Three Cuban baseball players leave their families and risk exile to chase…
Dear Jackie
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Dear Jackie is a cinematic letter to Jackie Robinson, the first African American player in Major League Baseball and a civil rights activist who broke the colour barrier when he joined the minor-league Montreal Royals in 1946. For a short time, the impossible seemed possible in a segregated North America. But did Montrealers use this historic moment to perpetuate a myth of a post-racial society?
Through eloquent interviews, archival footage, and powerful vérité moments shot in lustrous black and white, director Henri Pardo masterfully threads together fragments of the past with the present-day realities of Little Burgundy, once known as the "Harlem of the North". Dear Jackie unfolds as an intimate correspondence with Robinson that unravels the myth of a post-racial society, and is a testament to the triumphs and resilience of a community whose stories reveal the insidious racial inequalities in Montreal and Quebec as a whole.
"Shot in stark and highly effective black and white, the documentary takes both a searing and stirring look at life and racism in the city, past and present." - Bill Brownstein, The Montreal Gazette
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♪♪♪
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- (Henri Pardo): Dear Jackie,
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I have always respected
and admired you...
00:00:16.641 --> 00:00:18.435
...a brother from the U.S.
00:00:18.435 --> 00:00:21.771
breaking the colour barrier
in Major League Baseball.
00:00:23.815 --> 00:00:25.900
You started
your groundbreaking journey
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to end segregation in sports
00:00:28.194 --> 00:00:30.530
right here, in Montreal
00:00:30.530 --> 00:00:33.700
by joining
the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm team,
00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:37.120
the Royals, in 1946.
00:00:38.538 --> 00:00:42.000
You made
the impossible seem possible
00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.544
in a segregated North America
00:00:44.544 --> 00:00:47.630
by showing everybody a glimpse
00:00:47.630 --> 00:00:50.800
of what everyday life
could be like,
00:00:50.800 --> 00:00:53.219
Black and white people
00:00:53.219 --> 00:00:55.930
working and living side by side.
00:00:58.266 --> 00:01:02.061
Montrealers were so proud
it happened in their city.
00:01:03.855 --> 00:01:07.817
But the white majority used
this exceptional moment
00:01:07.817 --> 00:01:10.069
in history to spin a myth
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of a post-racial society.
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♪♪♪
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It was not.
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(crowd cheering)
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You see, Jackie,
around that time,
00:01:36.262 --> 00:01:38.473
the vast majority
of Black people
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could only live
in a very small neighbourhood
00:01:40.934 --> 00:01:42.894
in the Southwest
00:01:42.894 --> 00:01:45.688
now called Little Burgundy.
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Actually, we've been here
since the 1800s,
00:01:51.903 --> 00:01:55.865
and the only resource we had
was each other.
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(rhythmic tapping)
(indistinct chatter)
00:01:59.536 --> 00:02:02.205
So from churches
to community centres
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and from trade unions
to schools,
00:02:04.874 --> 00:02:07.669
we built it all
with our bare hands.
00:02:07.669 --> 00:02:10.672
(rhythmic tapping)
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(air horn blows)
00:02:17.720 --> 00:02:20.807
After that sweet summer of '46,
00:02:20.807 --> 00:02:23.143
you left Montreal for Brooklyn
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and later,
many of us were displaced
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because urban renewal
destroyed many of our homes.
00:02:31.442 --> 00:02:34.237
But some stayed,
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some persevered,
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some continued to build
our community.
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♪♪♪
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(indistinct conversations)
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- (pastor): This church
represents so much more
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than a house of worship.
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This is a monument
of solidarity,
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hope, love and faith.
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And it has become
a beacon of light.
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I was thinking
about Black history
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and what this church means,
and the list can go
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on and on and on.
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I think about the porters
coming together to do what?
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To create something
that would outlive them.
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And the people
that built this church in 1907,
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a group of individuals
got together,
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and they realized
that they were
00:03:46.184 --> 00:03:48.770
tired of being in a city
that wasn't welcoming,
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being in a city
that was welcoming when it came
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to their labour,
but when it came to dignity
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and respect turned the eye.
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In 1902,
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oldest institution of Canada
of Black women coming together
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for our rights, for the best
interests of the community
00:04:04.702 --> 00:04:06.120
that is here in Montreal,
00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:07.956
which means that part
of the reason why
00:04:07.956 --> 00:04:09.707
Union United is here is what?
00:04:09.707 --> 00:04:12.043
Is because of women
coming together.
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(crowd applauding)
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And today we're here
to represent
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not only Black history
but to represent
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what this church means
to this community as a whole.
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(church bell tolling)
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♪♪♪
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- Oh, yeah.
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Must have walked
along here a million times.
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This is... this is home.
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It's engraved in me.
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And given the colour of my skin
and what was...
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how shall I say, our roots.
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♪♪♪
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Yeah.
00:05:01.884 --> 00:05:04.137
(kid laughing)
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♪♪♪
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Given how we were
sometimes ostracized
00:05:18.609 --> 00:05:20.653
by the other community
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and, happily,
we had a number of people
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that really were
stalwarts of the community,
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that gave us hope
that there was a future
00:05:27.118 --> 00:05:29.037
for us here in Montreal.
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We took Jackie Robinson
as really one of us, you know,
00:05:37.336 --> 00:05:39.547
but there was members
of the white community
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that refused to accept
the fact that this was
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a startling phenomenon
of the Black community.
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We were... we were in awe
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of this man coming walking down
the aisles, you know,
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and sitting in church
amongst us
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at Union United Church.
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How shall I describe that now?
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You know, our worth
seemed to improve.
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(ball hits baseball bat)
(crowd cheering)
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- (Pardo):
To integrate the team,
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your boss told you
to turn the other cheek
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for three years
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no matter the insult
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or threat on your life.
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- (Jackie): When I broke in
with the Montreal ball club,
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I knew that it was going
to be difficult,
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but I had
a lot of people rooting for me.
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Day in and day out,
I received letters
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and people telling me
that their prayers were with me
00:06:32.308 --> 00:06:34.143
and wishing me well.
00:06:34.143 --> 00:06:35.895
And fortunately, I broke in
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in a city like Montreal.
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(ball hits baseball bat)
00:06:38.815 --> 00:06:41.400
(crowd cheering)
00:06:47.365 --> 00:06:49.367
(Ivan laughing)
- Yo. I've gotta
00:06:49.367 --> 00:06:51.869
holler at a Black man,
you know, a real Black man.
00:06:51.869 --> 00:06:53.704
- Oh, really?
- You know what I'm saying?
00:06:53.704 --> 00:06:55.456
- Been around a long time.
- Yeah, man.
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Where you're from,
what you done, you know.
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- Oh, I'd... This is
part of my, you know.
I'm a born Montrealer.
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- Born here.
- Born here, yeah.
00:07:01.295 --> 00:07:03.381
Lived... lived in Africa
six years.
00:07:03.381 --> 00:07:05.299
- Oh, word! For real?
00:07:05.299 --> 00:07:07.301
- Yeah. I was sent there.
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I'm... I'm a retired
professor, so I...
00:07:10.179 --> 00:07:11.681
- Professor?
- Yeah, yeah.
00:07:11.681 --> 00:07:14.100
- From where?
Where would you profess?
00:07:14.100 --> 00:07:15.768
At McGill?
- Everywhere
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All over the world.
- Oh, for real?
00:07:17.812 --> 00:07:20.231
- Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
- I didn't know that.
00:07:20.231 --> 00:07:22.441
(Ivan laughing)
I didn't know that.
00:07:22.441 --> 00:07:25.570
Yo, what's your name, sir?
- Livingstone. Ivan Livingstone.
00:07:25.570 --> 00:07:29.073
- My name is Sasha, sir.
- Former professional athlete.
00:07:29.073 --> 00:07:32.034
- Professional athlete
for real, though?
- Former Olympian.
00:07:32.034 --> 00:07:33.911
- Olympian?
- Track & field. Track & field.
00:07:33.911 --> 00:07:36.664
Haha! You have nothing.
- OK. OK.
00:07:36.664 --> 00:07:38.916
- And then in 1954,
I smoked the run
00:07:38.916 --> 00:07:40.668
for the British Empire Games.
- For real?
00:07:40.668 --> 00:07:42.670
- I turned professional.
I started playing
00:07:42.670 --> 00:07:44.046
professional football--
- Because I'm actually...
00:07:44.046 --> 00:07:45.840
I'm actually doing research.
00:07:45.840 --> 00:07:48.259
I'm actually, like...
Because I'm actually going back
00:07:48.259 --> 00:07:51.345
to New York, and he had
some of his family there.
00:07:51.345 --> 00:07:53.264
And some of
Jackie Robinson's family.
00:07:53.264 --> 00:07:55.600
- Oh, I met
Jackie Robinson here.
00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:56.851
- Because he played for what?
00:07:56.851 --> 00:07:58.269
Montreal, right?
- Montreal Royals.
00:07:58.269 --> 00:08:01.647
- Your history,
what you've been through,
00:08:01.647 --> 00:08:04.066
everything...
Yo, let me tell you something,
00:08:04.066 --> 00:08:06.235
this is
what we fiend for, n*****.
00:08:06.235 --> 00:08:09.071
- I was a coon, a pickaninny...
- Thank you. Thank you.
00:08:09.071 --> 00:08:10.740
Thank you. Thank you.
- ...and I was all those things.
00:08:10.740 --> 00:08:14.202
- Thank you.
You know what I mean?
00:08:14.202 --> 00:08:15.870
Hey, you know what?
You know what?
00:08:15.870 --> 00:08:17.580
Yo, yo, yo!
You're still here.
00:08:17.580 --> 00:08:19.874
That's what's up.
This is our hood.
00:08:19.874 --> 00:08:22.919
- I knew every Black man
and every Black family
00:08:22.919 --> 00:08:24.670
in town here.
- Wow!
00:08:26.297 --> 00:08:28.466
- (Pardo):
As you were hitting home runs
00:08:28.466 --> 00:08:31.302
and stealing bases on the field,
00:08:31.302 --> 00:08:35.640
displaying with creativity
your mobility,
00:08:35.640 --> 00:08:38.809
our movements
were cornered here,
00:08:38.809 --> 00:08:40.394
in Little Burgundy...
00:08:41.771 --> 00:08:44.440
...because a landlords'
agreement did not allow us
00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:46.192
to reside elsewhere.
00:08:48.819 --> 00:08:51.614
So we grew roots
on this concrete land
00:08:51.614 --> 00:08:54.116
and called it home.
00:08:54.116 --> 00:08:55.743
- (woman on radio):
We're gonna play some music.
00:08:55.743 --> 00:08:57.286
Right about now,
you're listening
00:08:57.286 --> 00:09:03.125
to CKUT Bhum Bhum Time.
90.3 FM, CKUT.
00:09:03.125 --> 00:09:04.961
Hello. Here what we're gonna do.
00:09:04.961 --> 00:09:06.671
Uh, typically, we don't play
00:09:06.671 --> 00:09:09.632
up-to-the-time music
here on Bhum Bhum Time,
00:09:09.632 --> 00:09:11.550
but, you know,
00:09:11.550 --> 00:09:13.928
many eyes
in the Caribbean community
00:09:13.928 --> 00:09:16.597
are focused on the calypso tense
00:09:16.597 --> 00:09:20.351
and the new calypso is coming
out of T and T. Carnival is
00:09:20.351 --> 00:09:23.729
the weekend
of the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th.
00:09:23.729 --> 00:09:26.399
- (woman): Last year or
two years ago, almost two years
00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:28.776
ago here. I think
it was their anniversary...
00:09:28.776 --> 00:09:30.903
- (Pardo): Dear Jackie,
00:09:30.903 --> 00:09:34.156
our children grew as well.
00:09:34.156 --> 00:09:36.242
They explored their streets
00:09:36.242 --> 00:09:39.704
reinventing the world
as best they could,
00:09:39.704 --> 00:09:42.039
forging memories
of possible futures.
00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:48.129
- (girl): I love my name.
00:09:48.129 --> 00:09:50.047
J-a-z, apostrophe,
00:09:50.047 --> 00:09:53.384
M-a-r-i-e.
00:09:53.384 --> 00:09:56.596
Not really a lot of kids
have apostrophes.
00:09:56.596 --> 00:09:59.932
So I like to be a kid
that's very rare.
00:10:08.607 --> 00:10:11.736
The great thing
about Little Burgundy is
00:10:11.736 --> 00:10:14.739
it's been there
for a very long time.
00:10:14.739 --> 00:10:17.158
(whispering indistinctly)
00:10:19.869 --> 00:10:23.372
It's a fun place.
It's a very nice place.
00:10:24.373 --> 00:10:27.293
Some people are kind.
00:10:27.293 --> 00:10:30.671
The smell of barbecues.
00:10:30.671 --> 00:10:33.799
Um... the trees, the air.
00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:36.469
Oh, so many things
that inspire me.
00:10:41.515 --> 00:10:43.684
I actually know magic is real
because I have
00:10:43.684 --> 00:10:45.853
this necklace that I have.
00:10:45.853 --> 00:10:48.272
This necklace that I have, um...
00:10:48.272 --> 00:10:50.483
is supposed to give me
magic powers.
00:10:50.483 --> 00:10:53.277
Um, I was supposed
to make a wish
00:10:53.277 --> 00:10:55.696
before I put this necklace on,
00:10:55.696 --> 00:10:58.407
and my wish,
it was supposed to come true.
00:10:58.407 --> 00:11:01.869
And it... it will
come true soon,
00:11:01.869 --> 00:11:03.537
I'm sure.
00:11:11.587 --> 00:11:13.673
(clanking)
00:11:19.845 --> 00:11:22.223
- (Beverly):
Uh, my mom's from England,
00:11:22.223 --> 00:11:25.142
and my dad's from Cuba.
00:11:26.352 --> 00:11:29.438
My father, he was a porter
00:11:29.438 --> 00:11:31.732
on the CPR Rail.
00:11:31.732 --> 00:11:35.361
He used to go out
for two weeks, all the time.
00:11:36.737 --> 00:11:39.615
So when he was gone,
we were free.
00:11:39.615 --> 00:11:42.868
You know boys, eh,
they like to go out.
00:11:43.869 --> 00:11:46.080
I have five brothers.
00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:47.915
I'm the youngest.
00:11:50.334 --> 00:11:53.671
My mom and my dad, I tell you,
they were characters.
00:11:53.671 --> 00:11:57.091
My father,
he always makes jokes.
00:11:57.091 --> 00:11:58.384
You know, he's a joker.
00:11:58.384 --> 00:12:01.011
I guess, that's
where the happiness came from.
00:12:01.011 --> 00:12:03.431
(bell ringing)
00:12:06.767 --> 00:12:09.228
(indistinct chatter)
00:12:12.231 --> 00:12:15.734
(machine buzzing)
(clanking)
00:12:17.069 --> 00:12:20.239
(creaking and clanking)
00:12:29.707 --> 00:12:34.670
(train horn blowing)
00:12:34.670 --> 00:12:39.216
You know,
when the CP Rail dismantled,
00:12:39.216 --> 00:12:40.885
there he is there.
My father said,
00:12:40.885 --> 00:12:43.971
"That's... There I am."
He was looking out the window,
00:12:43.971 --> 00:12:47.266
and somebody took a picture,
and he saw himself there.
00:12:49.143 --> 00:12:51.395
- (man): Everybody's father
was a porter back then.
00:12:51.395 --> 00:12:52.980
That's not... that's not
what he's driving.
00:12:52.980 --> 00:12:54.565
That's the only job
you could get
00:12:54.565 --> 00:12:57.193
was being a porter
when you were Black by then.
00:12:57.193 --> 00:12:58.777
My father was a porter.
00:13:00.362 --> 00:13:02.865
(trumpet playing jazz music)
00:13:11.040 --> 00:13:15.252
(bird cawing)
00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:19.590
(bell ringing)
00:13:21.509 --> 00:13:23.469
- (Pardo): Our fathers were gone
00:13:23.469 --> 00:13:24.970
20 days a month,
00:13:24.970 --> 00:13:27.640
working 18-hour days
on the train.
00:13:29.266 --> 00:13:32.937
Our porters' union was fighting
with the railroad companies
00:13:32.937 --> 00:13:35.814
for respect and equality.
00:13:37.233 --> 00:13:39.527
An uphill battle
in this new land
00:13:39.527 --> 00:13:42.029
of race equality,
00:13:42.029 --> 00:13:45.199
a land where
false sexual-assault accusations
00:13:45.199 --> 00:13:48.452
were as numerous
as the days we worked.
00:13:49.578 --> 00:13:51.205
George...
00:13:51.205 --> 00:13:52.957
that's what we were called.
00:13:53.999 --> 00:13:55.834
All of us.
00:14:01.006 --> 00:14:03.092
But you know, Jackie,
00:14:03.092 --> 00:14:05.636
that didn't stop us
from thriving,
00:14:05.636 --> 00:14:07.429
from playing
00:14:07.429 --> 00:14:09.265
and exploring new ways
00:14:09.265 --> 00:14:11.850
to express our Blackness.
00:14:11.850 --> 00:14:14.311
- (woman on radio): Auntie Peggy
from MCSO, we love you.
00:14:14.311 --> 00:14:16.897
Listen, I want to play
this, I guess, that music...
00:14:16.897 --> 00:14:18.899
- (Pardo): You weren't
the only great person
00:14:18.899 --> 00:14:20.776
to come play here.
(jazz music)
00:14:20.776 --> 00:14:23.946
Miles, Dizzy, McCabe,
00:14:23.946 --> 00:14:26.365
Ella, Thelonious,
00:14:26.365 --> 00:14:28.701
and Sammy
and so many others came here
00:14:28.701 --> 00:14:32.204
to do their magic.
(inaudible singing)
00:14:32.204 --> 00:14:34.456
Some greats stayed
00:14:34.456 --> 00:14:36.458
and changed the game
00:14:36.458 --> 00:14:38.085
in their own way.
00:14:38.085 --> 00:14:41.213
- (woman): I came here in 1953
00:14:41.213 --> 00:14:43.215
when Montreal was Las Vegas.
00:14:44.425 --> 00:14:47.636
There were nightclubs
all over the city.
00:14:49.013 --> 00:14:51.432
And I was booked every week.
00:14:51.432 --> 00:14:53.767
(lively jazz music)
00:15:01.400 --> 00:15:04.153
She said, "Listen,
00:15:04.153 --> 00:15:07.740
"you want a career
or do you want babies?
00:15:07.740 --> 00:15:10.200
"Don't let no man tie you down
00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:11.869
"and give you the swan song.
00:15:11.869 --> 00:15:14.955
You have a...
Do you watch Divorce Court?"
00:15:14.955 --> 00:15:17.207
- (laughing): No.
- Oh. My. God!
00:15:17.207 --> 00:15:19.835
(rhythmic tapping)
00:15:19.835 --> 00:15:23.339
I opened this building
in 1980 with Mr. Langdon.
00:15:23.339 --> 00:15:26.050
He was
the president of the UNIA.
00:15:26.050 --> 00:15:28.302
- Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!
00:15:28.302 --> 00:15:30.054
- (Ethel):
And I started teaching.
00:15:32.640 --> 00:15:35.225
- The UNIA was founded when
though, Nanny?
00:15:35.225 --> 00:15:38.270
- The UNIA was
founded way back.
00:15:38.270 --> 00:15:40.564
Before it ever came
to Canada. it was...
00:15:40.564 --> 00:15:42.566
The UNIA was started
00:15:42.566 --> 00:15:44.985
in Harlem on 125th Street,
00:15:44.985 --> 00:15:47.863
in Marcus Garvey's bookstore.
00:15:47.863 --> 00:15:50.324
But we always believe
00:15:50.324 --> 00:15:52.743
that you help
your own people.
00:15:52.743 --> 00:15:55.287
There's no... there's no reason
to throw a kid out
00:15:55.287 --> 00:15:58.499
because she doesn't have
$5 for a class.
00:15:59.833 --> 00:16:02.169
- They gave us a space
where we could give, you know,
00:16:02.169 --> 00:16:05.255
Black kids... low income...
like low-income families
00:16:05.255 --> 00:16:07.174
dance classes.
But aside from that,
00:16:07.174 --> 00:16:09.760
I feel like we weren't
more about, like, tap culture
00:16:09.760 --> 00:16:12.137
versus, like, Black culture.
00:16:12.137 --> 00:16:15.599
- First of all, let me explain
where tap dancing comes from.
00:16:15.599 --> 00:16:17.226
Africa.
00:16:17.226 --> 00:16:20.437
Tap dancing comes from Africa.
00:16:23.023 --> 00:16:26.402
Black... The slaves,
they're doing shuffling,
00:16:26.402 --> 00:16:29.154
and tripling, and nobody knew
what the hell it was.
00:16:29.154 --> 00:16:31.240
Body language, all of that.
00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:33.867
- And when my mother says
tap comes from Africa,
00:16:33.867 --> 00:16:35.619
we are Africans.
00:16:35.619 --> 00:16:37.371
♪♪♪
00:16:53.470 --> 00:16:54.638
And remember,
00:16:54.638 --> 00:16:56.265
they took the drum
away from us,
00:16:56.265 --> 00:16:58.642
so we had to use our feet
to communicate.
00:16:58.642 --> 00:17:01.061
- That's where it came from.
- (Ethel): That's one lesson
00:17:01.061 --> 00:17:03.564
that we learned.
- When you learn Ethel Bruneau,
00:17:03.564 --> 00:17:05.816
when you come and you learn
hoofing from Ethel Bruneau,
00:17:05.816 --> 00:17:07.985
you learn the history,
the essence
00:17:07.985 --> 00:17:09.820
and the roots
of tap dancing.
00:17:09.820 --> 00:17:12.906
- Tap dance in America...
00:17:12.906 --> 00:17:15.284
The Irish came over
00:17:15.284 --> 00:17:17.703
on a boat
just like the Black slaves
00:17:17.703 --> 00:17:19.872
came over on a boat.
And the slaves
00:17:19.872 --> 00:17:21.540
were in the bottom of the boat,
00:17:21.540 --> 00:17:23.876
and the Irish were
on the top of the boat,
00:17:23.876 --> 00:17:26.170
but they were both jigging
and doing their things
00:17:26.170 --> 00:17:28.005
when they got together.
00:17:29.548 --> 00:17:31.508
- Stomp.
- Brush, drag!
00:17:31.508 --> 00:17:33.635
- Stomp.
- Brush, drag!
00:17:33.635 --> 00:17:35.846
- Brush, drag!
(woman laughing)
00:17:35.846 --> 00:17:37.306
- We seen it with Georges Floyd,
00:17:37.306 --> 00:17:38.849
there's a wave happening,
00:17:38.849 --> 00:17:41.268
but we have to keep
the momentum of the wave,
00:17:41.268 --> 00:17:43.020
and we'll do it
through whatever...
00:17:43.020 --> 00:17:45.105
like Malcolm X said,
00:17:45.105 --> 00:17:46.982
"by any means necessary."
00:17:46.982 --> 00:17:48.484
It is not a weapon.
00:17:48.484 --> 00:17:50.986
It is not a destructive weapon.
It's the weapon of dance.
00:17:50.986 --> 00:17:53.071
(tap dancing)
- Slow down.
00:17:53.071 --> 00:17:55.991
Da-da-da-da-da-da.
00:17:55.991 --> 00:17:57.534
- (woman): I also think
we channel
00:17:57.534 --> 00:17:59.703
our tragedy and our anger
00:17:59.703 --> 00:18:01.747
and channel it...
00:18:01.747 --> 00:18:03.791
and connect with it.
00:18:03.791 --> 00:18:06.543
(Ethel speaking indistinctly)
00:18:09.838 --> 00:18:12.216
- (woman): I had a really great
childhood coming up,
00:18:12.216 --> 00:18:15.052
a lot of really good
community centres.
00:18:15.052 --> 00:18:18.055
The parents and everybody were
really involved, really active.
00:18:20.933 --> 00:18:23.894
My mother was a single mom
with five kids, and...
00:18:23.894 --> 00:18:27.105
I saw her grind every day
to support us.
00:18:29.733 --> 00:18:32.236
My father, growing up,
was a drug dealer.
00:18:32.236 --> 00:18:34.363
I had friends
whose parents were crackheads
00:18:34.363 --> 00:18:37.241
and who were
in foster care or...
00:18:37.241 --> 00:18:39.368
My friend's father got killed
00:18:39.368 --> 00:18:43.080
by the police in a
mistaken-identity kind of thing.
00:18:43.080 --> 00:18:46.166
And you see a lot of...
00:18:46.166 --> 00:18:49.002
a lot of struggle.
You see a lot of support.
00:18:49.002 --> 00:18:52.381
You see... We try to make
the best out of what we have
00:18:52.381 --> 00:18:55.425
pretty much, which I think
almost goes back to slavery
00:18:55.425 --> 00:18:58.387
in the sense of, like, us having
00:18:58.387 --> 00:19:00.055
pig intestines and scraps,
00:19:00.055 --> 00:19:01.765
the only things they would
give us, so we made the best
00:19:01.765 --> 00:19:04.143
out of it, and we made it
taste good and we loved that.
00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:08.856
Sometimes, I feel like that
about what I've come from.
00:19:08.856 --> 00:19:11.066
(indistinct chatter)
♪♪♪
00:19:11.066 --> 00:19:14.570
We were put in these places,
but we made the best out of it.
00:19:28.834 --> 00:19:30.836
You know, it's a weird
love-and-hate thing.
00:19:30.836 --> 00:19:33.630
The gangs and stuff like that
were really...
00:19:34.923 --> 00:19:36.550
...really prevalent,
really like in our face,
00:19:36.550 --> 00:19:38.927
and I was like so turned off by
00:19:38.927 --> 00:19:42.180
what my people and my
neighbourhood was turning into,
00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:46.101
so it pushed me almost to hustle
harder to want to get out.
00:19:46.101 --> 00:19:48.061
But not to forget
where I'm from
00:19:48.061 --> 00:19:49.938
because that's the reason
why I am the way I am,
00:19:49.938 --> 00:19:51.857
you know,
in a lot of ways, so...
00:19:51.857 --> 00:19:54.401
(playing jazz)
00:19:54.401 --> 00:19:57.821
(distant siren blaring)
00:20:27.476 --> 00:20:29.853
- (Charlene): Andrew's murder
stirred up a lot of...
00:20:29.853 --> 00:20:33.106
a lot of life, a lot of things.
00:20:33.106 --> 00:20:36.234
Andrew was in an altercation
with a guy,
00:20:36.234 --> 00:20:39.071
and he got shot. He died
right there on the spot, my son.
00:20:40.113 --> 00:20:43.825
(indistinct gospel singing)
00:20:46.036 --> 00:20:48.330
(man speaking indistinctly)
00:20:59.091 --> 00:21:03.470
- (man): Alleluia!
- ♪ Alleluia ♪
00:21:03.470 --> 00:21:06.765
(indistinct gospel singing)
00:21:23.156 --> 00:21:26.368
(indistinct singing)
00:21:35.419 --> 00:21:37.713
- (Charlene): But that day,
00:21:37.713 --> 00:21:40.173
I had the strength
to sing with my choir.
00:21:40.173 --> 00:21:43.593
(indistinct gospel singing)
00:21:45.887 --> 00:21:48.140
I did ask God every day
00:21:48.140 --> 00:21:50.058
to make me go through the day...
00:21:51.309 --> 00:21:53.770
...to keep me strong,
for my parents.
00:21:53.770 --> 00:21:56.356
I kept on thinking about them.
00:21:56.356 --> 00:21:58.984
And my kids, not myself.
00:21:58.984 --> 00:22:00.777
And that's the hardest point.
00:22:06.950 --> 00:22:09.536
And the kids live it every day.
00:22:09.536 --> 00:22:12.205
There's days that we talk...
00:22:12.205 --> 00:22:14.207
and we'd smile
and then we just come
00:22:14.207 --> 00:22:16.001
to, like, a quiet silence.
00:22:19.546 --> 00:22:21.548
And my wig was kind of shifting.
00:22:21.548 --> 00:22:23.633
'Cause I lost so much weight,
my wig was shifting.
00:22:23.633 --> 00:22:26.261
(Charlene chuckles)
00:22:26.261 --> 00:22:28.972
I'm telling you,
it does a lot to the body.
00:22:28.972 --> 00:22:30.515
(Charlene chuckles)
00:22:33.477 --> 00:22:36.772
And in life,
a lot of people don't know
00:22:36.772 --> 00:22:40.108
what it is to dress your child
for the last.
00:22:41.777 --> 00:22:45.238
It's like a child, a baby.
You put on their clothing.
00:22:45.238 --> 00:22:46.615
You dress him, you send him out.
00:22:46.615 --> 00:22:49.701
And this is
me sending my adult son,
00:22:49.701 --> 00:22:52.204
dressing him for the last,
and that was it.
00:22:54.372 --> 00:22:58.251
And that resonated
in my head like...
00:22:58.251 --> 00:23:01.379
"This is really happening.
He's really gone."
00:23:03.256 --> 00:23:05.300
He is at peace now.
00:23:06.968 --> 00:23:09.638
No more harassment
from the police...
00:23:12.432 --> 00:23:16.853
...who was supposed to serve
and to protect the public.
00:23:20.899 --> 00:23:24.069
No more media
00:23:24.069 --> 00:23:26.863
portraying my son
had no life.
00:23:29.783 --> 00:23:33.411
Only we, the community,
knows best.
00:23:37.958 --> 00:23:40.168
As we say goodbye...
00:23:41.336 --> 00:23:44.131
...you can't keep
a good man down.
00:23:44.131 --> 00:23:46.633
(applause)
00:23:46.633 --> 00:23:48.468
I love you.
00:23:48.468 --> 00:23:51.972
I miss your voice
saying, "Mommy."
00:23:52.973 --> 00:23:55.392
And every parent
who had their child
00:23:55.392 --> 00:23:57.435
shot and killed,
they go through
00:23:57.435 --> 00:23:59.354
the same thing
that I'm going through.
00:23:59.354 --> 00:24:01.231
There are no callbacks.
00:24:02.607 --> 00:24:05.569
There's
no further investigation.
00:24:05.569 --> 00:24:08.238
They put everything
as a cold case.
00:24:09.573 --> 00:24:13.118
And then you, the parent,
are left
00:24:13.118 --> 00:24:15.203
to raise the rest of the kids
00:24:15.203 --> 00:24:17.247
and the family that are wounded,
00:24:17.247 --> 00:24:19.624
try to be... bring them up
the right way,
00:24:19.624 --> 00:24:23.461
try them not to be revengeful
in life,
00:24:23.461 --> 00:24:26.882
try to soften their heart
00:24:26.882 --> 00:24:28.717
and go on
like nothing ever happened.
00:24:32.554 --> 00:24:35.557
(applause)
00:24:43.899 --> 00:24:46.735
- (priest): Those who know
how Andrew died...
00:24:46.735 --> 00:24:49.362
(piano music playing)
00:24:50.488 --> 00:24:52.741
There was a sacrifice.
00:24:53.867 --> 00:24:56.995
It was not what the police said.
00:24:56.995 --> 00:24:59.331
He was not targeted.
00:25:00.874 --> 00:25:03.001
It was not deliberate.
00:25:04.669 --> 00:25:08.048
He went out towards the street
to stop the fight.
00:25:09.633 --> 00:25:13.720
And that's the story that won't
be told by the police.
00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:16.598
That's the story
that won't be told by the media.
00:25:16.598 --> 00:25:19.351
But these young men
will tell that story!
00:25:19.351 --> 00:25:22.103
They'll tell
of a brother who stood tall,
00:25:22.103 --> 00:25:24.606
who stood with them
no matter!
00:25:24.606 --> 00:25:27.400
(congregation applauding)
(piano music playing)
00:25:31.071 --> 00:25:34.241
And you may feel all alone now
00:25:34.241 --> 00:25:35.951
because Andrew's gone...
00:25:37.827 --> 00:25:40.330
...but there's a day coming...
00:25:40.330 --> 00:25:43.375
- (Charlene): He says, "You know
what? My mom is buying a home.
00:25:44.584 --> 00:25:47.295
You're all getting
out of the hood."
00:25:47.295 --> 00:25:50.257
His dream was shattered. Well,
he never got to see the dream.
00:25:52.425 --> 00:25:55.053
♪♪♪
(birds singing)
00:26:33.341 --> 00:26:35.802
- (Jaz'Marie):
One of the superpower sets
00:26:35.802 --> 00:26:37.262
I would like to have
00:26:37.262 --> 00:26:39.431
is, um...
00:26:39.431 --> 00:26:41.599
I would have a unicorn with me,
00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:43.727
and the unicorn
would bring me everywhere.
00:26:43.727 --> 00:26:46.146
And that'd be my magic power.
00:26:46.146 --> 00:26:48.064
And I'd be
riding him everywhere,
00:26:48.064 --> 00:26:50.066
and he could bring me
everywhere.
00:26:56.364 --> 00:26:57.866
- (Pardo): Dear Jackie,
00:26:57.866 --> 00:27:01.202
you lived far from us
in Villeray,
00:27:01.202 --> 00:27:03.204
a Francophone part of town.
00:27:03.204 --> 00:27:05.415
(bell tolling)
This was
00:27:05.415 --> 00:27:07.667
not the segregated South.
00:27:08.668 --> 00:27:11.046
So, for the first time,
00:27:11.046 --> 00:27:14.966
you and your pregnant wife
Rachel felt safe
00:27:14.966 --> 00:27:17.218
and welcomed
by your white neighbours.
00:27:23.933 --> 00:27:25.769
- (Jackie Robinson): We have
a tremendously warm spot
00:27:25.769 --> 00:27:29.230
for that city
because they treated us so well.
00:27:29.230 --> 00:27:30.899
All they ask is we went out
00:27:30.899 --> 00:27:33.610
and played baseball
as best as we possibly could.
00:27:40.116 --> 00:27:42.035
- (Pardo): In 1967,
00:27:42.035 --> 00:27:45.080
Montreal was hosting
its world expo.
00:27:46.539 --> 00:27:48.666
So, from the outside looking in,
00:27:48.666 --> 00:27:51.836
the city was now open to all.
00:27:51.836 --> 00:27:55.423
But in Little Burgundy,
00:27:55.423 --> 00:27:57.801
we had a different experience.
00:27:59.594 --> 00:28:02.472
Way before gentrification,
Jackie,
00:28:02.472 --> 00:28:04.474
we were under siege
00:28:04.474 --> 00:28:06.101
by urban renewal.
00:28:06.101 --> 00:28:07.811
(jazz trumpet music)
00:28:19.656 --> 00:28:21.699
- And 70% of Little Burgundy
00:28:21.699 --> 00:28:24.702
was razed,
partly for public housing,
00:28:24.702 --> 00:28:28.456
partly for... private property.
00:28:30.333 --> 00:28:33.503
And this was devastating,
obviously, to
00:28:33.503 --> 00:28:36.923
a community who had been here
for so long.
00:28:36.923 --> 00:28:39.175
And also, the freeway
00:28:39.175 --> 00:28:41.136
was put through it.
00:28:41.136 --> 00:28:43.805
(jazz trumpet music)
00:28:59.404 --> 00:29:00.864
- (Pardo): The cement
00:29:00.864 --> 00:29:03.450
that was holding
our homes together
00:29:03.450 --> 00:29:05.702
was now in our lungs.
00:29:08.371 --> 00:29:10.540
It was getting
harder to breathe.
00:29:12.250 --> 00:29:16.087
The loss of important jobs,
like train porters,
00:29:16.087 --> 00:29:18.673
changed the prosperity
of our community.
00:29:20.341 --> 00:29:23.052
Trains were now obsolete
00:29:23.052 --> 00:29:26.431
because highways,
cars and trucks
00:29:26.431 --> 00:29:27.891
took their place.
00:29:30.018 --> 00:29:31.853
- (Charlene): The 720 highway,
00:29:31.853 --> 00:29:34.939
at Ville-Marie, it looks nice,
00:29:34.939 --> 00:29:38.193
but those are 7000 Black people
that lost their homes,
00:29:38.193 --> 00:29:40.403
that owned their own homes...
00:29:40.403 --> 00:29:42.071
that paid for it.
00:29:42.071 --> 00:29:44.282
Now, you want to buy
a home here in Burgundy,
00:29:44.282 --> 00:29:46.367
you're looking
at over a million dollars.
00:29:46.367 --> 00:29:48.369
(jazz music)
00:29:50.413 --> 00:29:52.624
- (Ivan): My father...
my father settled right here
00:29:52.624 --> 00:29:54.876
when he first came to Montreal,
00:29:54.876 --> 00:29:56.753
and my... my mother
00:29:56.753 --> 00:29:58.922
settled over across here
with the Packwoods.
00:29:59.923 --> 00:30:02.050
That was the area which was
00:30:02.050 --> 00:30:05.136
the... the heart
of the Black community,
00:30:05.136 --> 00:30:08.056
as I remember
growing up in Burgundy.
00:30:09.307 --> 00:30:10.683
That's a long time ago.
00:30:14.604 --> 00:30:18.024
We lost St. Antoine Street.
- (Pardo): And then you had
00:30:18.024 --> 00:30:21.903
friends that stayed on Plymouth.
- They stayed on Plymouth...
00:30:21.903 --> 00:30:23.446
below the tracks.
00:30:23.446 --> 00:30:25.865
I had some friends
who lived here.
00:30:25.865 --> 00:30:29.744
Oliver Jones and Oscar Peterson.
00:30:29.744 --> 00:30:32.080
- (Pardo): Where was your house?
- (Ivan): Right here.
00:30:33.081 --> 00:30:35.166
(playing melancholy music)
00:30:35.166 --> 00:30:38.253
(bell constantly ringing)
00:30:53.851 --> 00:30:56.521
(vehicle rolling overhead)
00:30:58.189 --> 00:31:00.066
There were still
a lot of Blacks living...
00:31:00.066 --> 00:31:02.902
Like, I still remember
the Lords...
00:31:04.195 --> 00:31:07.073
...the Hetleys, the Glikes,
00:31:07.073 --> 00:31:09.576
the Chambers.
00:31:09.576 --> 00:31:11.578
Who else?
00:31:15.373 --> 00:31:17.166
- (David): You know,
I am a professional rescuer
00:31:17.166 --> 00:31:20.253
as a firefighter. We have
00:31:20.253 --> 00:31:23.298
about 120 000 emergency calls
00:31:23.298 --> 00:31:26.217
a year in Montreal,
and each time,
00:31:26.217 --> 00:31:28.803
we bring our readiness to face
00:31:28.803 --> 00:31:32.348
an unstable situation
and find a way to stabilize it.
00:31:43.443 --> 00:31:47.030
My aunt had a pool
when I was a boy.
00:31:47.030 --> 00:31:48.865
So all the little bugs
that you see
00:31:48.865 --> 00:31:50.867
on their back in the pool
trying to...
00:31:50.867 --> 00:31:52.619
trying to work something out,
00:31:52.619 --> 00:31:55.079
well, I would see them
and I'd pick them up
00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:56.748
in a little handful of water
00:31:56.748 --> 00:31:58.583
and then take 'em over
to the edge
00:31:58.583 --> 00:32:00.627
and dump 'em out
on the cement.
00:32:00.627 --> 00:32:02.962
And you know,
when they got dry enough,
00:32:02.962 --> 00:32:04.589
you could help 'em flip over
00:32:04.589 --> 00:32:06.507
and move 'em
to a dry piece of cement.
00:32:06.507 --> 00:32:09.385
And... I like helping folks.
00:32:09.385 --> 00:32:11.846
I like helping...
helping, period.
00:32:25.193 --> 00:32:29.155
We live in a place where
something terrible happened.
00:32:30.865 --> 00:32:33.868
Now, we've built
a society on that:
00:32:33.868 --> 00:32:36.204
slavery and genocide.
00:32:38.873 --> 00:32:42.752
This genocide
that was committed here
00:32:42.752 --> 00:32:44.253
is a tragedy.
00:32:45.505 --> 00:32:48.925
We consider First Nations people
less than human.
00:32:52.011 --> 00:32:54.180
But we can acknowledge
what happened.
00:32:55.181 --> 00:32:58.726
And we can try to find
a way forward
00:32:58.726 --> 00:33:00.436
looking honestly
00:33:00.436 --> 00:33:02.522
at the crimes
that have been committed
00:33:02.522 --> 00:33:05.233
and the heartbreak
that has been levied
00:33:05.233 --> 00:33:06.943
on so many people.
00:33:06.943 --> 00:33:09.904
And we don't do that because
we still dehumanize them.
00:33:09.904 --> 00:33:12.865
They're still a page...
one page in a history book.
00:33:12.865 --> 00:33:14.992
If you want to study, you know,
00:33:14.992 --> 00:33:18.579
medical science and surgery
in precolonial Africa,
00:33:18.579 --> 00:33:20.832
which existed,
which revolutionized
00:33:20.832 --> 00:33:23.793
surgery in Europe
with the Caesarean section
00:33:23.793 --> 00:33:26.504
and... and... and, uh...
00:33:26.504 --> 00:33:29.465
sterile solutions
00:33:29.465 --> 00:33:31.342
as documented in some medical...
00:33:31.342 --> 00:33:32.802
Edinburgh Medical Journal,
00:33:32.802 --> 00:33:37.765
and not... I have this uniquely
Eurocentric curriculum...
00:33:38.766 --> 00:33:41.269
Solution is correct
the curriculum.
00:33:43.104 --> 00:33:44.939
(trumpet music)
00:34:00.037 --> 00:34:02.373
♪♪♪
00:34:14.469 --> 00:34:16.137
- (Ivan): There were
a lot of people in the community
00:34:16.137 --> 00:34:18.473
that weren't prepared to accept
the things that I was doing.
00:34:18.473 --> 00:34:20.433
I was considered
the top chemistry teacher
00:34:20.433 --> 00:34:23.686
in the province of Quebec.
I was called names.
00:34:23.686 --> 00:34:27.065
So I said to myself,
"If this is the best,
00:34:27.065 --> 00:34:29.400
let me go away
and come back."
00:34:31.277 --> 00:34:33.488
And that's when I applied
to go to Africa.
00:34:46.542 --> 00:34:48.753
(speaking French)
00:34:54.842 --> 00:34:56.302
Hahaha!
00:34:58.054 --> 00:35:00.056
And I started teaching there
00:35:00.056 --> 00:35:02.934
in a place called Boma,
just up the Congo River.
00:35:02.934 --> 00:35:06.729
I had a fantastic relation
with my kids.
00:35:06.729 --> 00:35:09.398
And they called me...
they called me Livingstone,
00:35:09.398 --> 00:35:11.025
Oyé Livingstone,
00:35:11.025 --> 00:35:12.944
and I was king.
00:35:22.036 --> 00:35:23.579
(Ivan chuckles)
00:35:29.919 --> 00:35:32.713
Given that I was a photographer,
00:35:32.713 --> 00:35:34.507
Madame Gagnepoint, she was
00:35:34.507 --> 00:35:36.634
high priest
of the cult of voodoo,
00:35:36.634 --> 00:35:39.804
she afforded me opportunities
00:35:39.804 --> 00:35:42.557
to pursue the voodoo cults
00:35:42.557 --> 00:35:44.433
of the lower part of Dahomey.
00:35:48.020 --> 00:35:49.313
Ouais.
00:35:52.692 --> 00:35:54.569
Hmm...
00:35:57.697 --> 00:35:59.740
the diviner of Ketou.
00:36:04.203 --> 00:36:06.539
The woman, she's a Yoruba.
00:36:08.457 --> 00:36:10.167
(Ivan chuckles)
00:36:10.167 --> 00:36:12.003
My goodness, beautiful stuff.
00:36:12.003 --> 00:36:14.255
And those five years
that I spent in Africa...
00:36:15.423 --> 00:36:17.300
...divine intervention.
00:36:21.554 --> 00:36:23.181
Like, when I look back now,
I pursued
00:36:23.181 --> 00:36:24.599
anything that was Black.
00:36:25.808 --> 00:36:28.144
Marcus Garvey, uh...
00:36:28.144 --> 00:36:30.354
W.E.B. Du Bois,
00:36:30.354 --> 00:36:32.064
Frederick Douglass...
00:36:33.441 --> 00:36:34.859
...Jackie Robinson,
00:36:34.859 --> 00:36:36.944
Sammy Jethroe...
(jazz music playing)
00:36:36.944 --> 00:36:38.571
...Ella Fitzgerald - hehehe -
00:36:38.571 --> 00:36:41.365
Duke Ellington, Miles Davis.
00:36:53.502 --> 00:36:55.630
♪♪♪
00:37:02.470 --> 00:37:04.513
- (Pardo): As you travelled
parts of the continent
00:37:04.513 --> 00:37:07.850
facing hateful crowds,
00:37:07.850 --> 00:37:11.979
your boss told you to shut up
and play ball, Jackie...
00:37:11.979 --> 00:37:15.942
while our brothers told us
to stand up and fight.
00:37:15.942 --> 00:37:17.985
♪♪♪
00:37:37.755 --> 00:37:38.839
- (man): Oh!
00:37:39.799 --> 00:37:41.926
- (man): Gimme one. Gimme one.
00:37:41.926 --> 00:37:44.929
He's gonna knock me out.
(people laughing)
00:37:51.394 --> 00:37:54.146
- The champion's back.
- Haha!
00:37:56.065 --> 00:37:57.900
- (woman): So, Uncle Les,
you lived here for how long?
00:37:57.900 --> 00:38:00.361
And then Grandma would hang out
that window and call us.
00:38:00.361 --> 00:38:02.196
Remember?
- (woman 2): Dad told me stories
00:38:02.196 --> 00:38:05.366
about how tough it was
to "wake" up the street
00:38:05.366 --> 00:38:07.159
and walking
off your girlfriends.
00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:08.703
- (Ronald): We had
to defend our women.
00:38:08.703 --> 00:38:10.204
That's the only time
we would fight.
00:38:10.204 --> 00:38:12.999
- (woman): All the cousins.
And we tap danced
00:38:12.999 --> 00:38:14.667
at the Jones' house.
- (woman 2): Thank you.
00:38:14.667 --> 00:38:16.711
- (man): I got it.
- (woman): All right.
00:38:16.711 --> 00:38:20.089
- (woman): Beverly.
- (Ronald): Oh yeah.
00:38:20.089 --> 00:38:22.591
Memories of Mommy. Wow!
She used to be in the kitchen
00:38:22.591 --> 00:38:25.094
working all the time.
That, I know that.
00:38:25.094 --> 00:38:26.887
Golden Gloves.
00:38:26.887 --> 00:38:30.099
Yeah.
(video in French)
00:38:32.601 --> 00:38:34.353
- (Leslie): You were
living right here.
00:38:34.353 --> 00:38:36.147
- No?
- Where you're sitting.
00:38:37.315 --> 00:38:39.900
3646, Workman.
- Yeah?
00:38:39.900 --> 00:38:42.236
- That's where we are now.
- Oh.
00:38:42.236 --> 00:38:43.571
(men chuckling)
00:38:50.703 --> 00:38:54.540
- (Beverly): I used to
fight on... Haha! A girl fight.
00:38:54.540 --> 00:38:56.542
You know,
when you have five brothers,
00:38:56.542 --> 00:38:58.586
you think you're Superwoman?
00:38:58.586 --> 00:39:02.214
That was me.
(laughing)
00:39:02.214 --> 00:39:04.633
- (woman): I remember it
being an issue
00:39:04.633 --> 00:39:07.720
growing up
with the French, the English,
00:39:07.720 --> 00:39:09.555
the Black, the white,
00:39:09.555 --> 00:39:11.557
the rich or the poor.
00:39:11.557 --> 00:39:14.935
There was so much struggle
for my... my aunt
00:39:14.935 --> 00:39:17.521
and her brothers and my uncles
00:39:17.521 --> 00:39:21.233
in terms of fitting in
to Montreal life.
00:39:21.233 --> 00:39:24.153
- You remember
when Nelson Mandela
00:39:24.153 --> 00:39:26.238
went to the church?
00:39:26.238 --> 00:39:28.449
- We say
00:39:28.449 --> 00:39:30.743
death to racism.
00:39:30.743 --> 00:39:34.455
(crowd cheering)
00:39:34.455 --> 00:39:36.665
- (Beverly): Here I am.
It's me there with my hand up.
00:39:36.665 --> 00:39:38.876
And I said, "Well, look,
I'm in the paper again."
00:39:38.876 --> 00:39:41.504
Hahaha! Those days,
00:39:41.504 --> 00:39:43.047
you're Black and
you're proud. Hahaha!
00:39:43.047 --> 00:39:46.092
- (Dezy): Oh, look ici.
- (Beverly): Old man Jones, man.
00:39:46.092 --> 00:39:47.635
Hey, look at that.
- (Ronald): Oh yeah.
00:39:49.637 --> 00:39:51.597
(bell rings twice)
- (man): Envoye, go!
00:39:56.644 --> 00:39:58.479
- (Ronald): They used to say...
00:40:01.273 --> 00:40:02.900
Everywhere we'd go.
00:40:02.900 --> 00:40:04.568
- Remember when we were
sitting in the poolroom
00:40:04.568 --> 00:40:07.404
with our motorcycles,
and the cop comes in?
00:40:08.697 --> 00:40:12.118
"You're under arrest.
I'm under arrest for what?
00:40:12.118 --> 00:40:14.203
He says, "You were insulting
the girls outside."
00:40:14.203 --> 00:40:16.956
All they wanted
was our pictures, that's it.
00:40:16.956 --> 00:40:20.209
You know, so they put a...
they put a charge on you.
00:40:22.002 --> 00:40:24.463
That's... that's one of them.
That's one of the times.
00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:27.675
- We used to say,
"Let's go to a club.
00:40:27.675 --> 00:40:29.927
Why? Well, we'll go
and have a fight."
00:40:29.927 --> 00:40:31.512
(laughing)
00:40:31.512 --> 00:40:34.014
(women scat singing)
00:40:35.933 --> 00:40:37.726
- (woman): Are we turning?
- (man): Yeah.
00:40:37.726 --> 00:40:39.770
(women scat singing)
00:40:39.770 --> 00:40:41.480
- (woman): Yes! Yes!
00:40:43.274 --> 00:40:44.608
All right, break it down.
00:40:47.653 --> 00:40:49.905
(indistinct speaking)
00:40:49.905 --> 00:40:51.866
(women scat singing)
Come on!
00:40:53.284 --> 00:40:56.370
Bring it home!
One, two, three, four!
00:40:56.370 --> 00:40:59.206
♪ Tap, tap, tap tap, yeah ♪
(women laughing)
00:40:59.206 --> 00:41:01.292
(women speaking indistinctly)
00:41:01.292 --> 00:41:02.835
(boxing announcer
speaking indistinctly)
00:41:02.835 --> 00:41:04.879
(women laughing)
00:41:10.801 --> 00:41:14.221
(crowd cheering noise)
00:41:17.892 --> 00:41:20.394
- (Beverly):
When I was about 8-9,
00:41:20.394 --> 00:41:22.438
I went to the store,
and there were
00:41:22.438 --> 00:41:24.732
some of these little licorices.
00:41:24.732 --> 00:41:27.776
You know, they're black.
And then these
00:41:27.776 --> 00:41:30.613
French little boys came in,
and they said...
00:41:34.450 --> 00:41:36.160
Just recently,
00:41:36.160 --> 00:41:38.078
about three,
four years ago,
00:41:38.078 --> 00:41:41.790
I went to the store
up on Newman,
00:41:41.790 --> 00:41:44.293
and they opened up
a candy thing.
00:41:44.293 --> 00:41:45.711
And, Lord, there it was,
00:41:45.711 --> 00:41:48.088
that candy again.
00:41:51.467 --> 00:41:52.843
I-I still feel
00:41:52.843 --> 00:41:57.640
the anger
because it's about racism.
00:41:57.640 --> 00:42:00.392
It's about murder.
00:42:00.392 --> 00:42:02.061
It's about rape.
00:42:02.061 --> 00:42:04.271
It's about killing people.
00:42:04.271 --> 00:42:05.564
It's about...
00:42:07.441 --> 00:42:10.903
...white people,
KKK if you want to call them.
00:42:10.903 --> 00:42:12.571
Call them whatever you want.
00:42:12.571 --> 00:42:14.740
They could be preachers.
00:42:14.740 --> 00:42:17.243
They could be lawyers.
They could be ministers.
00:42:17.243 --> 00:42:20.079
They could be nuns.
They could be...
00:42:20.079 --> 00:42:22.915
It's all racism.
00:42:22.915 --> 00:42:24.708
- There's another time,
I don't know if, Auntie,
00:42:24.708 --> 00:42:27.461
you know this situation,
where Dad was walking
00:42:27.461 --> 00:42:29.588
with Grandma, my grandmother
00:42:29.588 --> 00:42:31.674
on the street,
00:42:31.674 --> 00:42:35.427
and my father was searched
00:42:35.427 --> 00:42:37.471
or the officers
pulled him over again
00:42:37.471 --> 00:42:40.516
with my grandmother there.
They searched him.
00:42:40.516 --> 00:42:43.894
They handcuffed him,
put him in the back of the car,
00:42:43.894 --> 00:42:46.272
took him to the station.
00:42:46.272 --> 00:42:47.564
The only time they let him go
00:42:47.564 --> 00:42:51.235
is this white lady came
into the jail cell,
00:42:51.235 --> 00:42:53.320
looked at him and said,
"No, that's not...
00:42:57.074 --> 00:42:58.784
And-and-and that breaks my heart
00:42:58.784 --> 00:43:03.372
because right now, I'm a...
I'm in law enforcement.
00:43:03.372 --> 00:43:06.375
If I'm a person
that has experience
00:43:06.375 --> 00:43:08.502
in the community
00:43:08.502 --> 00:43:11.255
and have the ability
to explain things
00:43:11.255 --> 00:43:13.132
to both sides
00:43:13.132 --> 00:43:15.509
in order to function properly
00:43:15.509 --> 00:43:17.761
and function well,
00:43:17.761 --> 00:43:20.180
and I owe pretty much all of it
00:43:20.180 --> 00:43:22.474
to my upbringing.
- Mm-hmm.
00:43:22.474 --> 00:43:25.102
- And having the ability
to grow up
00:43:25.102 --> 00:43:27.855
in a French-and-English city,
00:43:27.855 --> 00:43:31.400
a mixed-race family,
00:43:31.400 --> 00:43:33.360
a very loving family.
00:43:33.360 --> 00:43:36.572
(indistinct chatter)
And we'll protect each other.
00:43:36.572 --> 00:43:38.657
(man laughing)
(indistinct chatter)
00:43:46.415 --> 00:43:49.001
- (Pardo):
United families building
00:43:49.001 --> 00:43:51.503
a community with determination,
00:43:51.503 --> 00:43:53.714
hard work and joy.
00:43:53.714 --> 00:43:55.924
(energetic piano music)
00:44:20.449 --> 00:44:23.869
- (David): The NCC goes back
00:44:23.869 --> 00:44:25.621
to the 1920s.
00:44:27.039 --> 00:44:31.043
This was a booming community,
and everything was rich
00:44:31.043 --> 00:44:33.462
and strong.
(lively piano music)
00:44:33.462 --> 00:44:36.965
This was
a vibrant Black community.
00:44:39.218 --> 00:44:41.303
(kids laughing)
00:44:44.139 --> 00:44:46.934
When we had
a concentrated population
00:44:46.934 --> 00:44:49.269
that supported
these organizations,
00:44:49.269 --> 00:44:51.397
that was sort of a glory day.
00:44:53.399 --> 00:44:55.234
- (Charlene):
It was a community centre
00:44:55.234 --> 00:44:58.904
attached to Union United Church.
00:44:58.904 --> 00:45:01.698
And those days,
Black people weren't allowed
00:45:01.698 --> 00:45:04.034
to go to white churches.
00:45:04.034 --> 00:45:06.203
So you had the porters,
00:45:06.203 --> 00:45:08.288
and they held a gathering,
00:45:08.288 --> 00:45:10.958
talk about their islands
where they were from.
00:45:10.958 --> 00:45:13.669
- (together): What? Impossible!
00:45:13.669 --> 00:45:16.004
- (Charlene):
That was the community centre.
00:45:17.297 --> 00:45:20.467
- (Beverly): Lunch time,
we used to go to NCC
00:45:20.467 --> 00:45:22.636
for our food,
and we used to have
00:45:22.636 --> 00:45:24.805
apple crisps for dessert
00:45:24.805 --> 00:45:28.517
and, gee wiz, must have been
a good 100 kids.
00:45:28.517 --> 00:45:30.227
- (Charlene):
Black, white, brown,
00:45:30.227 --> 00:45:34.022
you name it.
And they had a kitchen
00:45:34.022 --> 00:45:36.066
that you opened up the gate,
00:45:36.066 --> 00:45:37.901
and they served the kids
from there,
00:45:37.901 --> 00:45:40.654
and... amazing.
00:45:42.865 --> 00:45:45.200
- (Beverly): Never had
no bad memory of NCC,
00:45:45.200 --> 00:45:46.869
it's impossible,
00:45:46.869 --> 00:45:50.497
because we were all together,
we were all having fun.
00:45:50.497 --> 00:45:54.293
(piano music)
00:46:00.007 --> 00:46:02.968
(applause and cheering)
- Chicka-chicka!
00:46:02.968 --> 00:46:06.096
So I got good, and I even got
the chicka-chicka.
00:46:07.264 --> 00:46:11.310
So, that was the best
of my life, tap dancing.
00:46:15.647 --> 00:46:17.232
Then you had Mrs. Sweeney.
00:46:17.232 --> 00:46:20.068
She is the sister
of Oscar Peterson.
00:46:20.068 --> 00:46:23.906
She gave my mom piano lessons
for 8 cents back in the days.
00:46:24.990 --> 00:46:27.868
And... history.
00:46:31.580 --> 00:46:34.625
♪♪♪
00:46:40.797 --> 00:46:42.591
- (Majiza):
I remember going there.
00:46:42.591 --> 00:46:44.551
I had such good memories
from that place,
00:46:44.551 --> 00:46:47.596
but as time went on,
it just started decaying.
00:46:47.596 --> 00:46:49.556
(bird cooing)
And it's just...
00:46:49.556 --> 00:46:51.600
You think about how much
has gone on there,
00:46:51.600 --> 00:46:53.936
how many children,
how many parents,
00:46:53.936 --> 00:46:55.938
everyone who's just, like,
passed through that place.
00:46:55.938 --> 00:46:58.440
And there's nothing left of it.
00:47:13.038 --> 00:47:15.874
- (David): The consequences
of the deconcentration,
00:47:15.874 --> 00:47:19.670
of the lack of presence
of the community
00:47:19.670 --> 00:47:22.798
and no longer having
what you need
00:47:22.798 --> 00:47:25.133
to support such an organization,
00:47:25.133 --> 00:47:28.804
so then, the decline
is inevitable.
00:47:33.016 --> 00:47:35.519
Now, I would love to see
00:47:35.519 --> 00:47:37.437
a new community centre,
00:47:37.437 --> 00:47:41.108
some museum space,
so that we could go back and...
00:47:41.108 --> 00:47:44.736
and see about the Black porters
00:47:44.736 --> 00:47:46.697
and the domestic workers
00:47:46.697 --> 00:47:49.199
who lived in this area
and who built a community.
00:47:50.534 --> 00:47:53.453
I'm hoping
that somehow, we'll find
00:47:53.453 --> 00:47:55.205
a way to revive it.
00:47:55.205 --> 00:47:58.750
♪♪♪
00:48:01.920 --> 00:48:04.214
- (Pardo): Dear Jackie...
00:48:04.214 --> 00:48:07.384
you changed the game forever...
00:48:08.635 --> 00:48:11.513
...you made the Montreal Royals
a winning team...
00:48:14.266 --> 00:48:16.602
...you were named
rookie of the year
00:48:16.602 --> 00:48:19.313
in Major League Baseball.
00:48:21.356 --> 00:48:23.567
- Aaah!
00:48:23.567 --> 00:48:26.153
- (Pardo): Your number 42
00:48:26.153 --> 00:48:28.196
is now immortalized.
00:48:30.157 --> 00:48:31.908
- (man 1): Don't ever say can't.
- (man 2): You're right.
00:48:31.908 --> 00:48:33.368
- (man 1): It's not a word.
Those who say they can't
00:48:33.368 --> 00:48:34.953
are just afraid to try it.
Remember that.
00:48:34.953 --> 00:48:37.998
- (Pardo):
You are remembered forever.
00:48:40.250 --> 00:48:42.002
- (man): Good job!
00:48:44.671 --> 00:48:46.590
Hey, that was a nice shot!
00:48:46.590 --> 00:48:49.176
♪♪♪
00:48:53.055 --> 00:48:55.641
- (Jaz'Marie): "Jackie worked
hard and got better at hitting
00:48:55.641 --> 00:48:58.101
"the ball and stealing bases.
00:48:58.101 --> 00:49:01.313
"Jackie's teammates
could not deny his talent
00:49:01.313 --> 00:49:02.856
"and skills.
00:49:04.232 --> 00:49:06.902
"Segregation.
To separate people,
00:49:06.902 --> 00:49:09.655
"usually by their race
or skin colour.
00:49:11.239 --> 00:49:15.285
Um, in the world,
they do have a lot of racism.
00:49:15.285 --> 00:49:18.455
United States,
the United Kingdom itself,
00:49:18.455 --> 00:49:22.000
Montreal, everywhere.
00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:24.628
My mom, this was
a long time ago,
00:49:24.628 --> 00:49:27.631
I'm not sure if I remember,
she did tell me the story
00:49:27.631 --> 00:49:30.634
that she went to a bus
and some...
00:49:30.634 --> 00:49:34.763
and then, the bus driver
forced her to go in the back,
00:49:34.763 --> 00:49:37.307
forced my mom to go in the back
00:49:37.307 --> 00:49:39.851
of the... of the bus.
00:49:39.851 --> 00:49:42.896
My mom went
in the back of the bus
00:49:42.896 --> 00:49:45.107
next couple of times later.
00:49:45.107 --> 00:49:46.900
He was forcing her
to go back and forth,
00:49:46.900 --> 00:49:49.319
and my mom just refused
up to him,
00:49:49.319 --> 00:49:51.405
and that's...
00:49:51.405 --> 00:49:54.491
I'm so proud of her.
She's so brave.
00:49:54.491 --> 00:49:57.411
Like, my mind was blown
when she told that story.
00:49:58.412 --> 00:49:59.538
Yeah.
00:50:00.872 --> 00:50:02.874
But like I said, Black people
aren't supposed to go
00:50:02.874 --> 00:50:05.877
through this racism;
it isn't fun at all.
00:50:07.921 --> 00:50:08.964
Yep.
00:50:08.964 --> 00:50:10.340
- (Pardo): Angry?
00:50:10.340 --> 00:50:12.342
- Yep. It's very bad.
00:50:36.241 --> 00:50:37.659
- (Ivan): That was in the '50s.
00:50:38.660 --> 00:50:41.413
It was before I turned pro.
00:50:41.413 --> 00:50:43.206
Beautiful guys, boy.
00:50:45.751 --> 00:50:48.420
Ain't that something? Hahahaha!
- (Pardo): Who's this?
00:50:48.420 --> 00:50:50.130
- That's me.
00:50:50.130 --> 00:50:52.215
(in French)
00:50:54.551 --> 00:50:56.970
Hahahaha!
00:50:56.970 --> 00:50:58.930
In those days,
they called it flanker.
00:50:58.930 --> 00:51:00.932
That's how I got
my teeth knocked out.
00:51:02.476 --> 00:51:05.937
Yeah. There were good days, boy.
00:51:05.937 --> 00:51:07.981
- (Pardo): And how many years
did you play for the Alouettes?
00:51:07.981 --> 00:51:10.275
- Four.
- And for the Stampeders?
00:51:10.275 --> 00:51:14.738
- Just one and a half because
I ran into a racist coach.
00:51:14.738 --> 00:51:17.157
I didn't want to have
anything to do with that man.
00:51:17.157 --> 00:51:19.326
(jazz music)
00:51:26.166 --> 00:51:31.338
- (David): The evenness
of this caste system of race
00:51:31.338 --> 00:51:34.049
with white males at the top
00:51:34.049 --> 00:51:36.343
is omnipresent
in the Western world
00:51:36.343 --> 00:51:38.970
and no less in Montreal
00:51:38.970 --> 00:51:42.849
than Louisiana or Mississippi.
00:51:42.849 --> 00:51:45.352
(ball hits baseball bat)
00:51:45.352 --> 00:51:47.646
What is interesting in Montreal
00:51:47.646 --> 00:51:49.439
is that people like to think
00:51:49.439 --> 00:51:51.024
they're not racist
00:51:51.024 --> 00:51:53.443
or they're less racist,
00:51:53.443 --> 00:51:57.781
but the discrimination
is very common here,
00:51:57.781 --> 00:52:00.450
still. And for instance,
00:52:00.450 --> 00:52:03.745
Christie versus York
where in 1936,
00:52:03.745 --> 00:52:06.498
the Supreme Court of Canada
00:52:06.498 --> 00:52:08.875
decided that a shop owner
00:52:08.875 --> 00:52:11.211
could choose
not to serve Black people
00:52:11.211 --> 00:52:14.965
not long before Jackie Robinson,
right here in Montreal.
00:52:17.509 --> 00:52:19.761
- (Pardo): And with that ruling,
00:52:19.761 --> 00:52:23.014
segregation had
its legal precedent in Canada.
00:52:25.433 --> 00:52:27.310
- Mr. Christie, like me,
00:52:27.310 --> 00:52:29.271
was a fair-skinned Black man,
00:52:29.271 --> 00:52:33.525
but when he brings
a Black friend, well, now
00:52:33.525 --> 00:52:35.402
he's no longer
worthy of service.
00:52:36.611 --> 00:52:39.823
And this has happened to me
on de la Montagne,
00:52:39.823 --> 00:52:42.701
downtown Montreal
only a few years ago.
00:52:44.035 --> 00:52:45.871
By no means, this is
00:52:45.871 --> 00:52:48.039
a post-racial paradise.
00:52:51.084 --> 00:52:54.212
- (Majiza): The first man
in my life to treat me the best
00:52:54.212 --> 00:52:55.839
was my white grandfather.
00:52:57.716 --> 00:53:00.927
Once I started getting older
00:53:00.927 --> 00:53:03.346
and being exposed to the world,
and, you know, I got called
00:53:03.346 --> 00:53:04.973
a n****** for the first time
on the street.
00:53:04.973 --> 00:53:06.766
You know, last year,
I got called a n*****
00:53:06.766 --> 00:53:08.602
on the bus
by some drunk white guy.
00:53:08.602 --> 00:53:10.186
Like, I was the only
Black person on the bus,
00:53:10.186 --> 00:53:11.730
I'm the only person he targeted.
00:53:11.730 --> 00:53:13.732
He walked up to me
and just said,
00:53:13.732 --> 00:53:15.400
"N*****, how does that
make you feel?"
00:53:15.400 --> 00:53:17.444
I was like,
"Honestly, I don't care."
00:53:17.444 --> 00:53:19.321
I'm like,
"That word doesn't... doesn't...
00:53:19.321 --> 00:53:21.823
doesn't describe me."
I'm like, "I think it's stupid,
00:53:21.823 --> 00:53:24.034
so I'm not gonna give you
what you want. Sorry."
00:53:24.034 --> 00:53:25.577
And he just kept
calling me that, you know,
00:53:25.577 --> 00:53:27.579
and it was like... I was
with a white friend on the bus,
00:53:27.579 --> 00:53:29.748
and my white friend
was tearing up
00:53:29.748 --> 00:53:32.167
because that was
the first time for them
00:53:32.167 --> 00:53:35.462
understanding what it's like
to be a Black person.
00:53:35.462 --> 00:53:38.590
To be any other...
anything other than white,
00:53:38.590 --> 00:53:41.635
you're going to be...
you will be treated differently.
00:53:41.635 --> 00:53:43.345
And it's...
00:53:43.345 --> 00:53:45.138
Right, people are,
"Racism is not as real."
00:53:45.138 --> 00:53:48.266
It's the realest fucking thing
that we still have to this day.
00:53:48.266 --> 00:53:50.060
Like, it's still so...
00:53:50.060 --> 00:53:52.604
It's like the fact
that my grandparents got married
00:53:52.604 --> 00:53:55.023
in the '50s,
and it was a big deal,
00:53:55.023 --> 00:53:57.108
and I still got called
a n***** on the bus
00:53:57.108 --> 00:53:59.778
60 years later, it's...
00:54:01.071 --> 00:54:03.073
...you know, it... it...
00:54:03.073 --> 00:54:05.283
it's a reason
that I could be angry.
00:54:05.283 --> 00:54:08.203
You know, feeling
like being a Black person,
00:54:08.203 --> 00:54:10.956
you know, like...
it's... but it...
00:54:11.957 --> 00:54:15.043
There's...
It's just really hard.
00:54:17.045 --> 00:54:19.673
And I feel glad
that I grew up
00:54:19.673 --> 00:54:22.050
in a Black neighbourhood
because at least, I felt
00:54:22.050 --> 00:54:23.635
like everyone else.
00:54:23.635 --> 00:54:25.804
(percussive music)
(indistinct chatter)
00:54:33.645 --> 00:54:37.482
- (Pardo): Our life
is resistance.
00:54:42.195 --> 00:54:45.782
Our presence is revolution.
00:54:51.663 --> 00:54:54.874
Our culture is freedom.
00:54:57.752 --> 00:55:00.046
- What's happened? What's wrong?
(indistinct answer)
00:55:00.046 --> 00:55:03.216
(indistinct speaking)
00:55:03.216 --> 00:55:04.551
Where do you want to go?
00:55:04.551 --> 00:55:07.721
(phone ringing)
♪♪♪
00:55:31.786 --> 00:55:34.122
♪♪♪
00:55:50.346 --> 00:55:52.390
- (woman): All right.
00:55:52.390 --> 00:55:56.936
It's CKUT 90.3 FM
Bhum Bhum Time
00:55:56.936 --> 00:55:58.521
When we return,
we're gonna talk
00:55:58.521 --> 00:56:02.067
about racial profiling
in Montreal. All right?
00:56:05.278 --> 00:56:08.782
(reggae song playing)
00:56:22.837 --> 00:56:25.298
- (Charlene): I think
the government should
see how people work.
00:56:25.298 --> 00:56:27.675
They really don't know
the groundwork,
00:56:27.675 --> 00:56:29.135
what people do for people.
00:56:29.135 --> 00:56:31.513
Well, what's that?
- (man): I just learned
00:56:31.513 --> 00:56:33.431
the word for it
the other day. Kohlrabi.
00:56:33.431 --> 00:56:34.849
- (Charlene): Sounds like
collaboration.
00:56:34.849 --> 00:56:36.935
- (man): Yeah.
(Charlene chuckling)
00:56:36.935 --> 00:56:40.188
- (Charlene): Oh, my gosh!
- (man): All the brothers
and sisters here?
00:56:40.188 --> 00:56:41.981
- (woman): Yeah.
- (man): Recognition.
00:56:41.981 --> 00:56:44.984
Thank you. Thank you
for the community and all that.
00:56:44.984 --> 00:56:47.112
A lot of love and all.
- (woman): Glad you're here.
00:56:47.112 --> 00:56:49.656
- (man): You deserve
a lot of love.
00:56:49.656 --> 00:56:51.366
- (woman): And you came early.
- (man): I came early.
00:56:51.366 --> 00:56:53.076
(indistinct chatter)
- (woman): Yay!
00:56:53.076 --> 00:56:55.537
- (man): Pick of
the litter here. Take care.
- (woman): Take care.
00:56:55.537 --> 00:56:57.705
- (man): Here, it's like
Christmas every week.
00:56:57.705 --> 00:56:58.873
(people chuckling)
00:56:58.873 --> 00:57:01.292
Love you.
- (Charlene): I love you too.
00:57:01.292 --> 00:57:02.836
- Respect. Charlene!
00:57:02.836 --> 00:57:05.797
- (Charlene): All right.
See you next week.
00:57:05.797 --> 00:57:08.091
- You gotta do something extra.
- I know, I know.
00:57:08.091 --> 00:57:10.051
- You gotta do something more.
- I know.
00:57:10.051 --> 00:57:12.637
- We can't just see
each other like this.
00:57:12.637 --> 00:57:14.055
- I know.
- Can't go on like this.
00:57:14.055 --> 00:57:15.598
- (Charlene): You need
a community to help you
00:57:15.598 --> 00:57:19.060
get through things.
So you just make them feel good.
00:57:19.060 --> 00:57:20.854
You keep their spirits up.
00:57:20.854 --> 00:57:23.231
And you got them dancing
and they're coming in,
00:57:23.231 --> 00:57:25.233
and, man...
00:57:25.233 --> 00:57:26.985
If you would see
the homeless...
00:57:26.985 --> 00:57:29.070
they're like, "Yo, man.
This is good music."
00:57:29.070 --> 00:57:31.573
And they're getting their food,
and when they hit that door,
00:57:31.573 --> 00:57:33.116
it's a different person.
00:57:33.116 --> 00:57:35.743
(blues guitar music playing)
00:57:59.350 --> 00:58:01.603
♪♪♪
00:58:22.498 --> 00:58:24.834
♪♪♪
00:58:30.506 --> 00:58:32.300
- (Jesse): Like, the definition
of food desert, I think,
00:58:32.300 --> 00:58:34.719
is 500 metres radius,
00:58:34.719 --> 00:58:37.222
so if there's nothing
in 500 metres of your house,
00:58:37.222 --> 00:58:39.432
it's considered a food desert.
00:58:41.559 --> 00:58:43.770
I grow fresh products.
00:58:43.770 --> 00:58:45.772
I grow fresh food.
00:58:45.772 --> 00:58:48.399
Microgreens
and whatever type
00:58:48.399 --> 00:58:51.277
of leafy stuff and herbs
00:58:51.277 --> 00:58:53.947
as a means to...
00:58:53.947 --> 00:58:56.741
create a food sovereignty,
right?
00:58:56.741 --> 00:58:59.035
'Cause that's
sort of the number one thing
00:58:59.035 --> 00:59:02.872
that makes you dependent
is food, right?
00:59:02.872 --> 00:59:04.624
Like, the first thing
a colonizer does is
00:59:04.624 --> 00:59:06.876
they take your land
and then they try
00:59:06.876 --> 00:59:09.295
to kill off your food source
or, like, stop you
00:59:09.295 --> 00:59:11.756
from reaching your food source.
00:59:11.756 --> 00:59:14.634
That's like scientific
colonialism, you know.
00:59:18.805 --> 00:59:21.891
Having your food sovereignty
00:59:21.891 --> 00:59:24.602
is a key
00:59:24.602 --> 00:59:27.605
to being well and living well,
00:59:27.605 --> 00:59:29.816
and having enough
00:59:29.816 --> 00:59:32.068
to provide for yourself
00:59:32.068 --> 00:59:34.237
and your family
and your community.
00:59:37.073 --> 00:59:39.325
There's already enough
00:59:39.325 --> 00:59:41.661
in all the world
to feed everybody.
00:59:43.579 --> 00:59:47.041
And that's capitalism hoarding
and accumulating everything
00:59:47.041 --> 00:59:48.751
and wasting things,
00:59:48.751 --> 00:59:51.337
not redistributing things
evenly, you know,
00:59:51.337 --> 00:59:53.840
and giving everybody
equal footing.
00:59:57.010 --> 00:59:59.012
I don't call myself
a revolutionary,
00:59:59.012 --> 01:00:01.180
but I am definitely down
for revolution.
01:00:02.432 --> 01:00:04.600
(jazz trumpet music)
01:00:07.478 --> 01:00:11.232
I'm definitely inclined
towards, um...
01:00:11.232 --> 01:00:13.234
dismantling the systems
01:00:13.234 --> 01:00:16.571
that, you know, keep us
locked down.
01:00:18.906 --> 01:00:21.534
(playing jazz music)
01:00:31.461 --> 01:00:34.630
We provide kits that, uh...
01:00:34.630 --> 01:00:37.300
grows enough food.
01:00:37.300 --> 01:00:40.511
In nine days,
you got enough microgreens
01:00:40.511 --> 01:00:43.306
for your family
for like a week, you know.
01:00:45.767 --> 01:00:48.102
(blues guitar music playing)
01:00:59.072 --> 01:01:01.824
- (Pardo): Jackie,
our Black bodies
01:01:01.824 --> 01:01:04.702
are meant to live
with rhythm.
01:01:05.745 --> 01:01:08.081
As you know,
01:01:08.081 --> 01:01:09.999
rhythm ain't fast or slow,
01:01:09.999 --> 01:01:13.252
rhythm is our language,
01:01:13.252 --> 01:01:16.464
our way to soar and fly.
01:01:23.221 --> 01:01:26.057
They say you brought
your Negro-league style
01:01:26.057 --> 01:01:27.975
to the big leagues.
01:01:28.976 --> 01:01:30.937
We say we bring our rhythms
01:01:30.937 --> 01:01:33.147
wherever we go,
01:01:33.147 --> 01:01:36.359
even though they wish
to control us again and again.
01:01:36.359 --> 01:01:38.361
(indistinct speaking)
01:01:44.951 --> 01:01:47.578
In the '80s and '90s,
01:01:47.578 --> 01:01:50.706
the hood got rough
and so did the police force.
01:01:50.706 --> 01:01:52.417
(indistinct radio police)
01:01:52.417 --> 01:01:54.001
Some cops even had nicknames,
01:01:54.001 --> 01:01:56.254
like Batman and Robin
01:01:56.254 --> 01:01:58.798
or in this case, Dirty Harry.
01:01:58.798 --> 01:02:01.717
(knocking)
01:02:01.717 --> 01:02:04.846
Racial profiling was
at its peak.
01:02:04.846 --> 01:02:07.598
Even pregnant women
were searched.
01:02:09.725 --> 01:02:12.895
(knocking)
01:02:12.895 --> 01:02:15.481
- (woman): Who's there?
- (cop): Pizza!
01:02:15.481 --> 01:02:17.608
- (Pardo): Some cops used
unorthodox methods...
01:02:17.608 --> 01:02:20.486
- (cop): How are you doing?
- ...to find us guilty.
01:02:23.030 --> 01:02:25.992
(indistinct police radio)
01:02:30.538 --> 01:02:32.165
- (cop): Are you alone here?
- (woman): Mm-hmm.
01:02:41.215 --> 01:02:43.801
(in French)
01:02:47.972 --> 01:02:49.765
- OK, ma'am, goodnight. Négatif.
01:02:50.975 --> 01:02:53.102
- So... so... so what's
this all about?
01:02:56.814 --> 01:03:01.819
- (woman): It's
CKUT 90.3 FM Bhum Bhum Time.
01:03:01.819 --> 01:03:04.113
Today, we're gonna talk about,
01:03:04.113 --> 01:03:06.991
you know,
being Black in Montreal,
01:03:06.991 --> 01:03:10.536
street check
racial profiling report
01:03:10.536 --> 01:03:13.915
that came out October 2019.
01:03:13.915 --> 01:03:18.753
My nephew Keith
has a unique perspective
01:03:18.753 --> 01:03:21.464
because, you know, he's lived
01:03:21.464 --> 01:03:24.467
in two North American cities,
and guess what.
01:03:24.467 --> 01:03:27.803
He's a Black man.
(both laughing)
01:03:27.803 --> 01:03:30.681
October 2019, Fo...
01:03:32.099 --> 01:03:35.019
...could you just tell us
a little bit about this report
01:03:35.019 --> 01:03:37.188
that came out?
- The report said essentially
01:03:37.188 --> 01:03:39.857
that there was
a disproportionate stop
01:03:39.857 --> 01:03:43.569
of people of colour
and Indigenous people,
01:03:43.569 --> 01:03:47.114
way beyond the proportion
in the population
01:03:47.114 --> 01:03:50.993
among those who are stopped.
So Black and Latino individuals,
01:03:50.993 --> 01:03:54.497
particularly young men, are
stopped four to five times more.
01:03:54.497 --> 01:03:56.332
You stop, you ask
for their ID,
01:03:56.332 --> 01:03:57.959
and then you collect
the ID.
01:03:57.959 --> 01:03:59.794
For what purpose?
We don't know,
01:03:59.794 --> 01:04:01.504
but the thing is
that they were stopped,
01:04:01.504 --> 01:04:03.631
and that's a form
of racial profiling.
01:04:03.631 --> 01:04:07.176
However, the report does not
use the term racial profiling.
01:04:07.176 --> 01:04:09.637
And to speak
of systemic racism
01:04:09.637 --> 01:04:12.473
is basically to accuse
the Québécois majority,
01:04:12.473 --> 01:04:14.850
of, you know,
of all the bad things.
01:04:14.850 --> 01:04:18.521
So there's a reluctance
to use it, to acknowledge,
01:04:18.521 --> 01:04:20.314
to recognize, to admit.
01:04:20.314 --> 01:04:22.608
- Nephew!
- Yeah?
01:04:22.608 --> 01:04:25.486
- You've lived
in the U.S.
01:04:25.486 --> 01:04:27.572
Tell us your experiences
with the police
01:04:27.572 --> 01:04:29.574
out there.
- (Keith): Chicago itself
01:04:29.574 --> 01:04:32.827
didn't give me as much of an
issue, you know, going outside.
01:04:32.827 --> 01:04:35.329
But I did get stopped.
You know, we had stop and frisk.
01:04:35.329 --> 01:04:37.665
Not that I lived in fear
in Chicago 24-7 or whatnot,
01:04:37.665 --> 01:04:39.166
but it's a constant...
01:04:39.166 --> 01:04:41.502
it's a thing that's
constantly on your mind.
01:04:41.502 --> 01:04:43.796
- You got stopped here
a lot in Montreal.
01:04:43.796 --> 01:04:46.007
- (Keith): A lot.
- (cop): How are you doing?
01:04:46.007 --> 01:04:48.801
- How are you doing?
- Alright, you? Is this
your vehicle?
01:04:48.801 --> 01:04:51.012
- Yeah.
- You have the registration?
01:04:51.012 --> 01:04:52.847
- There you go.
- I'm sorry.
01:04:52.847 --> 01:04:54.932
- (Pat):
We were trying to count.
01:04:54.932 --> 01:04:56.851
It was like 20 something.
01:04:56.851 --> 01:04:59.270
- (Keith): Almost in the 20s.
Even at times just stopped...
01:04:59.270 --> 01:05:01.230
- (Pat): For one year,
comparatively to Chicago.
01:05:01.230 --> 01:05:02.607
- (Keith): A lot more.
01:05:02.607 --> 01:05:04.609
- I just stopped right here.
- Come on, give me a break.
01:05:04.609 --> 01:05:06.611
What are you doing here?
- I just stopped out here.
01:05:06.611 --> 01:05:09.238
You want to come with me now?
- This is not your car.
01:05:09.238 --> 01:05:12.366
- (Keith): As far as tickets
given, I got one speeding ticket
01:05:12.366 --> 01:05:16.245
in 2019, I got two
jaywalking ones, but that's it.
01:05:16.245 --> 01:05:19.415
So all these other times,
I'm just getting looked at.
01:05:19.415 --> 01:05:21.167
It weighs on a person.
- (Pat): It weighs on you.
01:05:21.167 --> 01:05:22.668
- Yeah. It's heavy.
01:05:22.668 --> 01:05:24.378
(tap dancing)
01:05:24.378 --> 01:05:26.797
(tap dancing)
01:05:29.133 --> 01:05:32.011
- (Majiza): I've always been
an activist since I was a kid.
01:05:33.137 --> 01:05:35.181
Four years ago, I stood up
01:05:35.181 --> 01:05:37.433
for my friend at a concert...
01:05:37.433 --> 01:05:40.061
because he was being arrested
in front of a bar
01:05:40.061 --> 01:05:41.937
for loitering in his t-shirt
01:05:41.937 --> 01:05:44.398
when he was waiting for me
to bring his jacket outside,
01:05:44.398 --> 01:05:48.486
and, uh, I spoke up for him
to the police, and the police
01:05:48.486 --> 01:05:50.905
assaulted me from behind,
and they broke my arm.
01:05:52.239 --> 01:05:56.160
I've got a plate, six screws
in my arm for life.
01:05:56.160 --> 01:05:58.371
And now it's been four years,
that I've been fighting
01:05:58.371 --> 01:06:00.873
this court case
with the Montreal police
01:06:00.873 --> 01:06:02.625
where they pressed charges
against me.
01:06:02.625 --> 01:06:04.251
They said I assaulted them.
They lied.
01:06:04.251 --> 01:06:07.421
I was acquitted.
The judge said that they lied,
01:06:07.421 --> 01:06:11.050
and they collaborated
to come up with a story.
01:06:11.050 --> 01:06:15.054
And I still have to fight
01:06:15.054 --> 01:06:17.139
to get them accountable
for anything.
01:06:20.476 --> 01:06:22.937
When this happened to me,
it made me...
01:06:24.313 --> 01:06:26.982
...it made me
very... very, very aware
01:06:26.982 --> 01:06:30.945
of where I came from and
the colour of my skin, and...
01:06:30.945 --> 01:06:33.989
I knew that... I knew
that these kinds of things
01:06:33.989 --> 01:06:36.992
could happen, so as much
of a shock as it was to me,
01:06:36.992 --> 01:06:39.078
it was still...
01:06:39.078 --> 01:06:40.955
there was something so real
about it
01:06:40.955 --> 01:06:43.833
that it almost snapped me
back into...
01:06:45.543 --> 01:06:48.129
...the realities of life.
Like, you know,
01:06:48.129 --> 01:06:49.839
sometimes we get so caught up
in ourselves
01:06:49.839 --> 01:06:52.174
and we're like trying to move on
and be successful
01:06:52.174 --> 01:06:53.926
and all of these things
that we forget
01:06:53.926 --> 01:06:55.970
about what's going on
around us, and we forget
01:06:55.970 --> 01:06:58.764
that there's communities
and areas and people
01:06:58.764 --> 01:07:00.516
who are being mistreated. And...
01:07:01.600 --> 01:07:04.145
...being from
a low-income neighbourhood,
01:07:04.145 --> 01:07:06.021
you know, I already had it hard
growing up,
01:07:06.021 --> 01:07:08.232
and then it's like
to make it out of there
01:07:08.232 --> 01:07:10.359
and then to still
get thrown back in
01:07:10.359 --> 01:07:12.361
and treated as though I never...
01:07:12.361 --> 01:07:14.405
It's like I didn't do any work.
It's like
01:07:14.405 --> 01:07:16.699
they just disregarded,
like, the person that I was
01:07:16.699 --> 01:07:18.951
and the person
I chose to become, so...
01:07:18.951 --> 01:07:20.745
it's really, um...
01:07:22.538 --> 01:07:23.873
...it's, uh...
01:07:25.249 --> 01:07:27.334
...it's a day-to-day battle
kind of
01:07:27.334 --> 01:07:29.545
being a Black person
in this world, I feel like.
01:07:29.545 --> 01:07:33.007
And people always want to say,
"Oh, Blacks are so angry."
01:07:33.007 --> 01:07:36.302
It's like I'm not angry.
I'm just... I'm just tired.
01:07:36.302 --> 01:07:40.639
(rubbing shoes against floor
and tapping)
01:07:40.639 --> 01:07:44.226
(tap dancing)
01:07:48.606 --> 01:07:51.692
- Black women
or women of colour
01:07:51.692 --> 01:07:53.903
when victims of crime,
01:07:53.903 --> 01:07:57.239
of some kind of crime,
hate crime, whatnot,
01:07:57.239 --> 01:07:59.366
they are less believed
01:07:59.366 --> 01:08:01.368
and they get less support
01:08:01.368 --> 01:08:03.913
from the justice system.
01:08:05.122 --> 01:08:07.833
- No wonder why I want
to stay home in my bed
01:08:07.833 --> 01:08:10.461
and watch Netflix
and knit and crochet.
01:08:11.670 --> 01:08:13.589
- You know what?
01:08:13.589 --> 01:08:15.591
We were always taught...
01:08:17.968 --> 01:08:21.305
...and I believe it,
and it is the truth...
01:08:21.305 --> 01:08:23.265
how my parents come
from the islands,
01:08:23.265 --> 01:08:26.101
the islands of Barbados,
a beautiful place,
01:08:26.101 --> 01:08:28.437
but through slavery
01:08:28.437 --> 01:08:31.565
and no matter
what happens to you,
01:08:31.565 --> 01:08:34.360
you are conditioned
01:08:34.360 --> 01:08:36.237
not to accept
01:08:36.237 --> 01:08:38.572
but to deal with a lot more.
01:08:39.615 --> 01:08:42.034
If someone whips you,
01:08:42.034 --> 01:08:44.411
you deal with the beating.
01:08:44.411 --> 01:08:47.665
If you holler out more,
you get more lashes.
01:08:49.333 --> 01:08:51.877
So for things to happen to you,
01:08:51.877 --> 01:08:53.504
you keep everything inner.
01:08:54.630 --> 01:08:58.092
And you walk that road
as a Black woman
01:08:58.092 --> 01:08:59.802
with a lot of damage inside,
01:08:59.802 --> 01:09:01.637
but they see you looking fine,
01:09:01.637 --> 01:09:04.139
but your heart
and your body start to rot
01:09:04.139 --> 01:09:07.726
'cause it comes up
with ulcers, stress.
01:09:07.726 --> 01:09:09.228
But you always look
picture-perfect,
01:09:09.228 --> 01:09:11.438
that's the word to use,
01:09:11.438 --> 01:09:13.732
but you're very hollow inside.
01:09:19.905 --> 01:09:22.074
- (Pardo): You've claimed
your body; and now you're
01:09:22.074 --> 01:09:24.034
using it to work, though.
01:09:24.034 --> 01:09:25.786
- Yeah.
01:09:25.786 --> 01:09:28.455
But I still go through days
when, you know, like,
01:09:28.455 --> 01:09:32.001
I feel my scar and I feel it,
and I know that like...
01:09:32.001 --> 01:09:34.378
you know, they took
a little something from me.
01:09:36.213 --> 01:09:39.341
And I know it's my body,
but... I live in a world
01:09:39.341 --> 01:09:42.511
where, like, they could
take it from me, you know.
01:09:42.511 --> 01:09:44.889
Like, they could take...
they could take my body from me.
01:09:44.889 --> 01:09:46.265
They could... They could...
01:09:46.265 --> 01:09:49.435
I don't... I don't
really feel safe anymore,
01:09:49.435 --> 01:09:51.145
so it's kind of hard
because I'm still working
01:09:51.145 --> 01:09:54.148
through those steps of, like,
dealing with that trauma
01:09:55.149 --> 01:09:57.401
I... I... I feel
01:09:57.401 --> 01:10:00.446
like... what it could
have been like
01:10:00.446 --> 01:10:03.407
for my ancestors to...
01:10:03.407 --> 01:10:05.868
to have someone just come and...
01:10:05.868 --> 01:10:07.745
just kill you or beat you
01:10:07.745 --> 01:10:09.997
or rape you or steal you,
01:10:09.997 --> 01:10:11.373
and it's like...
01:10:11.373 --> 01:10:13.834
And not being able
to do anything about it.
01:10:13.834 --> 01:10:15.878
(tap dancing)
01:10:22.635 --> 01:10:25.262
Like, it's my body,
but, you know, I feel
01:10:25.262 --> 01:10:28.140
like they left a mark on it,
01:10:28.140 --> 01:10:31.226
and it-it-it drives me,
it-it gives me,
01:10:31.226 --> 01:10:34.563
like, some power to do
what I'm doing.
01:10:38.609 --> 01:10:42.404
I feel strong because I stood up
against the system.
01:10:42.404 --> 01:10:44.657
I'm like one of the first
Black women in Montreal
01:10:44.657 --> 01:10:47.868
to ever really speak out against
the Montreal police ever.
01:10:58.879 --> 01:11:01.298
I want my Black people
to know that
01:11:01.298 --> 01:11:03.342
our lives matter
as much as everyone else's,
01:11:03.342 --> 01:11:04.802
and it's not... it's not right
01:11:04.802 --> 01:11:07.137
for... for us to be persecuted
01:11:07.137 --> 01:11:09.306
for the colour of our skin,
you know.
01:11:09.306 --> 01:11:11.433
(sniffles)
♪♪♪
01:11:14.019 --> 01:11:16.230
(tap dancing)
01:11:37.042 --> 01:11:40.671
- (Pardo): Dear... Anthony,
01:11:40.671 --> 01:11:42.131
Leslie,
01:11:42.131 --> 01:11:43.841
Fitzgerald,
01:11:43.841 --> 01:11:45.634
Marcellus,
01:11:45.634 --> 01:11:47.136
Osmond,
01:11:47.136 --> 01:11:48.721
Trevor,
01:11:48.721 --> 01:11:50.431
Rohan,
01:11:50.431 --> 01:11:52.016
Amar,
01:11:52.016 --> 01:11:53.809
Omar,
01:11:53.809 --> 01:11:55.728
Quilem,
01:11:55.728 --> 01:11:58.022
Alain Nicholas,
01:11:58.022 --> 01:11:59.231
Bony,
01:11:59.231 --> 01:12:00.858
Pierre,
01:12:00.858 --> 01:12:02.401
David,
01:12:02.401 --> 01:12:04.903
Jean-René Jr.,
01:12:04.903 --> 01:12:06.572
we miss you.
01:12:26.800 --> 01:12:28.677
- Well, you know, I...
you know, I say
01:12:28.677 --> 01:12:30.637
we're living
in a changing world.
01:12:32.056 --> 01:12:34.433
And maybe sometimes, you know,
when I look... when I look
01:12:34.433 --> 01:12:37.478
at the dynamics
01:12:37.478 --> 01:12:39.438
both political and social
that are taking place
01:12:39.438 --> 01:12:42.191
in United States,
what's going on in England,
01:12:42.191 --> 01:12:43.692
what's going on in Germany,
01:12:43.692 --> 01:12:47.738
what has taken place
in both Greece and Italy,
01:12:47.738 --> 01:12:49.823
and we're not really seeing
that to a great degree
01:12:49.823 --> 01:12:51.825
because there hasn't been
those divisions existing
01:12:51.825 --> 01:12:53.869
in Canada to the same degree
that they exist
01:12:53.869 --> 01:12:56.121
in United States, England,
01:12:56.121 --> 01:12:59.166
Italy, France and Germany.
01:12:59.166 --> 01:13:00.793
But I still say
the world's going through
01:13:00.793 --> 01:13:02.461
some major changes now,
01:13:02.461 --> 01:13:05.547
that there's
a certain class of people
01:13:05.547 --> 01:13:07.674
who don't want to accept it.
01:13:08.675 --> 01:13:10.886
I call it
the browning of the world.
01:13:11.887 --> 01:13:14.515
(melancholy music)
01:14:09.278 --> 01:14:10.779
(indistinct chatter)
01:14:14.408 --> 01:14:15.951
(Ivan chuckles)
01:14:17.327 --> 01:14:20.205
Believe it or not, I used to be
the fastest man in Canada.
01:14:20.205 --> 01:14:21.957
(Ivan chuckling)
01:14:21.957 --> 01:14:24.334
And now look.
(laughing)
01:14:24.334 --> 01:14:26.086
Oh, boy.
01:14:33.677 --> 01:14:35.721
"Better future."
01:14:38.265 --> 01:14:39.933
I was even thinking
the other day...
01:14:39.933 --> 01:14:42.102
I was at the school council
01:14:42.102 --> 01:14:44.313
of the island of Montreal,
01:14:44.313 --> 01:14:46.940
and I was...
01:15:01.538 --> 01:15:03.498
I've had that many, many times
before, you know,
01:15:03.498 --> 01:15:05.000
but why is it... I always say,
01:15:05.000 --> 01:15:08.629
"Why is it always...
only in closed circumstances?"
01:15:08.629 --> 01:15:11.632
When I was a football player,
I was invited to Quebec City
01:15:11.632 --> 01:15:14.927
because I was the only
Alouette that spoke French.
01:15:14.927 --> 01:15:19.014
I was... I was treated
like royalty.
01:15:20.015 --> 01:15:22.351
Why didn't that continue?
01:15:22.351 --> 01:15:24.144
(crowd cheering)
01:15:31.777 --> 01:15:33.487
(ball hits baseball bat)
01:15:33.487 --> 01:15:35.197
(crowd cheering)
01:15:37.574 --> 01:15:40.285
(crowd cheering)
01:15:45.457 --> 01:15:46.917
The French Canadians
01:15:46.917 --> 01:15:50.254
carried Jackie Robinson
on their shoulders.
01:15:50.254 --> 01:15:52.422
I've not forgotten that.
We were so proud.
01:15:52.422 --> 01:15:54.967
(crowd cheering)
01:15:58.303 --> 01:16:01.139
- (Pardo): After you helped
the Montreal Royals
01:16:01.139 --> 01:16:04.935
win their first ever
Little World Series,
01:16:04.935 --> 01:16:06.895
you went on to greater
01:16:06.895 --> 01:16:10.440
and more daunting challenges
in the U.S.
01:16:10.440 --> 01:16:12.985
You respected your contract
01:16:12.985 --> 01:16:15.904
and kept your mouth shut
for three years
01:16:15.904 --> 01:16:18.031
by answering the death threats
01:16:18.031 --> 01:16:20.284
with your talent alone.
01:16:20.284 --> 01:16:23.662
But after that,
you let your thoughts
01:16:23.662 --> 01:16:26.290
and words go free.
01:16:27.499 --> 01:16:29.626
Your perseverance, Jackie,
01:16:29.626 --> 01:16:31.420
won our hearts,
01:16:31.420 --> 01:16:33.630
and you became our champion.
01:16:33.630 --> 01:16:35.007
- (woman): Small world!
01:16:35.007 --> 01:16:36.967
- (Pardo): But the myth
the white establishment built
01:16:36.967 --> 01:16:39.970
around you took away
the legitimacy
01:16:39.970 --> 01:16:42.931
of Black experiences
by underlining
01:16:42.931 --> 01:16:46.184
your unique journey
and promoting it
01:16:46.184 --> 01:16:49.187
as the norm
for all Afro-Canadians.
01:16:49.187 --> 01:16:50.939
- (Ivan):
Yeah, that's the trophy
01:16:50.939 --> 01:16:53.150
for being
the most outstanding performer,
01:16:53.150 --> 01:16:56.403
the fastest man in Canada.
- (man): Really?
01:16:56.403 --> 01:16:59.072
(Ivan whistling a tune)
01:17:00.449 --> 01:17:02.951
- (man 1): Want me to wire?
- (man 2): Yeah, for sure.
01:17:02.951 --> 01:17:05.162
- (Pardo): Black experience
ain't a myth.
01:17:06.163 --> 01:17:07.497
It's real.
01:17:26.308 --> 01:17:28.935
- Oh yeah,
that's at my school there.
01:17:28.935 --> 01:17:30.645
I was director of that school.
01:17:30.645 --> 01:17:32.939
(singing in French)
01:17:39.488 --> 01:17:40.906
I knew the next part.
01:17:40.906 --> 01:17:43.992
- What's that? Vinyls?
01:17:43.992 --> 01:17:45.243
Oh, it is.
01:17:46.370 --> 01:17:48.705
- A Miles Davis?
- Yeah.
01:17:48.705 --> 01:17:51.500
- We'd gone to his concert
in Gary, Indiana.
01:17:51.500 --> 01:17:54.336
And the third time I met him
was right here, in Montreal.
01:17:54.336 --> 01:17:57.798
"I'm getting some good vibes."
Hahahaha!
01:17:57.798 --> 01:18:00.801
That's funny, I used
to love Charlie Parker
01:18:00.801 --> 01:18:03.387
until I met him.
- Oh, really?
01:18:04.471 --> 01:18:07.099
- Charlie Parker and Strings.
- Yeah.
01:18:07.099 --> 01:18:08.642
Yeah, I have that one.
- You have that one?
01:18:08.642 --> 01:18:10.102
- Yeah.
- You have that CD?
01:18:10.102 --> 01:18:11.978
- Yeah, I think
I have...
01:18:11.978 --> 01:18:13.855
I have two different
versions of it.
01:18:13.855 --> 01:18:15.690
- No kidding, yeah?
- Yeah.
01:18:15.690 --> 01:18:19.778
- (Ivan): Up until that point.
So I met him in maybe 1953-54.
01:18:34.543 --> 01:18:36.002
Jesus, Ivan.
01:18:43.385 --> 01:18:47.264
- (Pat): The question
I leave with you, Keith.
01:18:47.264 --> 01:18:49.599
To seek that better life,
01:18:49.599 --> 01:18:52.227
that, you know,
Grandma Millie came here
01:18:52.227 --> 01:18:55.522
close to 60 years ago
seeking a better life,
01:18:55.522 --> 01:18:57.607
and we paid our dues
and we did
01:18:57.607 --> 01:18:59.693
all that we had to do,
and Auntie Pat yelled
01:18:59.693 --> 01:19:01.862
in the streets, "Lock them up."
01:19:01.862 --> 01:19:04.281
All of those Black men
who were shot,
01:19:04.281 --> 01:19:06.199
Auntie Pat was there.
01:19:06.199 --> 01:19:08.869
But I'm at the point
where I... I'm done.
01:19:08.869 --> 01:19:11.204
I'm done. I'm burnt.
I'm finished.
01:19:11.204 --> 01:19:13.206
I can't anymore.
01:19:13.206 --> 01:19:16.168
And when older people,
some of the 80-year-olds
01:19:16.168 --> 01:19:19.921
were talking to me
and they have such...
01:19:21.214 --> 01:19:23.049
"Why did I do this?"
- Yeah.
01:19:23.049 --> 01:19:24.843
- "I threw away my life
01:19:24.843 --> 01:19:27.429
"of activism and advocacy
01:19:27.429 --> 01:19:28.763
"for what?
01:19:28.763 --> 01:19:32.517
And things are not
getting any better."
01:19:32.517 --> 01:19:36.146
So I have to ask, are you in it
for the long haul?
01:19:36.146 --> 01:19:38.982
Is this a desirable place?
01:19:38.982 --> 01:19:40.859
- I love the city,
I love Montreal,
01:19:40.859 --> 01:19:43.528
but I don't want...
I don't want to leave.
01:19:43.528 --> 01:19:46.740
I just find myself thinking,
"Maybe you have to."
01:19:47.866 --> 01:19:49.868
- (Pat): I'm kicking myself
in the ass
01:19:49.868 --> 01:19:51.953
for not leaving sometimes.
01:19:53.246 --> 01:19:57.667
What do we tell people
beyond the "advocate more"?
01:19:57.667 --> 01:20:00.170
Practically,
you are stopped,
01:20:00.170 --> 01:20:02.297
what do you tell parents,
01:20:02.297 --> 01:20:04.257
young people to do?
01:20:04.257 --> 01:20:07.886
- First of all, if you decide
to call this place home,
01:20:07.886 --> 01:20:10.138
you have to make sure
that your home is safe
01:20:10.138 --> 01:20:12.557
and your home is
great to live in.
01:20:12.557 --> 01:20:14.434
So I think every parent,
01:20:14.434 --> 01:20:15.894
every one of us,
01:20:15.894 --> 01:20:17.437
we have this duty
01:20:17.437 --> 01:20:20.690
and this moral,
social, legal duty
01:20:20.690 --> 01:20:23.777
that we learn
from the previous generations.
01:20:23.777 --> 01:20:25.445
You know, we celebrate
Martin Luther King,
01:20:25.445 --> 01:20:27.239
we celebrate Malcolm X
and all that,
01:20:27.239 --> 01:20:29.991
and if we celebrate their lives
and their philosophies,
01:20:29.991 --> 01:20:33.537
we have that duty
to carry on that spirit,
01:20:33.537 --> 01:20:35.288
the spirit
that demands freedom,
01:20:35.288 --> 01:20:37.457
demands equality
and respect.
01:20:37.457 --> 01:20:39.334
first-class citizenship.
01:20:39.334 --> 01:20:42.337
And I think that's what we owe
to the next generation.
01:20:42.337 --> 01:20:44.339
I've seen so many times
01:20:44.339 --> 01:20:46.716
where basically
the youth, the minor
01:20:46.716 --> 01:20:49.636
or the young adults
wanting to do something,
01:20:49.636 --> 01:20:52.681
but the parent discouraged them
from doing it.
01:20:52.681 --> 01:20:54.808
"It takes too long.
It won't lead you anywhere.
01:20:54.808 --> 01:20:56.893
"This will make worse for you.
01:20:56.893 --> 01:20:58.728
In the end, you won't get much."
01:20:58.728 --> 01:21:01.439
Those of us
who have the strength
01:21:01.439 --> 01:21:02.857
and the conviction
01:21:02.857 --> 01:21:04.776
and more importantly
the faith
01:21:04.776 --> 01:21:07.028
as well as the means to do so,
I think we should do that
01:21:07.028 --> 01:21:08.738
because otherwise,
it's basically
01:21:08.738 --> 01:21:11.616
to live in surrender.
I don't want
01:21:11.616 --> 01:21:13.994
to live by avoiding.
- You're making me want to cry.
01:21:13.994 --> 01:21:16.496
- I don't want to live
by pretending that I am
01:21:16.496 --> 01:21:18.206
just a shadow
of someone,
01:21:18.206 --> 01:21:19.958
and I don't want to be,
01:21:19.958 --> 01:21:23.670
basically, the one
who has to beg for respect.
01:21:23.670 --> 01:21:26.047
And I want
everyone in the city,
01:21:26.047 --> 01:21:27.716
regardless of the colour
of the skin
01:21:27.716 --> 01:21:29.843
but more particularly
those who are of colour
01:21:29.843 --> 01:21:32.178
to stand up, to say,
"This is what I owe
01:21:32.178 --> 01:21:34.055
"to my grandparents,
01:21:34.055 --> 01:21:35.724
"and this is what I owe
to my children
01:21:35.724 --> 01:21:38.101
"and then their children:
to stand up
01:21:38.101 --> 01:21:41.521
and to push for better things
and for a better life."
01:21:41.521 --> 01:21:45.150
- I think we have
a lot of introspection to do
01:21:45.150 --> 01:21:47.902
on who we are
and what our life
01:21:47.902 --> 01:21:51.281
is going to be in this way...
in this part of the world
01:21:51.281 --> 01:21:53.783
and how much
we're gonna invest
01:21:53.783 --> 01:21:57.370
and how much we want to take out
and leave behind for our kids.
01:21:57.370 --> 01:21:59.748
So part of
your Black History Month
01:21:59.748 --> 01:22:03.126
needs to be about exactly...
01:22:03.126 --> 01:22:06.129
not living in the margins
or in the shadow
01:22:06.129 --> 01:22:09.090
and being a first-class citizen.
01:22:09.090 --> 01:22:11.217
We're gonna take a break.
We're gonna play some music
01:22:11.217 --> 01:22:12.510
right about now.
You're listening
01:22:12.510 --> 01:22:18.892
to CKUT Bhum Bhum Time.
90.3 FM, CKUT.
01:22:18.892 --> 01:22:20.435
Not goin' away!
01:22:24.939 --> 01:22:27.901
- (Keith): Well done.
- Thank you. I just had to cry.
01:22:27.901 --> 01:22:29.903
'cause I feel tired.
01:22:29.903 --> 01:22:32.739
I'm tired. I'm burnt.
- Yeah. And discouraged?
01:22:32.739 --> 01:22:34.532
- Yeah.
- Right? But you know,
01:22:34.532 --> 01:22:37.118
if you have faith...
- I don't even have that.
01:22:37.118 --> 01:22:39.579
I don't have the strength
to have that anymore.
01:22:39.579 --> 01:22:41.790
♪♪♪
01:22:49.631 --> 01:22:51.508
- (Majiza): Spirituality is
definitely something
01:22:51.508 --> 01:22:55.303
that I... I lean towards.
I look towards myself.
01:22:55.303 --> 01:22:58.723
I am a firm believer
that I am my own divinity.
01:22:58.723 --> 01:23:00.767
I create my future.
01:23:00.767 --> 01:23:02.852
I am in control of my life.
01:23:02.852 --> 01:23:05.063
I believe in myself.
01:23:07.107 --> 01:23:10.694
I feel like spirituality
and self-understanding and...
01:23:10.694 --> 01:23:13.196
is probably
one of the...
01:23:13.196 --> 01:23:14.864
the key things that I think,
01:23:14.864 --> 01:23:17.283
for my Black people,
that would help,
01:23:17.283 --> 01:23:18.993
which is something
that was lost.
01:23:18.993 --> 01:23:21.538
(percussive music)
01:23:28.336 --> 01:23:30.380
♪♪♪
01:23:33.091 --> 01:23:37.137
- We're going to take
this long walk home together
01:23:37.137 --> 01:23:39.723
and remember that we need
01:23:39.723 --> 01:23:44.269
this institution of the NCC.
01:23:45.562 --> 01:23:47.480
The cultural centre!
01:23:47.480 --> 01:23:50.483
The place where everyone can
come and learn
01:23:50.483 --> 01:23:52.610
about the contributions
01:23:52.610 --> 01:23:54.738
of Black Canadians
01:23:54.738 --> 01:23:56.614
and about one another.
01:23:58.742 --> 01:24:02.078
- (Pardo): They took you
for themselves,
01:24:02.078 --> 01:24:05.915
flaunting their Canadian
post-racial utopia
01:24:05.915 --> 01:24:07.834
and leaving us behind.
01:24:09.836 --> 01:24:12.422
Now, we walk
01:24:12.422 --> 01:24:15.133
from where we were once sold
01:24:15.133 --> 01:24:18.261
to a place we now call home.
01:24:20.722 --> 01:24:22.974
We are behind no one, Jackie.
01:24:24.934 --> 01:24:26.478
We are together.
01:24:27.854 --> 01:24:30.231
We are Little Burgundy.
01:24:30.231 --> 01:24:33.401
- (woman): Rebuild the NCC!
- (crowd): Rebuild the NCC!
01:24:33.401 --> 01:24:36.070
- (woman): For our community!
- (crowd): For our community!
01:24:36.070 --> 01:24:37.989
- (man): Rebuild NCC!
01:24:37.989 --> 01:24:39.532
- (crowd): Rebuild NCC!
01:24:39.532 --> 01:24:42.035
- (man): Take back NCC!
- (crowd): Take back NCC!
01:24:42.035 --> 01:24:44.037
- Take back NCC!
01:24:44.037 --> 01:24:45.622
- (crowd): Take back NCC!
01:24:45.622 --> 01:24:49.000
- (man): Take back NCC!
- (woman): We want the NCC!
01:24:49.000 --> 01:24:54.756
- ♪♪ When every heart ♪
01:24:54.756 --> 01:25:00.595
♪ Joins every heart ♪
01:25:00.595 --> 01:25:02.889
♪ And together ♪
01:25:02.889 --> 01:25:08.269
♪ Yearns for liberty ♪
01:25:08.269 --> 01:25:13.191
♪ That's when we'll be free ♪
01:25:13.191 --> 01:25:14.943
♪ Oh-oh oh-oh oh ♪
01:25:16.444 --> 01:25:22.367
♪ When every hand ♪
01:25:22.367 --> 01:25:27.205
♪ Joins every hand ♪
01:25:28.623 --> 01:25:31.000
♪ And together ♪
01:25:31.000 --> 01:25:35.672
♪ Molds our destiny ♪
01:25:35.672 --> 01:25:40.510
♪ That's when we'll be free ♪
01:25:41.803 --> 01:25:45.223
♪ Any hour ♪
01:25:45.223 --> 01:25:48.351
♪ Any day ♪
01:25:49.394 --> 01:25:55.233
♪ Time soon will come ♪
01:25:56.234 --> 01:25:59.070
♪ When men will live ♪
01:25:59.070 --> 01:26:02.907
♪ In dignity ♪
01:26:02.907 --> 01:26:07.829
♪ That's when we'll be free ♪
01:26:09.622 --> 01:26:16.129
♪ When every man ♪
01:26:16.129 --> 01:26:21.718
♪ Joins in a song ♪
01:26:23.177 --> 01:26:25.221
♪ And together ♪
01:26:25.221 --> 01:26:29.934
♪ Singing harmony ♪
01:26:29.934 --> 01:26:35.857
♪ That's when we'll be free ♪
01:26:35.857 --> 01:26:39.027
♪ Any hour ♪
01:26:39.027 --> 01:26:41.946
♪ Any day ♪
01:26:43.072 --> 01:26:45.366
♪ The time ♪
01:26:45.366 --> 01:26:47.619
♪ Soon will come ♪
01:26:47.619 --> 01:26:50.580
(inaudible speaking)
01:26:50.580 --> 01:26:54.709
♪ That man will live ♪
01:26:54.709 --> 01:26:57.503
♪ In dignity ♪
01:26:57.503 --> 01:27:02.342
♪ That's when we'll be free ♪
01:27:05.094 --> 01:27:08.973
♪ When every man ♪
01:27:10.433 --> 01:27:15.980
♪ Joins in a song ♪
01:27:16.981 --> 01:27:19.025
♪ And together ♪
01:27:19.025 --> 01:27:24.113
♪ Singing harmony ♪
01:27:25.198 --> 01:27:27.241
♪ That's when ♪
01:27:27.241 --> 01:27:30.703
♪ We'll be ♪
01:27:30.703 --> 01:27:37.585
♪ Free ♪♪
(crowd cheering)
01:27:41.089 --> 01:27:43.091
(soft music)
01:28:01.150 --> 01:28:03.820
Closed Captioning by SETTE inc
Distributor: Cinema Politica
Length: 90 minutes
Date: 2021
Genre: Mixed
Language: English; French / English subtitles
Grade: 10-12, College, Adults
Color/BW:
/
Closed Captioning: Available
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