ENID LEE – A Lesson in History
(Extracts from an interview with Idil Mussa, producer with CBC Radio’s World Report for the Alumni Gazette, Western’s Alumni Magazine since 1939)
Idil Mussa: You have been fighting against anti-Black racism for decades and when you are changing the status-quo, people always want to push back against that. Has that become easier now, or is it still the same for you?
Enid Lee: I have a slogan: “Expect racism, but do not accept racism”. Expect it, so I don’t have to wonder, ‘Why is this happening ?’I understand it’s structural and systemic. Racism impacts every part of our organizations, our procedures, even those ‘benign’ arrangements such as our information and communication systems. In some ways it has felt easier because more people seem to understand that now……….I understand the challenge, but I am glad more people are talking about it. You are doing good work, if there is pushback…….
Idil Mussa: After nearly 30 years advocating and pursuing anti-racist education, what have the biggest learnings been for you and how have they shaped your approach to education?
Enid Lee: Let me go back to Western, we had something there known as the ‘Black table’. Many Black students used to have lunch at that table and there we had community. Students at the ‘Black table’ were from everywhere, Caribbean, West Africa……From that community came a lot of help; help just navigating Western, which as you can imagine, in the 70s was pretty white. For instance, when some of us got student jobs at D. B. Weldon Library, we would help each other from the ‘Black table’ find jobs there.
Another source of my learning were the activities that had taken place at Sir George Williams University, now Concordia, the year before I arrived at Western…
In addition, I came from Antigua, a small Caribbean island, with godparents and parents who were both educators under a colonial government. My mother was very clear where white people stood – and that was not above her. From family, I learned to be unapologetic about being Black and having other Black people with me.
Family history, community activism, study and writing about anti-racism had an impact on my work as the first race relations supervisor in the former North York Board of Education in 1985. Part of my responsibility involved working with others to implement the policy for Affirmative Action for Racial Minorities, as it was called then…At that time the district was saying ‘Yes we want people of diverse backgrounds’ That helped me do the work. When you saw the excellence that came through the door, what could you say? ‘Are they here just because they are Black?’ No! They are here because they are excellent! And we missed out on getting them before…
To read the full interview visit here
**Dr. Enid Lee is the sister of the owner of Greenlands Books & Things who lives in Santa Cruz, California where she operates her business Enidlee Consultants. She currently provides anti-racist and equity advice to school boards in California, Washington, New York and London, UK)