To date, I have the honour of talking with psychologists, social workers, former MLA, lawyers, youth, Minister of cabinet, Vice Provost at a University, documentary film maker, former media broadcaster, and policy makers. Each episode ends with some calls to action so the listener can walk away with ideas they can think about, do, and do more of on their anti-racism journey.
Dr. Gina Ko introduces Against the Tides of Racism podcast. As a psychologist, she will discuss the reasons for starting the podcast and where she hopes the conversations will go.
Gina shares her experiences as a young child growing up in Montreal. She has experienced overt and covert racism. She founded the Asian Gold Ribbon Campaign to raise awareness about anti-Asian racism that has come to the fore during this pandemic.
Teresa speaks about coming to Canada in 1972 as a fourth-generation Chinese Canadian and also an immigrant. She shares how her great grandfather helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway. She endured racism when she ran and won as School Board Trustee and was elected as an MLA in Calgary. Calls to action: speak up, learn, don’t be a bystander, take action.
Steven shares his experience growing up in Canada with Chinese and Vietnamese roots as his parents are from China and Vietnam. He talks about his experiences of racism as a child and a recent incident when some men threw trash at him and yelled a racial slur with profanity. He has spoken to many news outlets about this and hopes to generate awareness. Here is the website to visit to write to the Vancouver police so that the reporting process can be more inclusive: https://fixpolicereporting.ca/
Emma talks about her experience as a 4th generation immigrant. Her father’s family originated from China and her great-great-grandfather came to Canada in 1910. She shares how she interviewed her yeh yeh (paternal grandfather) to learn of her family’s history story. Her mother is Caucasian and helps her lean into her Chinese heritage. She talks about systemic racism and the importance of education and supporting others who are experiencing racism.
