Black is me

Black is me!
Canadians are funny people. But I never thought my fellow Canadians would go so gaggle loose over the election of an American president.

Last summer I wrote about Obama. I wanted to take him fishing. Still do. What I didn’t know then was that he was going to be known as the first black American president. That phrase has been been bugging me. Like, isn’t he half white? Was George Bush known as the 43rd white president? Why is Barack more black than he is white? Am I the only one concerned about these identifiers?

I have many friends who are half of this and half of that. I can’t say there is a first black among them, nor is there a first Haida, first Irish or first Caucasian. We are friends who count amongst ourselves many cultures with diverse histories. But it is of particular focus amongst the disappearing white majority in the United States of America. There are predictions of change. There is a sense of hope. But is it false perhaps a momentary lapse in traditional bigotry fuelled by the need to survive tough times?

Most of this talk of a moment in history comes from the media, who are of course all white. Every last face covering the election from the Canadian news media are white folk. Of course they are going to notice and point out the color of the new president’s face. He is the “other”, the unknown man with the name that no one in the post 9/11 era would have been voting for. He is Muslim. He is also very well educated and has risen to become an independently wealthy man. He is not the kind of black man our Canadian journalists are known to report on. In fact if you watch the CBC the only “black” story they broadcast deals with poverty and crime. Or it is about anything O.J. So this is a major first for our national color conscious media.

Perhaps the national media should focus their attention on hiring more black people. Nope Canadian cultural institutions have failed to reflect the reality of the black experience in Canada. Who knows the story of black Porters made a dozen years ago by Selwyn Jacob? Who saw Why Shoot The teacher by Fil Fraser? Who knows about Sylvia Swain’s film about Oscar Peterson? Nobody called them black filmmakers but that is what they are. And their films are largely forgotten. Should they have insisted on being known as black filmmakers?

Canada is a funny place. When I worked at the CBC they did not want me to spend all of my time pitching Native stories, “Diversify” they would say. Yet when it came to access issues, or getting the right guest, or advising the anchor on key interviews, the “Native expert” was called upon. I was the first Native journalist to work on a network prime-time program as a producer. Yes, I called myself a Native journalist. What else could I have done?

Today there is an ongoing debate among indigenous filmmakers we find very intriguing. The question: Am I an indigenous filmmaker? DO I identify as an aboriginal filmmaker? This is a question we asked in our TV series, Storytellers in Motion. I have found that indigenous youth are more curious about identity. Just as many refer to themselves as aboriginal filmmakers as those who don’t. There are those who do not want to be ghettoized and are still passionate about aboriginal issues. Some point out that while it is only for funding purposes they identify as such. Well now, aboriginal funds have become diluted, just as much as some of the blood. Suddenly we are following trends we see down south. The sudden Cherokee connection in Canada becomes the refrain, “Oh, my grandmother was Metis.
The question of race can get nasty, personal, be divisive and bullish. But that is the reality we live with on a day to basis, especially those of us who are trying to create a post colonial society. In Canada we can see the shift in demographics more clearly on an average Vancouver day. The Asian population is nearly toppling the WASP population. You see it more prevalent in the published high school graduation pictures each summer and in the traffic congestion at malls at Christmas time.

So our society looks more pluralistic then it is. Open the daily newspapers and watch the local and national TV media. You wouldn’t know it, but society is changing fast. Like two years ago Obama was out of sight and out of mind. Two years from now when the Olympics come to town, suddenly Vancouver will be color blind. They will forget about their adolescent ridicule of the Chinese people’s opening ceremonies last spring. They will forget about Frank Paul. They will forget about the Picton farm. They will close their eyes when they drive past Oppenheimer park on their way to Whistler. For my part I will be somewhere, hopefully sipping on a tropical martini and reading the daily press. Canadians are funny indeed. I am Canadian where once I was known as a black savage. Whoa. Black is me.