Racism is Institutionalised, and We are the Institution

The following was written and read by Simone Delaney, to the School of Architecture at an all-school meeting entitled, “Against Racism” held on June 9th, 2020.

“As one of the few Black students at Waterloo Architecture, there are many things I would like to say after 4 years at this school. I refuse to believe that as a collective, members of the faculty and the undergraduate/graduate student body have been unaware of the barriany of it at all. Faculty members who are educated on these issues, but choose not

ers to diversity that exist at this school. about the injustices that took place on from non-European backgrounds. How

Anyone who walks the hallways of our satellite campus would know that something is off.

In the initial email sent to students during the resurgence of the BLM movement, the school described itself as a beacon of evidence-based truth thanks to the amazing work of Robert Jan. To be clear, when saying this it is in no way my intention to diminish the pain of the atrocities that took place in Europe during this time period in any way. These were obviously horrible atrocities. I am just wondering why exactly these are the only horrible atrocities we choose to speak of.

Why do we count the bodies of some events, but choose to bury the death toll of others? How many of us are counting the bodies of the congolese in the face of Belgian imperialism, or the Beothuk - who were completely eradicated in Newfoundland? We need to discuss ist and colonialist exploits throughout Afro-Eurasia, and tie them back to the interrelated genocidal colonialist exploits that took place on Turtle Island + throughout the Americas. Most educators describing these histories would not even qualify these events as genocidal. However, at Waterloo Architecture it is worse, because its coveted cultural history program barely touches on to teach them, are not simply being complicit, because that is not strong enough wording. You are overtly participating in the institutionalized burial of minority voices, which, particularly in a North American context, should center around both Indigenous and Black stories.

We cannot be describing ourselves as a beacon of evidence-based truth in the face of injustice if we cannot even talk the land we live with. This is the same land so many of us will go on to design with. Racism is institutionalized, and we are the institution. There is an overwhelming lack of diversity in regards to Waterloo Architecture’s faculty members. To a large degree the curriculum reflects those who are teaching it. Every student at this school knows that the vast majority of faculty members are white cis men. It is no wonder that our curriculum is insidiously eurocentric, despite most students coming the severity of the horrific imperial-

is it that the 2B cultural history course covers the period of enlightenment, romanticism, and events up to the 19th century, yet somehow does not cover the colonization of the Americas, triangular trade, Indigenous genocide, or the trans-atlantic slave trade?

We simply must do better. When we speak about Enlightenment philosophy and the French Revolution, I want to also learn about the Haitian Revolution, and how despite being violently exempt from the humanist principles

of their colonizers, the slaves of SaintDomingue led the first successful rebellion leading to control of a former colony. When I see the University of Virginia being shown as the first precedent for 3A studio, I want to also see the humanity of the slaves that built it and the mass graves of the slaves that are buried under it. Why was race only discussed for one course during one three hour lecture in which the N word was used? And then we wonder why non-Black students are unaware of the inappropriateness of using the N word at our beloved coffee house. Why did one professor describe hip-hop dancing as 'African and primitive'? And why is it that when students have raised related issues in many of our courses, much of the faculty has been reluctant to accept such criticism. Given these circumstances, how can our students be expected to graduate as designers that prioritize Black and Indigenous lives? Anyone who walks the halls of our schools would know that there is a diversity problem. You are all aware that the number of Black and Indigenous students at this institution are disparagingly low.

It is time as a school for us to assess these barriers to diversity rather than continuing to ignore the problem at hand. The majority of our students come from the GTA, which is full of Black residents, yet there are barely any Black students who are accepted. There are barely any Black students who even apply. Why is Waterloo Architecture one of the most expensive design schools in Canada, yet there is a lack of financial aid available for students coming from minority communities? Why is there no curriculum that is engaging for students from minority communities? Why is the faculty so undiverse that we cannot ensure that they will advocate for Black and Indigenous students? It shouldn’t be left only to the handful of Black students to ensure our school is reformed. You all have to check yourselves. If you feel guilty right now it’s because you are guilty. In the eloquent words of Tupac Shakur, The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody up. Maybe not all of us are little infants, but we sure are all fucked up.”