Breaking the black stereotype: CBC Manitoba chat tackles myths
Donna Carreiro | CBC News | Posted: February 26, 2020 11:00 AM | Last Updated: February 26, 2020
CBC Asks: What does it mean to be a black man in Winnipeg? What presumptions are made about women of colour?
Rob Wilson is a black man who drives a nice car.
And that, he says, was enough to subject him to a curious traffic check while on the road in south Winnipeg.
"I asked police why I'm being pulled over, and they said 'it's a routine stop'" Wilson says. "I was pulled over, again, for nothing."
Wilson, aka Fresh IE — a Grammy and Juno nominated Christian rapper — first made headlines in 2008 when police stopped him in his car, pulled their weapons and accused him of driving a stolen car. (He wasn't.)
The most recent experience in 2019, he says, was a stark reminder that when it comes to racial profiling — especially when it comes to people of colour — there's still work that needs to be done.
Melissa Cote echoes that sentiment. The Winnipeg mother says since she was a teenager, she's been sexualised by "older white men" who target girls and women of colour .
"I get it all the time," Cote says.
Other stereotypes are more covert.
Leisha Strachan, now an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and a sports psychology consultant, was a world champion baton twirler — but when people learned she was athletic, the assumption was always the same.
"I used to get asked, 'Why baton? Why not track and field?'"
Larry Strachan grew up loving and playing classical music and yet "people assumed that I would be an expert rapper as well."
Wilson, Cote, Strachan and Strachan joined CBC's Ismaila Alfa for a live stream discussion on Feb. 26, looking at black stereotypes in Manitoba and how to break them.
The special was part of the CBC's ongoing coverage of Black History Month.