Self-Advocacy: One Way to Resist Anti-Black Racism
I founded the Afro Women and Youth Foundation (www.afrowyf.org) because of my daughter’s experience in a school between 2016 and 2018. As a newcomer in Canada, she was very excited about starting school, but that excitement did not last long. She got to school and realized she was the only Black girl in class, and the other girls became very mean to her.
They said she wasn’t allowed to play with them, so she was always alone at recess. She took jump rope to school to play alone at recess; she sometimes volunteered in the kindergarten classroom to avoid loneliness at recess. I went to school to speak with her teacher, and the teacher said she had observed what I came to report, but unfortunately, there was nothing she could do because children have a right to decide who to play with and she would not force them to play with my child. I was shocked to hear that. I wondered if she was racist, and I imagined how many other OCTs and RECEs we have as teachers and educators of Black children across Canada are racist.
I changed my strategy since I could not trust the system. I decided to empower my child. I mentored and became a coach to my daughter. I encouraged her to speak up for herself and confront anyone who mistreats her and fight for herself. Over time, she developed confidence and built resilience. She was later recognized for being helpful and responsible at the same school because she still found the strength to help newcomers in her class settle into the school system. She also continued helping in the Kindergarten classroom.
My daughter struggled with math so my husband continued to help with math assignments from school, and her grades later went up. She gradually became a happy child and cared less about the mean girls. We later moved to another city. At the new school, her leadership skills were quickly noticed, and the same year she joined the school, she got the award for “The Most Confident” child in Grade 5. She had found her voice, and no one could take that away because she was empowered to advocate for herself. In Grade 8, she won the Principal’s leadership award for outstanding leadership, respect towards others, and individualism.
While supporting my daughter, I spoke with other women and discovered many newcomer Black women and youth also struggle with anti-Black racism and I saw that I could offer self-advocacy and leadership programs to help them to thrive in the face of anti-Black racism and other inequity issues. I started the AWYF to fulfill this need.
Please watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8sSc0gplyU to learn more about our work. To partner, sponsor or collaborate with us, please email adebola@afrowyf.org.
Adebola Adefioye, MA BCD RECE
Coach | Speaker | Trainer