TORONTO NARRATIVES
The slogans and abstracts presented here are a preliminary result of our analysis of the interviews we conducted with members of Black Community Supplementary Education initiatives and organizations (BCSEs). Each interview was analyzed separately using narrative methods. The slogans and abstracts here represent the views of the participants with respect to:
what they considered to be amiss with the schooling for Black children in their areas;
how their BCSEs exercised agency and intervened in responding to these conditions; and
what it felt like for them to do this work.
Click on each name for a deeper dive into each participant’s insights.
“The system won’t save us; We organize and build what’s missing; It’s heavy work but is the only way Black students can survive school.”
“We had to honour that we’ve survived; We organize support and representation; We do the work, knowing it’s never finished.”
When Parents Build the School, nobody else pulls the strings; We teach the whole child (the wins and wounds) and protect their identity; We must adapt and plan for continuity.“
“We were just surviving the day-to-day and expected to keep performing; We built long-term support systems; We learned to resist by caring out loud.”
“They send a defenceless child into a colonial system; We bring a grounded leader out through Ubuntu and history; We live “each one teach one.”
“‘Our Money Paid for This Drywall’: They wanted control and compliance with the funding; We chose self-determination and guarded our pedagogy; We carried the cost so our kids could carry confidence.”
“They call it “behaviour” and ignore the barriers; We teach the rules of the game and how to win; We stay on them because the stakes are real and we refuse to see their potential wasted.”
“They shrink what Black girls are allowed to be and treat support like charity; We build a stable home and offer skills and safety; It’s restorative and deeply relational work.”
“They miseducate us through colonial schooling; We build Black-led schools and institutions with real autonomy; It’s freedom work, “not under their thumb”.
“Underrepresentation isn’t accidental, it’s patterned, treating Black presence as optional; We reclaim Afrocentric culture through collective leadership; It’s a long project of honouring elders and building futures. “
“Naming the injustice is the beginning; Making roadmaps and representation is the response; Showing up is nonstop work.“
“They erase our kids’ history; We love them back into identity; It’s beautiful yet exhausting.”
“They call it “just school”; We make it family, culture, and formation; We do the work while maintaining boundaries and balance.”
“…”
-Edna
“It’s not a misunderstanding, it’s racial violence; We make the system answer for what it does to Black kids and show up as the experts in the room; It’s visible resistance that restores dignity.“
“Our children are abused in a racist context. Let’s nurture them and teach them to turn negative experiences into strengths like we have. “
“They want to celebrate BCSE work over generations as their progress without committing to significant change. We keep pushing. It’s fed-up love, not polite advocacy.”
“They treat Black futures like a policy debate; We fight inside institutions and build outside them; It’s a tug-of-war our kids can’t afford. “
“The system defines success too narrowly; We help youth define it for themselves and reach it; It’s hopeful work and commitment that must endure funding challenges and institutional resistance.”
“Don’t tell Black kids what they can’t do. Offer them STEM opportunities so they can compete. I work tirelessly to make this happen.”
“They send our kids into harm and neglect; We build “auntie” care that feeds and holds them; It’s love as infrastructure.”
