More on black-owned businesses
CBC also has a piece on black-owned businesses Friday, with a link to a chef offering a Google spreadsheet of restaurants, which looks like an extension of the one listed below by Zeke.
Nobody’s listing the Jardin du Cari on St-Laurent near St-Viateur. I hope it hasn’t closed – I’ve always liked their food.
There’s also a list of anti-racist groups in the city,
Matt 20:26 on 2020-06-05 Permalink
Jardin du Cari is still open! At least it was when I walked by a few days ago.
Kate 20:29 on 2020-06-05 Permalink
Good to know, thank you!
Brett 20:33 on 2020-06-05 Permalink
Because, uh, there’s a corresponding list of racist groups in the city? Or are those groups not featured on the list going to be implicitly branded as racist?
Kate 21:45 on 2020-06-05 Permalink
Brett, quietly read your comment over to yourself a few times, and it may sink in just how stupid it sounds.
Brett 21:52 on 2020-06-05 Permalink
Kate, vegans proudly present themselves as the true defenders of animal rights. So we could make a list of vegan restaurants and imply that all other restaurants which serve meat are not doing anything to prevent animal cruelty. But anyway it’s time I stopped wasting my time writing stupid sounding comments in this thread.
Michael Black 22:19 on 2020-06-05 Permalink
I don’t want to get a stray bit of meat. So a list of vegetarian or vegan restaurants is useful to find where I could eat safely. “For” isn’t always symmetrical with “against”.
That list wasn’t “anti-racist”, it was pro-black. A variant of a “buy local” local. It’s for people looking for resources, whether they are black or not.
The history books say my great, great grandfather in Red River got flack for “those blacks” in the front row of his church. Not black people, but my Syilx great, great, great grandmother and her children. We became white, but for the cousins the racism remains. Discrimination is assymetrical too.
Myles 13:14 on 2020-06-06 Permalink
I’m not sure why making a list of vegan restaurants would be a problem. It would seem pretty useful for vegans. Likewise, making a lit of anti-racist organizations is useful for people who would like to make local donations. Why the negativity?
Kate 13:41 on 2020-06-06 Permalink
Myles, indeed, I have kept a list of veg*n restaurants on this site for a long time, even though my experiment with being vegetarian lapsed long ago. It’s not meant to be judgemental, obviously, nor, I believe, are the lists of black-owned restaurants and anti-racist organizations. They’re being circulated now in a spirit of helping people figure out, if they’re going to be supportive, where they can direct their support.
Chris 14:50 on 2020-06-06 Permalink
I guess if one makes a list of anti-racist organizations, the problem is what if you’re not on the list? Does that make you a pro-racist organization? Or just neutral on racism? Or is the list just not complete? How could you ever make an exhaustive list? (Most organizations are not racist after all.)
The veg*n restaurant comparison breaks down, I think, because being vegetarian and being meat-eating are *both* socially acceptable to society at large. So being either on or off such a list is no big deal. But racism is not socially acceptable to society at large so being on or off such a list is meaningful.
Kate 15:23 on 2020-06-06 Permalink
If a list says that, for example, CRARR is an anti-racist organization, it doesn’t imply that e.g. Vélo-Québec is a racist organization! Some organizations exist to fight discrimination. Many organizations have other aims, but that doesn’t make them racially discriminatory by default. It is simply not what they were brought into existence for.
Why this defensive posture?
MarcG 15:25 on 2020-06-06 Permalink
As I understand it, an anti-racist organization is a group that is explicitly fighting against racism. And if you’re looking for a list of pro-racist organizations, here’s a start: https://montreal-antifasciste.info/en/2020/05/09/2019-in-review/.
GC 19:38 on 2020-06-06 Permalink
I didn’t visit Le Jardin until I started working in the area, but I would also be sad to see it go. When I walked by this evening, the “ouvert” sign was definitely on and flashing.
Michael Black 20:18 on 2020-06-06 Permalink
All lists discriminate, they wouldn’t be useful if there was just one giant list. The comments have taken a weird path, invoking vegans as if vegans are monolithic. Is this deliberaye misdirection?
All groups are “discriminatory” in that they form around something. You won’t find much place unless yku share that interest. Of course, if you do and they still don’t want you, then it may be a matter to take issue with.
Black Lives Matter is at times dismissed as being racist since it “excludes” others. That thinking seems to be at play here. It’s really “Black Lives Matter, too”.
The only thing wrong with this list is the label, “anti-racist”. It’s a resource list, it won’t be of much use to racists. It’s about organizations, but business and groups, and things to read at this particular time. It’s for black people, and others who care.
Segregation was kept in place by threats of violence, and outright violence. Segregation was broken whe black people decided to stand up to power, they decided that the risk of violence was less important than a better world.
Black people spoke, and they got better distribution for what they were saying. There is a big difference between “this hurts me” and third parties saying something is wrong. This is the notion of “allieship” that’s been circulating in recent years, that white people can help, but it’s a secondary role.
Black or native people have other things to say, their concerns aren’t always what white people think matter.
Thus for real change the voice of the “oppressed” have to be loud, and heard. This list is about that. You can’t really say much until you’ve !istened.