• About
    • What We Do
    • Membership
    • Our Advocacy
    • Newsletter
    • Donate
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Plans and Reports
    • Sponsors
  • Events & Activities
    • Heritage BC Conference 2023
    • BC Heritage Awards
    • Heritage Week 2023
    • Dates to Know
  • Learning Centre
    • Heritage 101
    • Advocacy
    • Accessibility for Historic Places
    • Climate & Sustainability
    • Heritage Place Conservation
    • Heritage Policy & Legislation
    • Homeowners
    • Intangible Cultural Heritage
    • Non-For-Profit Organizations
    • Reconciliation
    • Webinars On-Demand
  • Cultural Maps
    • Mapping Heritage
    • Submerged Heritage Resources
    • Columbia Basin Region Heritage Places
    • Francophone Historic Places Map
    • Chinese Canadian Historic Places Map
    • Japanese Canadian Historic Places
    • South Asian Canadian Map
    • War Monuments and Memorials Map
  • Funding
    • Heritage Legacy Fund
    • Government Funded Grants
    • Climate Disaster Response Fund
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Additional Funding Resources
    • Grant Writing Webinar
  • News
  • Professional Development
    • Educational Opportunities
    • Job Hunting Resources
    • Submit a Job
    • Job Board
    • Annual Conference
    • Professional Organizations
  • Contact
  • Membership
  • Donate
  • Newsletter
Heritage BC
Membership Donate Newsletter
  • About

    About

    • What We Do
    • Membership
    • Our Advocacy
    • Newsletter
    • Donate
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Plans and Reports
    • Sponsors
  • Events & Activities

    Events & Activities

    • Heritage BC Conference 2023
    • BC Heritage Awards
    • Heritage Week 2023
    • Dates to Know
  • Learning Centre

    Learning Centre

    • Heritage 101
    • Advocacy
    • Accessibility for Historic Places
    • Climate & Sustainability
    • Heritage Place Conservation
    • Heritage Policy & Legislation
    • Homeowners
    • Intangible Cultural Heritage
    • Non-For-Profit Organizations
    • Reconciliation
    • Webinars On-Demand
  • Cultural Maps

    Cultural Maps

    • Mapping Heritage
    • Submerged Heritage Resources
    • Columbia Basin Region Heritage Places
    • Francophone Historic Places Map
    • Chinese Canadian Historic Places Map
    • Japanese Canadian Historic Places
    • South Asian Canadian Map
    • War Monuments and Memorials Map
  • Funding

    Funding

    • Heritage Legacy Fund
    • Government Funded Grants
    • Climate Disaster Response Fund
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Additional Funding Resources
    • Grant Writing Webinar
  • News
  • Professional Development

    Professional Development

    • Educational Opportunities
    • Job Hunting Resources
    • Submit a Job
    • Job Board
    • Annual Conference
    • Professional Organizations
  • Contact
  • Heritage 101
    • Heritage Quick Studies
    • Definitions and Heritage FAQs
    • Organizations to Know
  • Advocacy
    • A Guide to Making a Case for Heritage
    • Election Resources
    • Reports : Heritage Conservation in BC
    • State of Heritage: Provincial Roundtables
    • Heritage Week
  • Accessibility for Historic Places
  • Climate & Sustainability
    • Building Resilience and Sustainability
    • Climate Adaptation : Making A Case Resource Guide
    • Climate Adaptation: Framework and Implementation
    • Seismic Risk & British Columbia’s Historic Streetscapes
  • Heritage Place Conservation
    • Heritage Conservation Tools: Resource Guides
      • Community Heritage Commissions
      • Community Heritage Register
      • Heritage Conservation Areas
      • Heritage Designation
      • Heritage Revitalization Agreements
    • Conservation in BC : Reports and Factsheets
    • Heritage Real Estate
      • Insuring Heritage Properties
    • Publications on Heritage Place Conservation Practices
  • Heritage Policy & Legislation
    • Heritage Legislation in BC
    • Local Government: Library of Source Documents
    • Heritage Conservation Tools: Resource Guides
  • Homeowners
    • Building Code, Heritage Standards & Laws
    • Heritage Designation
    • Heritage Professionals
    • Energy Improvements & Sustainability
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Insurance
    • Materials, Construction & Design
    • Heritage Building Maintenance
    • Safety & Hazardous Materials
  • Intangible Cultural Heritage
    • Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Resource Guide
    • ICH: Creating a Community-Based Inventory
  • Non-For-Profit Organizations
    • Organizational Capacity Building
    • Heritage Tourism
    • A Compendium of Tips and Information for Governance, Management and NFP Operations
  • Reconciliation
    • Indigenous Cultural Heritage
    • Setting the Bar: A Reconciliation Guide for Heritage
      • 1. Heritage and Reconciliation Pledge
      • 2. Acknowledging Land and People
      • 3. Celebrating Days of Recognition and Commemoration
      • 4. With a Commitment to Learn
      • 5. Committing to Strategic Organizational Diversity
      • 6. Mission-Making Room for Reconciliation
      • 7. Possession, Interpretation, Repatriation and Cultural Care
      • 8. Shared Decision Making
      • 9. Statements of Significance and other heritage planning documents
      • 10. Heritage Conservation Tools, Local Government Act
    • Racism: Do Not Let the Forgetting Prevail
      • Erasure 2.0: Gatekeepers
      • Why should we remember?  The legacy of remembrance
      • Racism is like an addiction
      • Black Lives Do Matter
      • The Powerful Position of Learning
      • Beyond Acknowledgement to Diversity and Inclusion
      • Erasure: A Statement on Racism, Inclusivity and Equity
      • Taking Action: resources for diversity and inclusion
  • Webinars On-Demand
  • Learning Centre
  • Reconciliation
  • Racism: Do Not Let the Forgetting Prevail

Racism is like an addiction

From a very young age, people are inundated with racist ideas, racist beliefs, and racist assumptions. These people grow up with these ideas buried in their unconscious and conscious mind.

When these people interact with other people from different cultural backgrounds, different ethnicities, it is very difficult for those racist ideas not to come alive. Their racist ideas come flooding to their conscious minds, making them react in racist ways that are so detrimental for the groups receiving the actions.

As with any addiction, the first thing to do is to recognize that there is an addiction problem and then proceed to find solutions for the addiction to go away. We need to follow this same process when dealing with racism. We need to recognize that there is a problem and them we need to work to find solutions.

Silvia Mangue Alene
President, BC Black History Awareness Society
Founder, Kulea Culture Society

BC Black History Awareness Society celebrates the achievements of Black people in British Columbia by creating an awareness of the history of Blacks in B.C., stimulating interest in the contributions of persons of African ancestry to B.C. and Canada today, and celebrating historical and current achievements in the arts, education, government, sports, science etc. (Learn more)

Kulea Culture Society’s purpose is the raise awareness about and to reduce ethno-racial discrimination by engaging respect for equity, diversity and inclusion through education, information, consultation, programs, conferences, cross-cultural exchanges and research. (Learn more)

(Return to Racism: Do Not let the Forgetting Prevail)


Do Not Let the Forgetting Prevail

“Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” — Martin Luther King, 1963

Visit these websites to support and learn more about the history and heritage of BC and Canada’s Black community:

  • Places of Interest Guide, compiled by the BC Black History Awareness Society (Link)
  • Blacks in BC’s History, a bibliography published by the BC Black History Awareness Society (link)
  • Black Strathcona: a website highlighting the East Side neighbourhood of Strathcona and featuring 10 videos (link)
  • Places That Matter: Hogan’s Alley (Vancouver Heritage Foundation, link)
  • Guided tour (video) of Black Strathcona hosted by Kor Kase, Co-Founder of Afro Van Connect (link) (Afro Van Connect link)
  • Roots of black history run deep on Vancouver Island (Times Colonist, link)
  • Black History in Canada, published by The Canadian Encyclopedia (link)
  • Secret Victoria: Rush to Freedom, a Victoria-based documentary exploring the important role of black pioneers in B.C.’s history. (link)
  • Hogan’s Alley Society (link), building “the capacity of racialized and marginalized communities to participate in city building.”
  • Nanaimo African Heritage Society (link)
  • African Descent Society and African Descent Festival (link)

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” – Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr.

 

This is not an exhaustive list of resources. If you know of other resources, please share them with us, so that we may share them with the heritage community.

Setting the Bar | Governor's Awards 2022 Recipient
Join Heritage Week 2023
NEW! Homeowner Resources

Support Us

Membership Donate
Heritage BC

604-417-7243

PO Box 846
Ladysmith, BC
V9G 1A6

Connect with Us

© 2023 Heritage BC.
Website by SplitMango

As an organization of provincial scope, Heritage BC recognizes that its members, and the local history and heritage they seek to preserve, occupy the lands and territories of B.C.’s Indigenous peoples. Heritage BC asks its members and everyone working in the heritage sector to reflect on the places where they reside and work, and to respect the diversity of cultures and experiences that form the richness of our provincial heritage.