I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You by David Chariandy Book Review

 

I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You by David Chariandy is an introspective book that shows and acts as a reminder of racism in Canada. The author outlines some racist encounters that he or his biracial children have experienced while living here. Chariandy reflects his life being the son of immigrants who descended from African slaves and South Asian workers. They survived through low-wage jobs but managed to raise their son through their sacrifices, shortages, and discrimination through their hard work and determination. Chariandy in his book reflects on racial discrimination, the history, and the vision for an improved future.

Chariandy was born in Canada, is married to a white woman but this is not reason enough for him not to experience discrimination. This is seen when he goes to fetch water and bumps into a nicely dresses white woman and when he hesitates out of being polite, she is irritated and starts explaining in a loud voice that she was born there and she belongs there. He counts his children lucky and privileged to attend a school that warns against discrimination and bullying as well as celebrates inclusion and diversity which is something he did not have. Chariandy’s daughter turns 13 during President Trump's inauguration and a week after he was inaugurated, he issued travel bans on Muslim countries and suspended refugee admissions, her daughter, and old enough to understand this was confusing and worried pointing out that as discrimination. She wonders if that could be possible in her country and poses the question to her dad who responds by telling her it could not since it’s the response she needs to hear at the moment. Despite him knowing that distressing racism and violent colonial acts existed in Canada, he sought to reassure her daughter that it could not happen in their country. Chariandy shares about a mosque that had been targeted when the locals decided to open its doors to provide emergency shelter and food for the homeless people during the cold season. (Chariandy, 2019). Chariandy posits that men of many backgrounds are compelled to wear different masks to hide their real self and intentions. Being singled out in a country, in lines, and at borders because of your religion and constantly been viewed as a threat and visibly being made a target are all signs of discrimination.

The immigrant communities have been seen to benefit from competitive nation-building developments. Nationalists require the support of immigrants for example in Quebec to win a vote on power and Ottawa needs the devotion of immigrants for its nation-building purposes (Banting, & Soroka, 2012). This shows how much change the nation has undergone as compared to Chariandy’s parent's history. It shows that things are changing for the better and immigrants are being recognized in the nation. The government has shown support for the immigrants and this implies that they will have an attachment to the country. The liberty and sense of belonging that Chariandy hopes for his daughter are likely to be fully accomplished.

In the book, Chariandy does not make excuses for racism but rather interrogates it, and focuses on the different ways it can affect a person and make them feel bad. He clearly understands the feeling and does not know how to explain to his daughter about the world when she whispers to him how bad the world is (Chariandy, 2019). His parents too were cautious in telling him about the story of their past and the horrors of slavery that they went through. Most of the immigrants persevered all sorts of discrimination. His father had to quit his job and be a factory worker because he was being paid fewer wages compared to the whites while performing the same duties. His parents were humiliated in public spaces, could not be attended to in restaurants, and were stared at while they were out in the public.

It is through their resilience and hard work that the nation saw their contribution to the country and introduced multiculturalism. Making multiculturalism an official policy in Canada has enabled a transition from the white settler colony to a multiracial ad multiethnic society (Thobani, 2007). The diverse cultures are now valued which has helped to solve the ethnic and cultural division and immigrants can now feel free to air their opinions and get an equal opportunity in the job sector. It has helped people like Chariandy who is the son of an immigrant have the liberty to share his story through his book. He has become an acknowledged writer despite his cultural background and has even been rewarded for it.

Unfortunately, people still ask Chariandy where he is from and when he responds to it they will not believe him. Just because he speaks differently and has his parent's accent makes people not believe that he is Canadian. Having a sense of belonging has been an issue for him and in the book he incorporates a few poems and quotes from other authors that are all focused around the theme of belonging. This is because it is complicated for him as well as confusing. After all, he has grown in Canada and knows it as his home despite his parents originating from Trinidad (Chariandy, 2019). He has never felt accepted or understood as simply Canadian who he is. By telling his daughter about his own race story, he hopes that he will nurture inside her, being a child of several ancestral backgrounds, a sense of identity and accountability that will balance the hurtful truths that existed in the past and the present as well. He is also optimistic that there will be possibilities for a more equitable and fair future.

To offer culturally diverse individuals a sense of identity which is one of the main issues in Chariandy’s book, Canada became part of the nation-building by the adoption of multiculturalism as a state policy. The citizenship and immigration policy was liberalized changing the pattern of immigration into the country (Thobani, 2007). When the country adopted multiculturalism, it enabled the nation to self-represent itself on a global stage as a nation that promotes racial and ethnic tolerance among the western nations. The move to redefining national identity signifies that the nation is committed to valuing cultural diversity. Recognition of the ethnic groups by the nation has brought a lot of contribution from them since they are given an equal participation opportunity.

 Chariandy tells a story about his daughter intervenes when his brother is called by the n-word while in school. He is proud that his daughter shows her anger emotions and stand up for her brother because many black women are taught to be seen and not to be heard. He applauds his daughter for her quick ability to detect inequality in films and literature pointing out that she is better than he was. She helped his brother because he was hurt and therefore felt the urge to address that issues and therefore told the girl that whatever she had called her brother was not okay and should not be repeated (Chariandy, 2019). She at least was now old enough to understand what to be and not to be said and more so in the line of racism. The little girl did not understand the history of racism, discrimination, and using such words and how they make people feel. Chariandy is proud of his wife s well for her intelligence and being outspoken and terms it as being brave.

Chariandy has had his fair share of memories from being underestimated by teachers and taunted by classmates in school. He has been joked about, spat on, and all the other mean things a black child could go through. Chariandy had to play along with the people who joked about him so that they could not know that he was hurt because he feared that if they recognized his vulnerability, the insults and racism would escalate( Chariandy 2019). This made him grow a thick skin and play along despite him being hurt. Chariandy encourages her daughter by telling her that she is not responsible for the inequalities and injustices of this world. He continues to explain to her that she is neither solely nor uniquely responsible to fix them and the only thing she can do is learn from the story of their ancestry. She should respect and protect herself and should always see the beauty of other people.

By telling this story, Chariandy acknowledges how their ancestors bravely and creatively overcome racial violence and this can only be understood by telling about the past and focusing on the origin of prejudices. The book shows the concern a father has towards her daughter and the challenges she might face and some of which might include some that he has faced. History is changing and her daughter will not probably face the acts of racism that he went through. The government’s recognition of immigrants and inclusion in nation-building projects is enough proof that they have been recognized and can contribute to the nation. It is also evident from the posters in her daughter’s school warning against discrimination and bullying as well as celebrating inclusion and diversity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Banting, K., & Soroka, S. (2012). Minority nationalism and immigrant integration in Canada.

Nations and Nationalism, 18(1), 156-176.

 

Chariandy, D. (2019). I've Been Meaning to Tell You: A Letter to My Daughter. McClelland &

Stewart

Thobani, S. (2007). Exalted subjects: Studies in the making of race and nation in Canada.

University of Toronto Press.