Mary Wright, pág 62

Mary Wright

Mary Wright is a singer, writer, poet, songwriter and mother of four beautiful children. Mary’s accomplishments not only embody raising four children, as a single mother, but also include: Voice and Music Theory at the Royal Conservatory of Music; acting in theatre and films; self-publishing three poetry chap books, “Poetry By Mary Wright”; a songbook, “The Shadow”; a novel, “Healing The Spirit Inside Out” (2001); released a CD, The Shadow (2002); and a children’s book, “How Miriam Met Her Shadow” in the Spring of 2004. During 2003 to 2018, Mary performed her songs, read her poetry and children’s book at various venues across Canada; contributed her writings to the Atkinson Poetry Club’s yearly poetry book, “A View On The Garden”; became an Associate Director of WIAProjects; a speaker/panellist at the International Black Women of Congress Conference held in Toronto; spoke at the 2nd Annual Health Disparity Conference in the Teachers College at Columbia University in New York; joined The Alliance for A Poverty Free Toronto (APT), a sub-committee of Social Planning Toronto; showcased her fine artwork with CWSE at OISE and at the Jamaican Canadian Association; and the list goes on…. Always curious and continuously learning, Mary intends to continue sharing her experiences through the written and fine arts.

SYSTEMIC JUSTICE AND RACISM

As I think of justice and systemic racism, I realize that they both go hand in hand. We cannot look at racism without justice, as racism exists because of the lack of justice. We need to turn our thoughts around and look at systemic injustice and racism. For most of my adult life and lately with all the marches and protests during this climate of COVID-19, I have heard so many people talk about and want justice for this or that reason, especially the indigenous peoples who were taken from their homelands, bought and sold as slaves, and/or colonized, and are still living in and experiencing the revised forms of slavery and colonialization still infused with unspeakable abuses, demonization and impoverishments. There are other groups of peoples deemed undesirables or less than, who’s lives and liberties have also been severely impaired by the same system(s) created by the people and their collaborators, who think that they are better than the rest of humanity and have expertly duped us into handing over our will (power) -- the center of our common sense and reason -- to them. We have been “Expertly” trained to focus so much on everything to do with the five senses; the outside appearances and on keeping up with them, that some of us have allowed our common sense and reason to be completely and irreversibly suppressed. While there are others who are aware of what is going on though allow ourselves to believe or be convinced that we are powerless and do not take up the gauntlet alongside those who sincerely do. For generations, we have allowed those of us like, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree), Marcus Garvey, Louis Riel, Eduardo Galeano and many, many other women and men in the past and the present to fight our justice-seeking battles for us and also pay the price alone. Sadly, for generations we have been taught and are teaching our off-springs to be self-preserving in the same way. The truth is we need to take responsibility. I have learned that I have allowed, and we have allowed the people who have created and control this system of injustice and racism to survive and thrive. We have been manipulated into being self-preservationists in the guise of self-care and/or love. We attend their high learning institutions under the illusion of a better paying job and for status, not an education. We join their social clubs and seek entry into the exclusive ones for selfish ambitions. We push and shove each other for monetary gains and to live in the “right neighborhoods or area codes”, so we can be considered and seen as successful or affluent. We establish so-called humanitarian based non-profit and charitable organizations that seem to be mainly for career advancements, photo-ops and top-heavy pay cheques devoid of experience or care. In the meantime, their so-called missions have made no significant change to the “great human causes or circumstances” that brought about the establishment of these non-profits and charities in the first place. What have I learned about Justice? To be just, I must first be honest, kind, gentle, and fair to myself before I can be the same when dealing with others. It has to start with me first! I have learned that justice (as with unity) and self-preservation do not agree. We cannot self-preserve and demand justice (or have unity/ community). They negate each other and cannot coexist. For systemic injustice and racism to be eliminated we must take real responsibility for allowing it to exist in the first place. Once that has been accomplished, take right action, not talk action, to dismantle the unjust systems and bring to justice those who seek to keep their creations in place, as instruments of separation and control. A fair and just humanity can rise when we take back our power that is being used against us by others who run our governments; religions; medias; agriculture; manufacturing; science; technology; higher learning and health institutions; our legal, protective and community services; and other major industries. I have also learned that systemic racism has nothing to do with race, because there is no other race than the human race (and other sentient beings) on this earth. It is up to us now, not later, nor just to leave the issues for the next generation, to make certain that everyone and every living thing truly have equal rights in life, liberty and justice.