Race Issues 2: COVID-19 edition
Stories of everyday racism experienced in Canada during COVID-19

The reality of inequities endured by racialized peoples across Canada have become even more glaring in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian health researcher Dr. Upton Allen found that structural inequities in healthcare, labour, and community affluence have shaped the disproportionate harms of COVID-19 in Black communities. These inequities are both interconnected with and underpinned by systems of racial, gender, and class marginalization. 

The COVID-19 pandemic provides a valuable learning opportunity — as Canada relies on foundationally racist systems to address the social challenges arising from COVID-19, we must identify and address the harms these systems have perpetuated on racialized Canadians. Race Issues 2: COVID-19 Edition is a collection of real life experiences, in comic form, from racialized peoples living across Canada. Each comic represents a real story that was submitted between June 2020-June 2021. The artwork in this book is created by Summer Taylor, Jazz Groden-Gilchrist, Lily Huang, Sam Anis, and curation and poetry by Iman Bukhari.

We hope these stories provide a Canadian context for policymakers, advocates and the public so we can begin resolving the harms caused by intersecting oppressions during COVID-19.

Watch the video of the live book launch!

Learn about the Artists

Jazz Groden-Gilchrist
Jazz grew up as an adopted kid and the only black person in his family and while identity was always a struggle, storytelling was a safe method of exploring it. He enjoys creating comics with diverse fantasy settings that explore identity, complex familial relations, and responsibility.
Summer Taylor
Summer Taylor is a 2S Indigenous designer and artist living in Toronto. Their passionate about the exploration of new concepts they create. They aim to connect art and design in a meaningful way to uplift the voices in their community.
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Lily Huang
Lily is a first-generation Chinese-Canadian visual artist and illustrator. Her artistic practice references the history of heritage in technique and materials. Through her artworks, she aims to communicate the intricacies of connection, of people and the world we inhabit, and represents the empowerment and celebration of personhood.
Sam Anis
Sam is a multi-media artist, who works with zines, illustration, fabric arts, and much more. They love to play with colours and characters and stories. They are Brown, disabled, queer, and trying their best.

Race Issues Edition 1: Microaggressions
​A Collection of unique experiences of racialized youth in Canada

​Race Issues is a relatable comic meme series created as a way of expressing the overlooked yet extremely common ways that people of colour are treated in a variety of social settings in our nation. We reached out to youth across the country, both in person and online, and asked them to share their unfiltered stories about how race plays a role in their daily interactions. Common themes emerged from the many responses we received, and the notion of micro-aggressions was included by each individual.
 
Microaggressions can be hard to identify unless you’ve experienced them personally, and that’s because they can manifest in so many ways. Essentially, a microaggression is any kind of behavior that emphasizes one’s “different-ness”-- usually a reference to their race or ethnicity. It can be projected through ignorant questions, avoidance,
or even a backhanded compliment. While racist comments are normally blatantly obvious, micro-aggressions are much more difficult to recognize, which is why they occur so frequently. These subtle social cues are often unintentional; however, a lack of intent does not mean that these words and behaviors are harmless.
 
The images and stories presented within these comics symbolize a disconnect between the perception of an equitable Canadian society and the very real experiences of Indigenous peoples of this land and racialized Canadians. Although diverse cultures do coexist and
thrive within Canada, many individuals cannot help but feel that their identity is constantly compared and contrasted to whiteness. It is up to all of us to be more conscious of the ways we treat each other, and to avoid the use of microaggressions by being more aware of how biases, stereotypes, and misconceptions frame the way we interact with
others. Differences are what make our country such a vibrant and unique place to live, and we all have to learn to embrace people that look, speak, and act differently than we do. When we choose to acknowledge that our personal experiences are not universally
shared by everyone, we will no longer react in ways that “other” people for not being just like us. We exist within a time and generation where there is no one way to look or speak Canadian, and it is important that we continue to challenge the assumption that there is.
 
The goal of this project is not only to highlight the impact of micro-aggressions, it was also developed with the hope to initiate a constructive dialogue on how we can better work together to make ALL Canadians feel welcome and worthy.

Race Issues 1 artwork