Tag Archives: racism

Jessica Presta: Module 4, Post 5

My review of social media and its affordances for Indigenous people seeking to explore and share their identities would not be complete without a look at some of the challenges to engaging in these digital spaces. Many Indigenous social media users have to continually weigh the risk vs benefit of being open about their Indigeneity in online spaces. This is due to the potential for backlash, racism, bullying, and violence. If they do share their Indigeneity, then it becomes a question of how much.

In Carlson and Kennedy’s (2019) article, they analyze results from their online survey of Indigenous respondents and share many of the challenges they face to participating in these environments as openly Indigenous. Some participants discuss sharing their Indigeneity to then only have it be questioned because they don’t look a certain way. Some have had to face stereotypes of criminality and inferiority. Others have faced intense discrimination and prejudice. Because of this, 50% of their respondents stated they omit certain aspects of their Indigeneity for safety and self preservation. One respondent discussed how social media can fuel these behaviors because it “gives racism a platform and … becomes a tool for people with not very good intentions” (2019). What was new for me, is that this form of racism is called ‘platformed racism’ because it is derived from the culture of social media platforms.

Anonymity has been another factor in the ability of social media users incivility to go unchecked. There have been many studies done that depict how this behavior is tied to whether or not the user’s identity is intact or not. Sadly, they discuss how racism in these digital environments is on the rise and how 62% of their respondents had faced racist and harmful content daily. Despite this, Indigenous people continue to brave online trolls, and risk their safety, in order to control what their identity is and how they want to share it.

Jessica Presta: Module 2, Post 1

As per Professor Hardman’s suggestion, I read through the In Plain Sight report as a starting place from which to launch my research from for the final project. This report was very challenging to read at times and caused me to feel a sorrow and heartache I was not expecting. The stories told by survey participants were wrought with racism and prejudice. Indigenous specific racism in healthcare across BC is indisputable. The IPS report summarized their findings into 11 categories:

  1. Widespread Indigenous-specific stereotyping, racism and discrimination exist in the B.C. health care system.
  2. Racism limits access to medical treatment and negatively affects the health and wellness of Indigenous peoples in B.C.
  3. Indigenous women and girls are disproportionately impacted by Indigenous-specific racism in the health care system.
  4. Current public health emergencies magnify racism and vulnerabilities, and disproportionately impact Indigenous peoples.
  5. Indigenous health care workers face racism and discrimination in their work environments.
  6. Current education and training programs are inadequate to address Indigenous-specific racism in health care.
  7. Complaints processes in the health care system do not work well for Indigenous peoples.
  8. Indigenous health practices and knowledge are not integrated into the health care system in a meaningful and consistent way.
  9. There is insufficient hard-wiring of Indigenous cultural safety throughout the B.C. health care system.
  10. Indigenous roles in health leadership and decision making – both through Indigenous health governance structures and the health care system as a whole – need to be strengthened.
  11. There is no accountability for eliminating all forms of Indigenous-specific racism in the B.C. health care system, including complaints, system-wide data, quality improvement and assurance, and monitoring of progress.