It’s that thing that we all hate talking about. That thing that we all pretend to be oblivious about from time to time. The elephant in the room. Race. It will always be a touchy subject regardless of whichever angle you approach it from. Nonetheless, there is always something new we can learn about race. The Globe and Mail’s new podcast series can help us.
Colour Code: A Podcast about Race in Canada is hosted by Denise Balkissoon and Hannah Sung. Balkissoon is a writer and editor, whilst Sung is a video editor. They both work for the Globe and Mail. The podcast series is meant to shed light on issues regarding race in Canada. I’ve already listened to the first episode and was very excited about it before it was released. The promos and snippets kept me in suspense. The podcast series does a great job in discussing race in Canada from different perspectives. The first episode is called Race Card and it touches on Indian Status and what it’s all about. You don’t have to know a whole lot about indigenous communities in Canada to acknowledge the discrimination they have faced and continue to face. Although I already know a fair bit about Indigenous people in Canada I still learned something from this podcast. It was a real eye-opener for me. I can only imagine what it would do for someone that knows nothing about this topic.
Race is something that we tend to ignore quite a bit. I’m sure we’ve all heard that one person say ‘I don’t see race’ or ‘we’re all the same race’ before. This is absolute nonsense. Racism is very subtle in Canada and you have to keep your eyes and ears open to spot it out. I can honestly argue about race all day but it doesn’t really get me anywhere. A lot of the time, people that are oblivious about race choose to be because they are ignorant or because they have not experienced racism at all. This is a reason why this podcast series is so important. People can listen to it and develop and understanding about race in this country. It can open up the minds of bigots and slap racists in the face at the same time.
The podcast series can also help students at Laurier Brantford understand race. If you didn’t know, there have been numerous incidents involving race on this campus. A lot of them have gone, and continue to go unnoticed. It isn’t fair that ignorant students feel it is okay to pick on others because of their race. This podcast series is for them too. It can give us all a better understanding of race on campus and the part we all play. If you haven’t listened to it already, I highly recommend it. Log on to the Globe and Mail’s website and listen today.
