My significant other and I were watching the documentary Indecently Exposed on television one night several months ago. It was produced by Michael Snook, and it profiled former grade school teacher Jane Elliot and her workshop on racism and prejudice.
The documentary highlighted 22 adult Canadians – aboriginal and Caucasian – in Regina, Sask., who took part in this exercise in racism and discrimination. Elliot divided the people into two groups. One group was called Blue Eyes and the other Brown Eyes. Naturally, the majority of the brown-eyed group was aboriginal and the blue-eyed group was Caucasian. Once the two groups were established, Elliot informed them that the Brown Eyes were superior to the Blue Eyes.
But what transpired after that made me feel very uncomfortable. Elliot treated the blue-eyed group with such disrespect and inferiority. For the majority of the one-hour documentary, she shouted down and berated several people in the blue-eyed group for simply having blue eyes. It got to the point where the Blue Eyes were lowering their heads and obviously feeling shamed. A couple of members of the brown-eyed group began to cry – probably for the same reason I wanted to cry. Witnessing a person or a group of people being treated horribly is all too painful and familiar if you’re different.
The brown-eyed group then described the type of blatant racism they face in their day-to-day lives: from social workers who look down on you; from teachers who single you out and berate you in front of your classmates because you’re different; from employers who are reluctant to hire you; from police officers who pull you over simply because you are different.
But the stories of racism these Brown Eyes recounted were similar to the stories people in my parents’ generation described to me while I was growing up in rural Nova Scotia. I can honestly say that the type of racism I’ve experienced in my lifetime has never been to the degree my parents’ generation encountered or to those Brown Eyes living in Saskatchewan. I’ve never had a teacher in a classroom berate me in front of my classmates. I’ve never been turned down for a job because of my race. And I’ve never been pulled over by a police officer for no apparent reason. But that’s not to say that racism is disappearing in Nova Scotia. Nor am I saying that my experience is typical of that of other visible minorities living in the province today.
I’ve dealt with racism in other ways. For instance, I’ve had my share of battles with editors in mainstream media who erroneously believe that aboriginal journalists should not cover aboriginal news stories because they cannot remain unbiased or fair in their coverage. Aboriginal journalists, such as me, who file news stories for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network prove those editors wrong on a daily basis.
But Elliot’s workshop not only showed the mechanics and effects of racism to the participants, it demonstrated how society itself treats people who are different. My significant other, who is Caucasian, certainly related to Elliot’s treatment of the Blue Eyes. Because he was shy and a loner as a child, he was treated differently by his classmates and teachers while going to school in Halifax.
I found Elliot’s blue eyes/brown eyes exercise intriguing. She conducts this type of workshop internationally for companies as part of their diversity training. It’s harsh, raw and thought-provoking on how we all treat people who are different.
Near the end of the documentary, Elliot explained her reasons for treating the blue-eyed group the way she did. It was to personalize how racism affects people. Several members in the blue-eyed group admitted that the workshop opened their eyes to racism in their everyday lives and how they intend to combat it in the future. They confessed they weren’t even aware of their past behaviour until the workshop. But at the very end of the documentary, only a handful of the 22 participants returned to Elliot’s follow-up workshop.
To be honest, I hesitated in bringing up the topic of racism for this month’s column. I didn’t want to sound preachy or seem to be lecturing people on how racism hurts. But several months later, Elliot’s workshop and the results it yielded still remain stuck in my head.
While reflecting on my life experience, I like to think that racism is slowly disappearing. I’d like to believe that the generation after me will experience a lesser degree of racism than I faced while growing up. I hope that my experience is more of a trend and not just a personal anomaly.
At least I can hope.
Maureen Googoo is a Mi’kmaq journalist living and working in Halifax.
