Water cooler exercises

There are times in our life where we become acutely aware of how we are perceived.

A mate of mine realized this when he was travelling through India over a decade ago. Originally he had been birthed in Karachi, Pakistan, but had spent 20+ years in Canada (starting from when he was a child). As such, he had grown up in Canadian culture, with Canadian values and a Canadian perspective. This perspective, then, included an innate belief that regardless of race, colour, creed (or another identifier) we are all equal under the law. Unfortunately, this sentiment was not shared by the Indian authorities. As tensions were rising between the old rivals of Pakistan and India, my mate quickly found himself in an Indian jail. According to Indian governmnent perspective he was Pakistan, regardless of his lack of affiliation with his place of birth. Even as he languished in the gritty jails of New Delhi, he believed he would be "rescued" as a Canadian. However, he found that it took days -- and a lot of convincing by two causasian travelling mates -- to convince the Canadian and then the Indian authorities that he was not a terrorist.

What my mate experienced was the disparate gap between perception and stereotypes. His experience left him stunned and hurt (as it should). He later became a legal professional.

The sad fact is our heuristics can hurt (rather than help) in how we deal with people. This scenario has never been more evident than how we are currently dealing with people of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent (particularly people whose dress self-identifies them as an alternative religion than Judao-Christian culture).

As such, I have a task for all you little social justice advocates. It's a simple task -- one that will not require legal action, or public display. Yet, the action is an essential component in breaking down the barriers that stand between us, our perceptions, and our steretypes.

The task is this: look within and acknowledge the stereotypes that YOU live by. Not the expectations you have of yourself based on your desires...but rather the expectations and beliefs you hold of yourself based on history and culture.

The fact is that in order to break down the limiting (and often hurtful) heuristics that dominate our culture and attitudes today, we need to begin challenging them -- and what better place to begin than within.

Since stereotypes are learned attitudes that have significant impact on our behavior -- learned attitudes that we develop from a variety of sources including television, books, music, our peers, families, etc. -- we need to acknowledge these generalizations we hold. NOTE: These generalizations can be positive or negative, but both can have negative consequences for the person or people being stereotyped.

The fact is, whenever we stereotype someone, we are ignoring them as an individual and lumping the whole group together as “they are all like that.” Stereotypes can be very difficult to change. Stereotypes happen when we judge people from our own frame of reference or our own cultural expectations about how people should look, behave, talk, etc. This can cause misunderstandings (on both sides) and misjudgments.

So here is your task for today: during a quiet moment (perhaps when you get that second or third cup of coffee) take a moment and acknowledge: what beliefs did I learn about myself based on television? Books? Music? Art? Now, go a little deeper and acknowledge what lessons you learned about yourself based on school curriculum (or lack thereof). Now pick a person in your place of work and do the same exercise. Don't worry about censoring your thoughts -- no one will know what comes up...this is YOUR exercise, your thoughts, your attempt to correct a lifetime of preconceptions.

And that's it.

The fact is, if we are ever to overcome stereotypes, we must first acknowledge that we are impacted by them -- both externally and internally. And since I cannot change the external it's time for all of us to take internal responsibility.

NOTE: I would love to know the results of this exercise. If you feel comfortable, drop me a line and let me know: what did you learn? Were there any shocking revelations? And, most importantly, did you see the heuristics that limit yourself and others?

Art at Resistence; Resistence as Art -- the 2006 Toronto Arcfest: Social Justice in Art

As a blogger who tries to keep abreast of socially just issues, I would be remiss if I didn't start off the week with a little plug for Arcfest -- Toronto's Social Justice Arts Festival.

The show runs from Oct. 22 to Oct. 29 and features over 100 artists in 25 events exploring local social justice issues. The venues are in Queen West, Parkdale, and other spots across Toronto; in true social justice fashion, the festival includes a diverse program of seasoned and emerging artists, panel discussions, speakers, workshops, and artist-community collaborations.

The full schedule for the event can be found at: http://www.arcfest.org/2006/schedule/date

While the schedule does not list events for Monday Oct. 23 (considered Black Monday by theatre folk) there are events all week. For example, tomorrow (Tues. Oct. 24) check out:

1) Resistance as Art; 6pm; Lennox Contemporary Gallery; Free; Through painting, sculpture, book arts, and other media, this exhibition examines legacies of colonization, issues of land rights, prison and incarceration, and classism.

2) Art as Resistance; 7:30pm; SPIN Gallery; By donation; Artists look at issues related to race, gender, and sexuality in this multi media exhibition.

3) Festival Opening; 7pm | SPIN Gallery | Suggested donation: $10; The festival kicks off with a key note address by Drew Hayden Taylor followed by a spoken word performance by The Fusilli project and dancehall rock by d'bi.young and the dubbin.revolushun.gangstars.

By the end of the week check out the workshops on offer. The FREE workshops include:
1) Forum Theatre Workshop; Saturday October 28th 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm; Parkdale Library Downstairs, 1303 Queen St West. Forum theatre is a form of community based education that is used for community building, conflict resolution and a way for a community to identify and examine social problems of importance.
2) Roots, Culture and Beats: Breakdancing For All; Sunday, Oct. 29th 2:00 pm - 4:00pm; Parkdale Library Downstairs, 1303 Queen St West. Callin’ all hip-hop loving, street-dance groupies, closeted b-girls and b-boys and true funk-adoring fans – old school and young – for a two hour workshop that explores the moves, beats, art and culture of breakdancing.
3) The Right Spin: The Art, Politics and Business of Deejaying in the City;
Sunday, October 29th 1:00 pm - 3:00pm; Queen West Arts Centre, 100a Ossington Ave (2 blocks north of Queen). Music transcends language and a good dj does more than just spin to the crowd. ARCfest presents a two-hour deejaying workshop for the politically savvy.
4)Responding: A Performance Art Workshop Exploring Issues Faced by Refugees; Saturday, October 28, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm; Parkdale Library Downstairs, 1303 Queen St West. Responding is a workshop exploring refugee issues through performance art.

Sign up go to:
http://www.arcfest.org/2006/workshops