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Miss Calgary 2020 says she’s using her platform to support social justice and people of colour Being bullied for her Ghanaian culture in high school, Shetin Adams talks about her struggles and hope for new perspectives CHARLOTTE HOLMES
cholmes@cjournal.ca
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alking home after a neighborhood water balloon fight in Calgary’s northwest community of Edgemont, Shetin Adams vividly recalls the moment she experienced what is a kind of milestone in the Black community. At the age of seven, she was called the N-word. Two young boys, a little older than her had called Adams over to them. When she ignored them and kept walking, the boys used the racial slur. “I knew it was a bad word, I just didn’t really know the depth of it until I got older, obviously. I think back to all the times I’ve been called the N-word in public. It’s been more than once, more than three times,” says Adams. Reflecting back on the moment, Adams is grateful to herself that she didn’t stop walking. “Who knows what they could have done honestly, people are crazy.” That kind of overt racism made it harder for her to embrace her cultural background while growing up in Calgary. Despite that struggle, Adams learned to be proud of both her Ghanian and Canadian roots, winning Miss Calgary 2020. Now, she plans to use her platform to support social justice and equality movements. Adams remembers the complexity that came growing up with a cultural background. Though she would attend social gatherings on the weekends that welcomed diversity and people all different ethnic backgrounds, it was on the weekdays in school where Adams sometimes questioned her culture and self. Attending predominantly white, Anglo-European, Canadian schools, Adams recalls the inappropriate comments that some of her classmates would make. “People sometimes would make very offensive and hurtful comments to me throughout my school days,” says Adams. “They really replay a lot in your subconscious mind and shape how you view yourself and how you view your own culture and just aspects of yourself that I’m still trying to unlearn today.” Many of those comments caused Adams to feel shame about her Ghanaian roots. Remarks regarding the smell of her food embarrassed her so much that she wouldn’t bring any Ghanaian dishes to school, instead making her mom pack her sandwiches and salad for lunch. Adams says that it wasn’t until later in high school when she began to realize what kind of woman she wanted to be.
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MARCH/APRIL 2021 CALGARYJOURNAL.CA
Adams and her mother, Doris Addo, after Adams was crowned Miss Calgary 2020. PHOTO: ANSBERT MUONAH.
