Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Zanana Akande: Well, after high school, in a way, you know, I credit that rejection from
the insurance companies as motivating me to say, well, you can't postpone going through
university and I worked full-time and went to school fulltime. But after, I was very
aware immediately when I went into teaching that things were, in fact, they hadn't changed
much.
I went back to teach at the exact same school that I had graduated from as a child and there
I was, the only Black teacher on staff. In fact, I moved into situations in the board
where we tried to negotiate better conditions and better salaries and I seemed to be the
only Black teacher in the board, let alone in the school. And I found that, as you moved
about, people continued to act as though you were exceptional, as though your being there
was in fact a step forward.
And perhaps it was at that time, but I wasn't accepting that. When I tried to use my job
in the school board and my involvement with the federations, both the Catholic Teachers
Federation and later with the Federation of Women Teachers, which no longer exists, to
promote equity and to promote a consideration of these few people as being capable of moving
forward.
It was resented a great deal. I remember one of the nuns, who was the principal of the
school, said to me, you want too much. Don't you think it's wonderful that you're here
and you're not living in Africa, and that you're not suffering the way some of those
African children are? And I was appalled and went home and, of course, discussed this with
my parents and father said that's sheer ignorance. They know nothing about Africa. They know
nothing about the contributions and he, you know, he spurred me on to do more.