The Martlet

A racist message scrawled outside the Clearihue building prompted members of a women’s studies class to make a film about discriminatory graffiti on campus.

The film, Aspiring for Inclusivity: Confronting Hate Crimes on Campus, was shown March 13 in the SUB during the Anti-Oppression Anti-Racism Training Workshop, organized by the Students of Colour Collective.

“A lot of people don’t think [the graffiti] is violence,” said Cloe Raxlen, one of the filmmakers and a presenter at the workshop.

But others disagree.

“Ambient violence is omnipresent violence affecting some people but not noticed by others,” said Jenny Shaw, another filmmaker, in a telephone interview. “It exists in the background of everyday life.”

Racist graffiti may not impact everyone equally, but many groups have been targeted. The film included examples of derogatory graffiti that is aimed at women, Jews, Japanese, and gays, among other groups. Often found in central places on campus, including the McPherson Library, the graffiti was sometimes etched into the paint on buildings, other times written with a pen or felt-tip marker.

Moussa Magassa, equity and human rights educator at UVic, facilitated the anti-racism workshop. He said discrimination is just one problem in a larger set of human rights issues. He said that denying the human rights of some groups endangers the rights of all people.

“The nicest definition came from the UN, and it said that human rights [include] the responsibility to respect, to protect, and promote the rights of all people,” he said. “The whole world is based on those kinds of inequalities,” Magassa said, but added that UVic is taking the right approach in dealing with the inequity.

Sarah Stewart, a social work undergraduate student, attended the event because she has an “interest in seeing more clearly the different ways racism is carried out on campus.” Although she doesn’t feel discriminated against, she sees it occurring around her.

“The fact that this campus is located on Coast Salish territory means the reason we’re able to study here is a massive example of systemic racism,” she said. “People who are white or privileged people are pretty naive about the ways day-to-day racism happens. [Events like this] get people thinking about what is happening and what is my part in it or responsibility as someone who does not get discriminated against.”

Taking 18 months to make, the film began with the involvement of 20 students. It examines awareness levels of individuals on campus about ambient racism.

“I felt ashamed that people in my class had been affected [by the graffiti], and I hadn’t even noticed it,” said filmmaker Shaw in the documentary.

She said events such as the anti-racism workshop can “bring awareness about the issues to the forefront.”

“A lot of people don’t realize [racism] exists,” Shaw said. “It is a forum to discuss the issues, including public policy.”

“Informed critical thinking is very important,” Magassa said. “When you create critical thinking of issues, and you also create communication systems that help that thinking to evolve, then you get something you can call a learning community.”

Although the university is moving forward on confronting discrimination, Shaw believes there is more work to be done.

“Facilities management put a practice in place to document [discriminatory graffiti],” she said. “But I’d like to take it to a place of dialogue.”

Magassa believes students are willing to confront issues of discrimination.

“I am amazed how responsive the students have been to human rights education,” he said. “Every time I approach them and say, ‘OK, let’s do this. Can we do it together?’ there is this feeling that something can be done.”

Shaw said the onus to end discrimination

is on everyone.

“The ability we have to respond to [discrimination] makes us all responsible,” she said.