Black or African descent? Who decides? Winnipeggers weigh in
When Antiguan-born Olsen Jarvis was attending the University of Manitoba, he became good friends with people who immigrated directly from Africa.
He started reading about African history and picked up a Malcolm X book where he came across the statement, "There ain't no country called black."
This shifted the trajectory of his life, setting him on a mission to connect to his ancestral roots.
"I have traced my ethnicity back to Ghana, in Africa," said Jarvis, a respiratory therapist.
"And basically, through my many years of research and discussions with friends and family, I have basically come to the understanding that my roots and my family come from Africa."
WATCH | African diaspora views on identity:
The subject of ethnicity has become a hot topic for many Winnipeggers during the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, 2014-24, the explosion of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and increasing Canadian immigration from the Caribbean and Africa.
The crux of the debate is whether individuals in this group refer to themselves as Black people or people of African descent.
"I wonder why our skin colour is the first thing that pops into people's mind when they want to identify a person or refer to a person that is melanated? Why? It's a colour," said Ayodele Odeyemi, CEO of Africanad.
"We are Africanadian. We are Canadians of African descent."
I wonder why our skin colour is the first thing that pops into people's mind when they want to identify a person or refer to a person that is melanated? Why?- Ayodele Odeyemi
People identify on both sides of the debate.
"I primarily identify myself as a Black woman, particularly a mixed race person. A lot of people who are mixed Black and white will, I think, often use the terms biracial," said Niasha McKoy, a Winnipeg hairstylist.
Tracing the word 'Black'
But where did the idea of calling Africans "Blacks" come from? And who did it come from?
In the 1500s the term "race" emerged but it originally only referred to people of the same family or group, or people with shared ancestry. In the 17th century, the term's meaning changed to categorize physical features and skin colour into racial classes.
Historian and author Matthew Jacobson says "whiteness" was originally reserved for people of Anglo-Saxon descent, while everyone else was considered non-white.
Africans were classified as "Black" and put at the bottom of the social hierarchy, which was used to justify slavery of African people. The word black also developed negative connotations.
In her book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, social work researcher and PhD Joy DeGruy outlines the many racial identifiers imposed onto Africans, such as darkies, Negroes, black, coloured, Afro-American and African Americans.
"The whole construct of race is a social-political-economic construct. Scientifically, genetic science has already proven that there's one human race," said Christine Lwanga, a PhD and social work researcher at the University of Manitoba.
"And the differences between people all over the world is very minute — like 99.9 per cent we are the same. So you have skin tone variations, you don't have different races."
The whole construct of race is a social-political-economic construct. Scientifically, genetic science has already proven that there's one human race- Christine Lwanga, PhD, University of Manitoba social work researcher
Forced physical disconnection from one's ancestral roots also causes a disconnection from African identity, Lwanga said. So does growing up being socialized and told you're Black while receiving false messages and imagery that Africa is inferior.
Some Winnipeggers say the term African descent creates a through line to Africa for a deeper connection.
"Well, African descent is the correct acknowledgment, and it is the strongest, most helpful way for us to undo these hundreds if not thousands of years of disconnect that has evolved and emerged in our intellect," said A. Bubba McLean, a Winnipeg entertainer.
Transforming what Black means
There are African nations that proudly embrace the term Black.
"Sudan actually — for those who might not know — its full [Arabic] name is bilād al-sūdān, which translates to 'Land of the Blacks.' So there's a very rich history of Black identity within Sudan," said Reem Elmahi, a student at the University of Manitoba.
Slavery was formally abolished in 1834 in Canada and in 1862 in the U.S.A. However, laws were created to marginalize free people of African descent in Canada as well as the U.S., enshrining segregated schools, discriminatory immigration policies and limited access to jobs, for example.
When the civil rights movement took on these injustices during the late 1960s, young Americans stopped using the term Negro and started using the word Black to refer to themselves as it became associated with youth, militancy, pride and unity.
"To me, that is a political designator. I want to be known as Black. I am proud to be known as Black, and I am proud of my work around Blackness. I love Blackness. That is a political choice and that's really meaningful to me," said Sandy Hudson, the founder of Black Lives Matter Canada.
To me, that is a political designator. I want to be known as Black. I am proud to be known as Black, and I am proud of my work around Blackness. I love Blackness- Sandy Hudson, Black Lives Matter Canada
Though it started in 2013, the Black Lives Matter movement exploded globally in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, continuing the long fight for equal rights for Black people.
"It is my position that for a number of reasons, the experience of enslavement, the experience of racialization, this creation of this idea of Blackness that is imposed from without and also is generated from within, is such a powerful part of my story that I refer to myself as Black," said history Prof. Barrington Walker, associate vice-president of equity, diversity and inclusion at Wilfred Laurier University.
Cradle of humankind
Scientists have repeatedly confirmed that humans originated in Africa. What does that mean for Black people's ancestral roots?
"The truth of the matter is scientifically speaking, we all originated from Africa — either you are melanated or not. We all came from Africa," says Odeyemi.
Phyllis Reid-Jarvis, founder of Ultimate Potentials, a leadership and management company in Winnipeg, identifies with being of African descent and echoes Malcolm-X.
"Let's put it in the context of nationhood. If someone tells me that they are Italian, I quickly can say, 'Oh yeah, they're from Italy,' whether they were born there or that's where their ancestors' roots came from," said Jarvis, who is married to Olsen Jarvis.
"As a people, when we say we are Black, where is this country called Black? Where is the continent that's called Black?"
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
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