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About 5 years ago, I began work on a project that would explore the inner worlds of black men living in Toronto, in light of all the media reports of escalating “black on black violence” in the city.I met with and interviewed men – across generations, differing in class, income and age, with and without jobs, etc, and built up a collection of about fifteen to twenty personal stories of their life experiences. I was struck by how many stories recalled memories of their immigrant parents saying that they had come to Canada attracted by Pierre Eliot Trude's
promise of the “Just Society”.
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These men’s stories talked about their relationships with friends and enemies, familiars and strangers, wives, girlfriends and children. They included their thoughts about power, money, the police, religion and the law.
Inevitably, I heard these stories within the context of my background in improvisational theatre and my experience as a Co-Counsellor. I felt that black men in this city might benefit from a process that would support them emotionally to deal with their every day challenges, manage stress, and find ways to support each other, instead of responding, on an individual basis, to the everyday violence of racism, with further violence, desperation and rage. Thus, the character of Gene Wright came to life – a forty-something social worker striving desperately to hold on to the dream of his immigrant father who answered Trudeau’s call for newcomers to the “Just Society”.
In order to create the Support Group, I put out a call describing the project and its proposed process, for actors from within the multicultural realities of this city who were eager for the opportunity to work creatively with others like themselves.
Our group began with exercises over many months, such as: interviewing each other about life stories; visiting different locations within the community; drawing on lived experiences; absorbing ourselves in story development workshops (sometimes over a weekend, sometimes over a week).
We have been working together as a group for more than three years now. Over time, everyone involved in our small “community” became strongly bonded to each other. Mutual trust is an essential ingredient of creative collaboration. The years of in-depth character development have paid off. The result is, I believe, a strong film with compelling characters.
Racism – and the way that we internalise it -is a key theme that has threaded its way through almost everyone’s stories – along with tales of ambition, belligerence, anger, sorrow, humour, persistence, weakness, strength, success and failure. There were individual strategies for negotiating and striving to overcome the barriers of systemic racism. Many stories unwittingly exposed an abiding, often deeply submerged, sense of personal failure, blame and guilt in the face of the everyday violence of racism encountered by black men today in Canada.
Winter became a metaphor for a community under siege in the cold, seeking strategies and ways out of the violence of racism. Finding none.
Healing comes from the honesty and passion of this storytelling, and in our ability to hold on and keep faith with each other through the process, regardless of the obstacles.
Frances-Anne Solomon
March 2007
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