We Shall Overcome
I remember hearing the static of the CBC Northern Quebec Shortwave radio those few words which opened my mind, a breath of fresh air, a notion of peace swept over me, validating what I felt the winter before having suffered bruises and a black eye and chipped tooth for defending Apex Hill's first black children, the Boatswains, Sheila and her younger sister. "We Shall Overcome" like the church hymn it all seemed to make sense and I understood what it meant to stand up for the rights of others and most of all for what you believe.
A lot of the children in Apex Hill were led by the white kids of school teachers and a lot of them knew from watching movies that black people were not equal. However up until that time all they had seen was Lionel the janitor, never had they had black children.
It was like electricity in the air, the first recess after the Boatswains first came to the school, you could see the gang of Inuk kids and their little white bully leader. First it began with rocks being thrown close to the girls, then like some old KKK movie, the children started running around and knocking the Boatswain girls down.
In the afternoon recess it continued and I couldn't help but think something was deeply wrong with this. After all the Boatswains hadn't done anything wrong, they were too new to school to have done anything.
The night I pondered over this and thought, I have to do something, someone needs to say something. I approached my second grade teacher but all she said was this is how black people are usually treated down south and to mind my own business it'll settle down of its own accord.
By this time a lot of kids had assembled at morning recess to watch and see if the Boatswains had returned, and they were literally thrown out by their teachers into the lions den. A lot of more Inuit kids started to join in the cat calls, "nigger go home" or "nigger go back to where you came from" or "you don't belong here".
In the afternoon the violent attacks on the Boatswains returned, I guess the kids had run out of insults to yell and I walked over and asked the other kids to stop. What have they done to you? I asked. Who are you to beat them up for no good reason?
Instead all I got in return was a beating. I got a bloody nose and the wind knocked out of me and they turned on the Boatswains. I could not stand for that in my heart and even though I knew it would hurt more I stood in front and stopped the boys from beating up the Boatswains. By this time it had caused a commotion and the principal came out and forced everyone apart and the Boatswain's dad was called down and he took the girls home.
I ended up getting fifteen straps with the horrible rubber ruler for intervening.
"We Shall Overcome" always makes me shudder sometimes, a pang in the pit of my stomach remembering the horrible racism in Apex Hill, Iqaluit's little suburb.
It is interesting that at that time in 1968, Frobisher Bay was partitioned, white people lived on one side of the fence and Inuit on the other. Inuit were not allowed on the white side which had restaurants, the army barracks and airport unless they had a pass or were a guest of white people.
There was a rickety International Harvestor red bus that served as rudimentary public transport and when whites rode on it Inuit had to ride in the back.
The next day at school I reminded those kids who beat me that we were no different than the blacks and that we were treated just like blacks by the white and if anything we should welcome the Boatswains.
After this the girls were no longer targeted by the gang of kids, except for the odd time when the white bully would try and beat up Sharon but she started to hit back knowing I was there to help if things got bad.
It was that summer when with a couple of other kids in blatant violation of the rules that I walked past the fence with my friends and we sang "we shall overcome" as we walked amongst the Butler type buildings where only whites lived. You should have seen the white ladies come out and yell "you shouldn't sing that" or "you should know your place" or "only whites allowed here you know that"....
We had the Canadian Forces jeep come to screaming halt in front of us to stop us from walking and we just walked around it and kept singing, it seems we had caught the white people off guard.
Word got around that these few Inuit were singing this song, and the fence came down as people on the base started to question whether the rules were really fair and all. I think that many whites in Frobisher Bay heard the rickety sound of the crackling short wave radio later when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I have a dream".
It is sad though that the west has not gone that far ahead, sure we got rid of segregation, but the artificial segregation, the polite attempt to sound politically correct, however does not hide the tremendous akwardness some white people display when people of any color behave as if they too were equal. I have seen it many a time.
I think though that the west has come a long way since 1968, and to this day I can still feel the bump on my head from when I stood up against the racism, the same racism that killed my hero Martin Luther King Jr. Do you have a dream, have you overcome?
A lot of the children in Apex Hill were led by the white kids of school teachers and a lot of them knew from watching movies that black people were not equal. However up until that time all they had seen was Lionel the janitor, never had they had black children.
It was like electricity in the air, the first recess after the Boatswains first came to the school, you could see the gang of Inuk kids and their little white bully leader. First it began with rocks being thrown close to the girls, then like some old KKK movie, the children started running around and knocking the Boatswain girls down.
In the afternoon recess it continued and I couldn't help but think something was deeply wrong with this. After all the Boatswains hadn't done anything wrong, they were too new to school to have done anything.
The night I pondered over this and thought, I have to do something, someone needs to say something. I approached my second grade teacher but all she said was this is how black people are usually treated down south and to mind my own business it'll settle down of its own accord.
By this time a lot of kids had assembled at morning recess to watch and see if the Boatswains had returned, and they were literally thrown out by their teachers into the lions den. A lot of more Inuit kids started to join in the cat calls, "nigger go home" or "nigger go back to where you came from" or "you don't belong here".
In the afternoon the violent attacks on the Boatswains returned, I guess the kids had run out of insults to yell and I walked over and asked the other kids to stop. What have they done to you? I asked. Who are you to beat them up for no good reason?
Instead all I got in return was a beating. I got a bloody nose and the wind knocked out of me and they turned on the Boatswains. I could not stand for that in my heart and even though I knew it would hurt more I stood in front and stopped the boys from beating up the Boatswains. By this time it had caused a commotion and the principal came out and forced everyone apart and the Boatswain's dad was called down and he took the girls home.
I ended up getting fifteen straps with the horrible rubber ruler for intervening.
"We Shall Overcome" always makes me shudder sometimes, a pang in the pit of my stomach remembering the horrible racism in Apex Hill, Iqaluit's little suburb.
It is interesting that at that time in 1968, Frobisher Bay was partitioned, white people lived on one side of the fence and Inuit on the other. Inuit were not allowed on the white side which had restaurants, the army barracks and airport unless they had a pass or were a guest of white people.
There was a rickety International Harvestor red bus that served as rudimentary public transport and when whites rode on it Inuit had to ride in the back.
The next day at school I reminded those kids who beat me that we were no different than the blacks and that we were treated just like blacks by the white and if anything we should welcome the Boatswains.
After this the girls were no longer targeted by the gang of kids, except for the odd time when the white bully would try and beat up Sharon but she started to hit back knowing I was there to help if things got bad.
It was that summer when with a couple of other kids in blatant violation of the rules that I walked past the fence with my friends and we sang "we shall overcome" as we walked amongst the Butler type buildings where only whites lived. You should have seen the white ladies come out and yell "you shouldn't sing that" or "you should know your place" or "only whites allowed here you know that"....
We had the Canadian Forces jeep come to screaming halt in front of us to stop us from walking and we just walked around it and kept singing, it seems we had caught the white people off guard.
Word got around that these few Inuit were singing this song, and the fence came down as people on the base started to question whether the rules were really fair and all. I think that many whites in Frobisher Bay heard the rickety sound of the crackling short wave radio later when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I have a dream".
It is sad though that the west has not gone that far ahead, sure we got rid of segregation, but the artificial segregation, the polite attempt to sound politically correct, however does not hide the tremendous akwardness some white people display when people of any color behave as if they too were equal. I have seen it many a time.
I think though that the west has come a long way since 1968, and to this day I can still feel the bump on my head from when I stood up against the racism, the same racism that killed my hero Martin Luther King Jr. Do you have a dream, have you overcome?
posted by joshie mitsima at
10:53 p.m.
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