Full transcript
0:16[Music]
1:36unfortunately stories like the ones you
1:38heard in the opening are not uncommon
1:40amongst racialized crossover youth
1:41especially those of African Canadian
1:44descent and those who are indigenous to
1:45Turtle Island throughout Canada and the
1:48United States black and indigenous youth
1:50are significantly over-represented
1:51amongst crossover youth with black youth
1:53accounting for up to 57% of cases in a
1:56Toronto site and indigenous youth
1:57accounting for the vast majority of
1:59cases in some other jurisdictions this
2:01over-representation is a reflection of
2:03broader systemic and structural issues
2:05that similarly affect racialized queer
2:08and mad youth as well as those with
2:11disabilities now unfortunately in Canada
2:13we don't have a lot of data about racial
2:15disparities and other types of
2:17disparities within our institutions due
2:19to an historical lack of systemic level
2:21identity based data however if we look
2:24at some of the evidence collected by
2:25researchers at the Toronto site we have
2:27found a number of troubling trends
2:29related to disparities faced by African
2:31Canadian youth for example we found that
2:33black youth on average experienced 200
2:36days in pretrial detention compared to
2:38only 79 days for white you we found that
2:4075 percent of black youth reported
2:43experiences of antagonistic treatment
2:46compared to 45 percent of white youth
2:48and we also found significant
2:49disparities and referrals to community
2:51based mental health agencies with only
2:5350 percent of black youth receiving
2:55referrals to mental health resources
2:57compared to almost 90 percent of white
3:00youth these inequities raise important
3:02questions that should be at the
3:03forefront of community and stakeholder
3:05efforts to plan and implement crossover
3:08youth interventions questions such as
3:10why are there racial disparities faced
3:13by crossover youth what are the root
3:16causes of these asperities what is
3:19happening with our institutions our
3:20group homes our courts our police and so
3:24forth to produce these inequities and
3:26what should be done about it
3:28each of these are vast questions that
3:30should be explored by stakeholders in
3:32their planning of crossover youth
3:34interventions in this brief video we
3:36will explore some of these questions and
3:38offer some principles that stakeholders
3:40can
3:41used to guide the planning efforts
3:42oppression is the use of power to
3:45disempower marginalize silence or
3:48otherwise subordinate one social group
3:51or category this is often done in order
3:54to further empower and/or enhance and
3:56maintain the privilege of the oppressors
3:59or those in power social oppression may
4:02not require formally established
4:05organizational support to achieve its
4:07desired effect it may be applied on a
4:10more informal yet more focused
4:13individual basis there are multiple
4:15forms of oppression example anti-black
4:18racism homophobia transphobia anti
4:22indigenous sentiment etc these
4:24categories are often used as ways of
4:28limiting people's access to power
4:31people's access to resources such as
4:34employment healthcare education jobs and
4:40when people are lacking in some of these
4:44basic necessities of life it then
4:47impacts on their capacity to effectively
4:50function as individuals to develop their
4:53families and to further enhance the
4:55development of their communities
4:57therefore although oppression may occur
5:01on an individual basis it is embedded in
5:04larger structures and then is implicated
5:07in terms of how people experience their
5:10everyday lives as well as their capacity
5:14to flourish in a society when we talk
5:17about oppression we're looking at it in
5:19two categories the individual category
5:22and we're also looking at it in terms of
5:25structural issues so an example of an
5:28individual factor could be someone's
5:32experience of the justice system so if
5:35we're looking at the way in which youth
5:37for example experience justice and we
5:40start looking at it in terms of race
5:42what we understand is that black youth
5:45for example tend to be charged at higher
5:47levels they tend to spend more time in
5:50pretrial detention and as well they then
5:53tend to get higher sentences therefore
5:56if we look at the outcomes for this
5:59individual what we see is that they're
6:03being treated much more harshly by the
6:05system versus our white youth whereas a
6:08white youth may get referred to mental
6:10health services and support a black
6:13youth is incarcerated well what are the
6:15long-term impacts of that what are the
6:17long-term impacts in terms of individual
6:21access although it may appear that this
6:25individual might simply be making bad
6:28choices the reality is that this
6:31individual is being impacted by choices
6:34that other individuals make but those
6:37choices have a structural component and
6:40this is where the structural aspect of
6:43oppression becomes important for us to
6:45understand so when we look at the
6:47structures what we're talking about is
6:49how have historical practices of
6:52colonization for example impacted on
6:54people how has the experience of
6:56enslavement impacted on people and
6:59varying forms of abuse in addition to
7:01which we're also talking about to what
7:04extent are those ideas and assumptions
7:07about other groups built into structures
7:10and if we look at the legal system then
7:12the question that we're asking is to
7:14what extent do assumptions about black
7:17youth become embedded in terms of how we
7:21develop policy how we apply policy and
7:25how does it then impact on folks at an
7:28individual level
7:32you
7:44[Music]
7:58[Music]
8:12[Music]
8:17based on the example highlighted earlier
8:19we know that 65% of black cross new
8:22clients said that they got their first
8:23charges within group homes so something
8:25is happening within group homes that is
8:27contributing to the criminalization of
8:29black crossover youth and so it's
8:30important that we unpack and critically
8:33assess what types of biases what types
8:36of policies within these institutions
8:38and what types of practices are
8:40occurring to intensify a criminalization
8:45of black youth in care when we begin to
8:47look at the experiences of children who
8:50have moved across over from the child
8:53welfare system into the the justice
8:56system there are five areas that we're
8:59looking at we're looking at the extent
9:01to which institutional practices are
9:03highly punitive we have to look at
9:05whether or not the children are getting
9:07effective legal representation because
9:10of course the type of legal
9:11representation that you get is directly
9:14connected to your ability to have the
9:16economic resources you sent you to hire
9:18a lawyer we also have to look at to what
9:21extend there's a lack of diversity in
9:23the system who are the workers that are
9:25making decisions with regards to these
9:28children do they understand the issues
9:30that these children are facing or to
9:33what extent is the lack of experience
9:35and understanding of the worker the
9:38issue as opposed to the child being the
9:41problem and that's often where we look
9:42at if we can fix the child as a post so
9:45understanding that we need to fix the
9:47workers and a system at play we also
9:49have to look at the role of implicit
9:50bias
9:51the reality is that we're all exposed to
9:54a range of stereotypes about different
9:57groups and many of those stereotypes
10:00function at a very unconscious level
10:02which then means that we're making
10:04decisions based on the biases that we
10:06have with regards to various groups the
10:09other piece and we have to look at is
10:11the extent to which particularly within
10:13a Canadian context there is a denial of
10:16issues of race and racism playing a
10:19significant role in terms of how we
10:21function on an everyday basis we often
10:23speak to the notion of multiculturalism
10:26and we often say that we embrace all
10:29races all groups all religion and we
10:32comfort ourselves with that sense of
10:34denial but we often find that when
10:36people are confronted with the reality
10:39of racism there's extreme levels of
10:42resistance to addressing it
10:45[Music]
11:20[Music]
11:23one of the most challenging aspects of
11:26beginning to look at oppression and
11:29oppressive practices within a Canadian
11:31context is people's denial around the
11:34existence of racism and one of the ways
11:36in which that resistance and denial is
11:39evidence is in the notion of white
11:41fragility when the term white fragility
11:44emerges what we're really talking about
11:46is the way in which when we attempt to
11:49speak about the existence of white
11:52privilege White's become quite upset and
11:56engage in varying strategies that
12:00essentially derail the conversations so
12:04you'll tend to find that if we start
12:06talking about racism you'll have White's
12:09getting angry getting defensive
12:12experiencing reactions of rage and
12:15denial and you'll often find white women
12:19beginning to cry and what happens is
12:23that as White's begin to engage in these
12:26range of emotions the conversation then
12:31shifts away from race and racism and
12:35oppression to taking care of the white
12:38bodies in the room who are currently in
12:40pain so this resistance to change is one
12:43of the most significant impediments to
12:45challenging oppression when people who
12:48are in positions of power resist a
12:50change it upholds the status quo and
12:52therefore when we're doing work around
12:55oppression not only do we have to look
12:58at the way in which people manage their
13:00emotions we have to ensure that we don't
13:04allow for those emotions to completely
13:07derail the conversations that we're
13:09having because what that essentially
13:11does is ensures that White's remain in
13:15positions of power and the young people
13:18who are being impacted by these
13:20decisions that are made predominantly by
13:22whites their circumstances don't change
13:24their experiences don't change
13:27and their life outcomes are curtailed
13:29because of the unwillingness for us to
13:32look at the ways in which race racism
13:35and oppression significantly impact on
13:38the life experiences of crossover youth
13:41so what does this mean for crossover
13:43youth and for communities who want to
13:44address systemic oppression and
13:46structural inequities although there
13:48isn't much evidence related to
13:50interventions in this area there are a
13:52number of principles and best practices
13:54that are emerging from the lessons
13:55learned through the research that's been
13:57conducted within Ontario through the
13:59crossover youth project as well as some
14:01other jurisdictions in the u.s. who have
14:04begun to explore these types of programs
14:06the first principle is to Center the
14:08analysis and intervention around power
14:10and white privilege often the planning
14:12of crossover youth interventions is
14:14driven by a multi-stakeholder body of
14:16professionals who sit on the committee
14:18to make decisions about planning
14:20systemic changes in interventions
14:22it's tempting at these tables to get
14:24focused on the tasks of problem solving
14:26program planning and bringing folks
14:29together around the table the problem
14:30however is that the power dynamics and
14:32the racial composition of these types of
14:34bodies can often mirror the subtle and
14:37institutional forms of discrimination
14:38that continues to marginalize and
14:40silence the voices of vulnerable people
14:42and may reproduce the types of
14:44exclusionary structures that produce the
14:46inequities that we identify it earlier
14:48in this video therefore it's important
14:50that crossover youth Planning bodies
14:52should explicitly Center their
14:54conversations around issues of power and
14:56around issues of white privilege and
14:57their thinking their planning and their
15:00implementation of programs second
15:02principle anti-oppressive practice
15:04should be embedded at all levels of the
15:06intervention both internally and
15:08externally at personal organizational
15:11and community levels this means that as
15:14individual practitioners and
15:15professionals who sit around planning
15:17tables to be engaged in this process we
15:19should critically reflect on our own
15:20position than our own biases and
15:23assumptions and the ways in which we can
15:25be complicit in perpetuating forms of
15:27systemic oppression it also means that
15:29organizationally we should also look
15:31internally at our values our mission our
15:34policies and practices that can
15:35similarly perpetuate systemic oppression
15:38similarly crossover youth stakeholders
15:40should critically examine how oppression
15:42works within their communities what are
15:44the types of relationships between
15:46marginalized and indigenous and
15:48racialized people and those of
15:50mainstream are dominant societies how
15:52are those relationships reflected and
15:54the way communities are organized in our
15:56neighborhoods in our economies and in
16:00our social service institutions and what
16:02kind of work can be done more broadly to
16:04change the way those relationships
16:06operate it's also important when we are
16:09embedding anti-oppressive principles
16:11within our interventions that we put an
16:14emphasis on building the capacity of
16:16young people in communities from
16:17oppressed groups often the emphasis is
16:20on fixing youth or on implementing
16:22programs to serve young people and their
16:24families and while this is an important
16:26component of addressing the needs of
16:28crossover youth
16:28operating from an anti oppressive
16:30perspective also means that we need to
16:32shift our emphasis to look at how we can
16:34build the strengths of young people and
16:36their communities to serve themselves
16:38more effectively how can we enable them
16:40to advocate for themselves rather than
16:43simply being passive or dependent
16:45recipients of services this can include
16:47approaches such as providing training
16:49and technical support to local agencies
16:51to enable them to become more effective
16:52service providers providing resources to
16:55agencies to ensure effective
16:56organizational functioning and ensuring
16:59that the professionals that we hire to
17:01deliver services are reflective of the
17:03communities that were serving we should
17:05also make sure that when we are adopting
17:07the principles of youth centeredness
17:09that this applies not only to the
17:11crossover youth intervention and to the
17:12steering committee but that the youth
17:14that we engage in these processes
17:16represent the range of identities and
17:18intersectionalities of young people who
17:20are affected by a child welfare and our
17:22justice systems and that engaging these
17:24young people is done from a
17:26trauma-informed lens with approaches
17:27that are flexible long term and
17:29sensitive to the historical context of
17:31colonization and racism that have
17:33produced the structural inequalities
17:35that we have discussed throughout this
17:36video and it means that we work with
17:38young people and their communities in a
17:40spirit of shared leadership as opposed
17:43to tokenism or dependency so often
17:46training is conducted as a one-time
17:47event that is scheduled to convey
17:50information and to raise awareness about
17:52issues that are critical to
17:54implementing crossover youth
17:55interventions and although this is an
17:56important component of implementing
17:58interventions that are responsive to the
18:01needs of our young people it's important
18:03that those trainings are reinforced and
18:05that they become a part of the culture
18:07and ongoing practice of our crossover
18:10youth programs training should be
18:11conducted frequently it should be
18:13reinforced and should be cumulative to
18:15ensure that stakeholders and
18:17professionals have an opportunity to
18:19reflect on their learning to exchange
18:21information and learnings with one
18:22another and to support each other in
18:24shifting the ways in which they engage
18:26in practice and enable them to advocate
18:29a structural change within their
18:30institutions fourth equity focused
18:33data-driven decision-making evidence is
18:36an important component of implementing
18:38community-based structural change
18:39however that evidence should not only be
18:41used to assess the effectiveness of our
18:43programs and outcomes such as recidivism
18:46service provision and other outcomes of
18:48interest these outcomes can also be used
18:50to track changes in equity related
18:53outcomes so we can assess shifts in
18:55oppressive structures
18:57this means that communities who are
18:59implementing crossover youth
19:00interventions should include some
19:02mechanism of tracking the identities of
19:04young people and analyze that data to
19:07assess whether or not the young people
19:09we are serving are reflective of the
19:11demographics of the broader child
19:13welfare and youth justice populations as
19:15well as the population of young people
19:17with our communities more widely this
19:19will allow us to identify the types of
19:22oppression that are affecting our young
19:23people and allow us to prioritize how we
19:26develop targeted equity focused
19:28intervention approaches it will also
19:30support us in advocating for change
19:32systemically within our institutions tif
19:35courageous leadership systemic change
19:38requires courageous leadership although
19:40this may seem like a common-sense idea
19:43that is familiar to most stakeholders
19:45who are involved in crossover youth
19:46program planning the importance of
19:48courageous leadership can often get lost
19:51within the context and constraints of
19:52day-to-day service provision and program
19:55implementation
19:56stem exchange often requires risk it may
19:58require challenging institutions within
20:01which we work it may require challenging
20:04our colleagues and our superiors about
20:06assumptions biases and practices it may
20:09require discomfort as we name and
20:11challenge the various forms of
20:13oppression they're embedded within our
20:15institutions in this brief video you
20:17have tried to provide a definition of
20:19oppression and some illustrative
20:20examples of how it affects the lives of
20:23crossover youth with a focus on black
20:26crossover youth
20:27we hope stakeholders will draw upon some
20:29of the ideas shared within this video to
20:31critically reflect on their practice and
20:33their institutional policies and to
20:35identify and explore other resources
20:37that are available to implement an anti
20:40oppressive approach to crossover youth
20:42programs
20:43[Music]