dennilfloss
Past Lifer 1957-2014 In Memoriam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=I0lf_f1p3gM&NR=1
I'm a middle-aged white French Canadian and this obviously colours my opinion but I found this a very interesting discussion that exemplifies in part the extent to which the African American experience and its overwhelming portrayal in popular culture and mass media has such an influence on black people growing up in Canada too. Still one cannot help but notice, as the panel points out, that there are definite differences between the two (and in fact multiple) perspectives on what it means and feels to be black in various societies. Once again the importance of role models in popular culture and mass media for young persons (of any culture) is noted.
Without spoiling it too much, they do point out to the fact that there is less of a sense of a monolithic black community here in Canada, mostly due to being only a few % of the population, being more dispersed within & amongst cities and being less militant/politicized & organized with lobby groups etc... They discuss how much Canadian one feels compared to the attachment with their country of origin, even those who were born here. They lament to various degrees the caricatural portrayal of the loud black woman in film and discuss the importance of positive-academic role models like The Cosby parents to show kids that there is more to life than sports, rap and criminality.
The tone of that discussion is very civilized, very Canadian. The panel did not portray a sense of resentment against the white majority like one sees, for example, in discussions that feature Spike Lee, Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. It's more on the Maya Angelou-Bill Cosby-Condoleezza Rice end of the spectrum, probably because of their different formative and current experiences. Plus black slavery was a relatively minor phenomenon in Canada compared to the US, so that probably has an influence on how they perceive the white majority. There is some sense of being different, of alienation but what role it plays seems to vary a lot more with individuals than in the US.
They say that a Canadian is like an American with the battery removed and that this analogy applies also to the Black Canadian vs African American. The black Canadian experience is said to be more akin to blacks living in Europe than to that of African Americans.
Well-worth watching.🙂
I'm a middle-aged white French Canadian and this obviously colours my opinion but I found this a very interesting discussion that exemplifies in part the extent to which the African American experience and its overwhelming portrayal in popular culture and mass media has such an influence on black people growing up in Canada too. Still one cannot help but notice, as the panel points out, that there are definite differences between the two (and in fact multiple) perspectives on what it means and feels to be black in various societies. Once again the importance of role models in popular culture and mass media for young persons (of any culture) is noted.
Without spoiling it too much, they do point out to the fact that there is less of a sense of a monolithic black community here in Canada, mostly due to being only a few % of the population, being more dispersed within & amongst cities and being less militant/politicized & organized with lobby groups etc... They discuss how much Canadian one feels compared to the attachment with their country of origin, even those who were born here. They lament to various degrees the caricatural portrayal of the loud black woman in film and discuss the importance of positive-academic role models like The Cosby parents to show kids that there is more to life than sports, rap and criminality.
The tone of that discussion is very civilized, very Canadian. The panel did not portray a sense of resentment against the white majority like one sees, for example, in discussions that feature Spike Lee, Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. It's more on the Maya Angelou-Bill Cosby-Condoleezza Rice end of the spectrum, probably because of their different formative and current experiences. Plus black slavery was a relatively minor phenomenon in Canada compared to the US, so that probably has an influence on how they perceive the white majority. There is some sense of being different, of alienation but what role it plays seems to vary a lot more with individuals than in the US.
They say that a Canadian is like an American with the battery removed and that this analogy applies also to the Black Canadian vs African American. The black Canadian experience is said to be more akin to blacks living in Europe than to that of African Americans.
Well-worth watching.🙂
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