Quebec heated debate over professor suspension bypassed Black voices, students say

But the students CBC spoke to say public discourse lost its mark. Here is their perspective.

‘What I see is a veritable perpetuation of systematic racism’

Edynne Grand-Pierre, 21, says the defense of Prime Minister Franois Legault for a professor who said such a familiar word about the hatred, pain and grief he was associated with was, in itself, harmful.

“What I see is a veritable perpetuation of systematic racism. Again, people who are white and in power positions who tell Black people how they should feel and how they should react,” Grand-Pierre said. , who is in his third year at the University of Ottawa, studying civil law and international development.

Grand-Pierre grew up in Montreal and has returned home to conduct her online studies during the pandemic. She recalled turning her TV on a news channel this week to see four white journalists discussing controversies in a panel.

“We are not inviting people directly affected by this term to be part of the discussion,” she said. “Black people have to suffer this word, while white people can write it, say it, explain it, without ever having to suffer from it.”

She does not believe the teacher did any harm from what she did, but is disappointed that the conversation in Quebec did not acknowledge the concern the word could cause, even uttered out of an insult.

One way forward

As frustrating as some of them may have been to hear and read, the discussion can help educate non-Black Quebecers about “the weight to which this word is associated,” said Alexandra Mayard, 30,

Mayard is a third-year law student at the Univers du Cubec Montral and has volunteered and practiced at law clinics in northeastern Montreal.

Mayard says she was not offended by the way the University of Ottawa professor reportedly used the word, but, like Grand-Pierre, says there was a lack of Black Voices in the Quebec media to indicate the diversity of feelings and thoughts .

She believes the teacher’s proposal for a class discussion may have reflected a power imbalance.

“We know this word is pejorative. It’s an insult. So why have a conversation if we can use it or not?” Tha Mayard.

“It does not depend on [the student] to educate the teacher about this word “.

An indicative reaction from the Prime Minister

“I have my relationship with the academy, especially with the way I perceive myself as a black man and how people respect my opinion and value what I think,” said Elijah Olise, 24,

“How do they believe my existence is political and that they can just talk about it and argue about it, and debate it. Like: ‘Hey, should we say the word n?’ How, what? No ‘”.

Olise, a part-time student at ConcordiaUniversityand an actor, is part of the Racial Justice Collective and works for Pivot 2020, a youth-led organization that collects data on populations in Canadian cities.

He believes Legault’s decision to react publicly, condemning the suspension of the teacher from the University of Ottawa, says a lot about how the prime minister feels about the word itself.

“He is telling about himself. His attitude and his thoughts show what his inner feelings are about using the word.”

‘The word itself is hatred’

Josiane N’tchoreret-Mbiamany, a sophomore in communications at the University of Ottawa, says that no matter the context, the word will never be divorced from hatred.

“The academic context and use of the freedom of speech argument is really, I believe, incorrect. Of course, freedom of speech is your right to share your opinion, but that does not mean you are free from any subsequent consequences. of the word spoken, “saysN’tchoreret-Mbiamany.

“There is a right for students who feel uncomfortable to respond, to make these conversations. The justification that the woman was not using it in a hateful or insulting way, the word itself is hate. It is a hateful word. “