Yukoner Alistair Maitland on the 'uncomfortable' realities of racism

Alistair Maitland is a photographer in Whitehorse, Yukon. He's also a black man living in a predominantly white community.

The CBC's Dave White spoke to Maitland on CBC Yukon's Airplay, about racism, civil unrest, and the protests that have erupted across the U.S. in the wake of George Floyd's killing at the hands of police.

"It really gives me pause to think about everything that's been going on in the last week or so," he said. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

What have you been thinking about?

I guess everything from my identity, my identity as a black man, and with everything that's especially been going on in the [United] States.

Like, I'm sitting on my deck right now, in Whitehorse, Yukon, and it's just really staggering, I guess, the contrast between what's going down in all those cities with all those protests and what my life is here. 

A lot of people have been commenting on social media about this, and some people are saying, "well, at least that wouldn't happen here, that's not the reality in Canada." And then other people are calling them out for their smugness, I think is the word I've seen. I mean it's not easy being black in Canada, it can't be easy being black in the Yukon. There's not a lot of black folks up here.

That's true. There aren't a lot. That is definitely true.

I can only speak from my own experience, and my life, living in Yukon, is vastly different I'd say than you know, living in the [U.S.] or living in an urban setting.

That's not to say that I haven't experienced racism, but I might peg the racism that I've experienced up here more as like a racism of ignorance than a racism of hate or a racism that's overtly systemic. In contrast, again, compared to what we're seeing south of the border. 

A black man was killed by police. It's horrible to say, but it's not really that shocking in so many ways in the [United] States. Why do you think this has led to the kind of protests we haven't seen since the '60s? 

I think two reasons.

Number one, this was caught — this was the second video of a black man being killed by an officer of the peace, supposedly. So there's actual proof and evidence.

I also think that the impact, the huge emotional and psychological impact of the [COVID-19] pandemic [is a factor] as well. You know, throughout these last couple months I've seen people lashing out on social media about all sorts of things. And I've learned just from my own experience that there that there was a lot of emotional, psychological turmoil that's happening.

So this is just like this perfect storm, to create all these protests and all this backlash. 

I couldn't even watch either of those videos. I had already been staying away from the news, but I just did not want those visuals in my head.

So how are you coping with it? Like, what do you do?

What do you do? I don't know man. I guess do this, because honestly I didn't really want to talk to you. I was raised by parents who are very private people — keep your thoughts to yourself, keep your head down. 

I can only speak of my own experience and my own thoughts. I am not trying to be any kind of spokesman or anything like that, but you know, I think it's definitely something that we have to talk about. Absolutely. Absolutely.

I've been working all afternoon, but all I've been doing is thinking about this conversation [with you] and thinking about everything from my youth up to this point. You know, all the times that I have experienced racism, all the times I could have said something or didn't say something, all the times I have said something as well — whether it be here, or 10 years ago back when I was in Ontario. 

Right now for me it's just reflection. Just what do I want to do about this? How do I want to be vocal about this? How much do I want to get involved and engaged in this?

Because it's really uncomfortable, and I think that's one of the big points about this — is that this is really, really uncomfortable for people. It's uncomfortable for me, I'm sure it's uncomfortable for other black people, I'm sure it's uncomfortable for the black people of the Yukon. And I think it's uncomfortable for everybody else. Nobody wants to be pegged a "racist."

I think we all need to get a little bit uncomfortable.

We all think that we are good people in some way, shape or form, and that our opinions and thoughts have some merit to them. And to be confronted with the possibility that that's not the case is really daunting. Really daunting.