At age 27, Patrice Rene vividly remembers playing in a high school football game in the southern part of Virginia.
It was homecoming weekend — a big deal for the host squad with alumni in the crowd.
“We were playing a predominantly all-white school,” says Rene, a defensive back playing for the BC Lions. “We ended up going there and beating them and defeating them at their homecoming. And a lot of people were upset.”
Were they ever.
“On my way out back to the bus. Somebody yelled out, ‘go back to where you came from.’ A slur, right,” Rene says. “And to me, I was like, ‘Okay, well, wow.’
“That was one of the first times that I was explicitly insulted in that way.”
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Rene will visit schools next week to speak to kids about the importance of teaming up to end racism of all kinds (Jason Halstead/CFL.ca)
Born in Haiti, Rene grew up in Ottawa before moving to the U.S. where he played high school and college ball.
With February being Black History Month, Rene will visit schools next week to speak to kids about the importance of teaming up to end racism of all kinds.
“Even though we are different, we’re still the same,” he says. “And a big message that I hope that people during Black History Month really get to understand.
“We may have differences in cultures. We may have differences in taste of food. We may have differences in the way we do things. But we’re all the same.”
In college, Rene encountered racism that differed slightly from the taunts after the high school football game.
“I was in my master’s program,” he says. “It’s a pretty small class, and I was the only Black guy in class. And someone made a comment, ‘Did football punch your ticket into this class?’”
Nothing could have been further from the truth,
“I was there because I wanted to get my master’s,” Rene says. “I was already done playing football.”
Rene let his schoolwork speak for itself and watched his classmates come to realize the reality of the situation.
“As the semester went along, they really understood,” he says. “They noticed out loud, ‘he is knowledgeable. He does know what he is talking about.’
“Sometimes, going into certain situations, people might think something. And then when they really get to sit down and understand what’s going on, they realize what’s really happening.”
That’s the crux of Rene’s message to kids and adults alike. Respectful curiosity can go a long way to dispelling racism.
“I try not to allow others to dictate my actions,” he says. “And within that, though, I still try to make it a point to make them understand or to stand up for myself.
“At the end of the day, if somebody says something, I’m not going to just let them do it. But I will respond, or try to respond, in a manner that not only respects myself and my family and my name, but also allows them to know that, ‘hey, whatever you did or said is wrong.’”
Rene says one of the first things is to recognize what racism is (Jason Halstead CFL.ca)
Rene finds racism more subtle in Canada than it is in the United States. But it most certainly still exists.
“In Canada, that’s a big misconception — where people think everything is all good and it’s sunshine and rainbows,” he says. “In Canada, it’s a lot of underlying racism where it might not be as blatant or put to the forefront.
“But I know there are some instances of systemic racism issues within our country, and within our government too.”
And these are systemic racism issues that Black Canadians and other minority groups face more often than many people think.
“I’ve had friends who have tried to get approved for an apartment,” he says. “Everything is going sweet until they get to the apartment to go take a tour, and they see it’s two young black kids or younger black men who are about to get the apartment in a nice neighbourhood.
“And then the negotiations go south.”
Rene has seen the same thing happen to those applying for jobs – only to be passed over because the hiring manager can’t pronounce the candidate’s name.
“Some people just don’t know better,” he says. “When we talk to kids, our main message is letting the kids know that sometimes you might be in a situation where you might not even realize we’re being oppressed or attacked or discriminated against.
“So one of the first things is to recognize what racism is.”
Kids aren’t the only ones who might miss racism in plain sight.
“Being Haitian, our cuisine is different,” Rene says. “So the food I grew up on is different from some foods my friends would eat.
“So sometimes, I would come to school and have my Tupperware that my mom packed for me. She would work her butt off all day, all night, to cook me a good lunch and feed me.
“And I’d go to school and try to heat up my lunch. And someone would go, ‘Oh what’s that food? What’s that smell? What are you eating?’”
Those words were said with an edge – not in a spirit of curiosity.
“Now, you’re being teased because you’re eating a food you grew up eating,” he says. “And now you don’t even want to bring that food to school anymore. Kids are teasing you for it, and they might not know that’s directly racism.
“But in a way, that is.”
The same goes for clothing. The same goes for accents or speech patterns. The same goes for hair styles and textures.
“Every comment is a brick in a backpack,” Rene says. “After a while, a person is unable to carry that backpack full of bricks based on those comments.
“It could lead to different things, whether that’s depression, whether that’s suicide, whether that’s alcohol abuse or drug abuse.”
The antidote, according to Rene, comes down to courage and honest conversation. Curious about your work colleague’s lunch? Ask politely what they’re eating. The same goes for hair styles. Inquire, with respect, about where the hair style comes from and how long they’ve worn their hair like that.
“It’s okay to talk about things that are uncomfortable,” Rene says. “But it’s the matter of how we do it — in a way that we’re receptive and have an open mind.”