Inclusion Studies<\/a>. The chosen professor will develop and teach courses and lead a program of research on journalism, diversity and inclusion that will engage journalism students and the journalism industry at large.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Multicultural<\/figure>\n\n\n

A Deep Dive into Systemic Racism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Carleton\u2019s Institute of African Studies<\/a> engages in important work throughout the year, such as academic exchanges with universities in African countries<\/a> through the Queen Elizabeth Scholars Program, and courses like African Social and Political Thought, taught this term by visiting professor Samuel Oloruntoba<\/a> to help students understand \u201cthe development aspirations of Africans amidst competing social and political thought from outside the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Prof.
Prof. Samuel Oloruntoba<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other courses at Carleton that resonate this month include a new Blackness and anti-racism seminar<\/a> in the Human Rights and Social Justice<\/a> program.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen we say systemic racism, we need to ask what these systems are,\u201d says Instructor Kisha McPherson.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to go to school and to the doctor. Someone could be in conflict with the law. If you drive a car, you can get pulled over. We have to interface with all of these systems on a day-to-day basis. And when racism exists in the systems, we have no choice but to engage with it. This course tackles racism in three major systems: education, health and criminal justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kisha
Kisha McPherson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The School of Social Work<\/a> is offering a course \u2014 Racialization and Social Work \u2014 that explores racism and its consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also an elective graduate course in Social Work, Afrocentric Social Work, which will be taught in the spring by Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard<\/a>. The class \u201cprovides students with an opportunity to engage in critical dialogue, reflection and action about historical and contemporary experiences of African Canadians and Africans in the diaspora.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond this formal curriculum, several classes have invited special guest speakers to shine a spotlight on subjects related to Black History Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Senator
Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Lisa Mills brought in two local activists from the 613-819 Black Hub<\/a> to speak to her Public Affairs and Political Management<\/a> class during a week focused on the Black Lives Matter movement and policing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for her Social and Political Movements class, Instructor Sheila Grantham invited Darrell Maxwell \u2014 her grandfather\u2019s second cousin \u2014 to talk about his experiences 50 years ago as a trailblazing Black hockey player<\/a> in the Maritimes.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cBlack peoples from Nova Scotia, like my family, have been residing in the province for longer than most people think,\u201d says Grantham.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThey are Nova Scotian, despite many people\u2019s assumptions, and they have helped to shape the landscape of the Maritimes through a variety of fields, despite racism and a history of segregation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Manal<\/figure>\n\n\n

Supporting Racialized Students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Coming up on Feb. 22, the Faculty of Public Affairs<\/a> hosts a conversation with Celina Caesar-Chavannes<\/a>, a former MP and parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and author of the new book Can You Hear Me Now? How I Found My Voice and Learned to Live with Passion and Purpose<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on Feb. 27, the Afro-Caribbean Mentorship Program<\/a> (ACMP) \u2014 an initiative dedicated to supporting Afro-Caribbean and racialized students in Ottawa \u2014 is holding its third annual Black History Month event<\/a>, co-hosted by ACMP founder Warren Clarke<\/a>, a PhD candidate in Sociology at Carleton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"PhD
PhD Candidate Warren Clarke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, other supports and services for students continue year-round, such as sessions at Health and Counselling Services with Manal Haji Egeh who specializes in helping racialized students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And more will be coming soon, including a new research internship<\/a> for Black, Indigenous and racialized undergraduate students in Carleton\u2019s Health Sciences<\/a> Department.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Black<\/figure>\n\n\n
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During Black History Month, Carleton University is celebrating the many achievements and contributions of our Black community members. Visit our Black History Month page<\/a> through the month of February to read new stories about our staff, faculty, students and alumni.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

—
\nMore Stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every February, Black History Month honours the legacy of Black Canadians and their communities. The theme this year is \u201cThe Future Is Now\u201d \u2014 an opportunity to celebrate the transformative work taking place across the country. At Carleton University, where an ambitious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan was recently approved, an array of programs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":73683,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[28,1931],"cu_story_tag":[1930],"class_list":["post-73678","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_type-social-innovation","cu_story_tag-equity-diversity-and-inclusion"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/73678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/73678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98081,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/73678\/revisions\/98081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=73678"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=73678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}