A mile away

It's that Manifesto time of year again. Time for bboys, graf artists, community activists, performers of all kinds and appreciators of hip hop to gather for seven days of events, including free concerts, bboy battles and a filmfest, which I got to check out tonight.

The first documentary was called Invisible City:
"In the inner-city housing project of Toronto's Regent Park, Kendell and Mikey, like their surroundings are in the process of transformation; the environment and social pressure tempting them to make poor choices, their mothers and mentors rooting for them to succeed. Turning his camera on the often ignored inner city, Academy-award nominated director Hubert Davis sensitively depicts the disconnection of urban poverty and race from the mainstream."

Although it ran a little long, the documentary was moving and, I hate to say it but, eye-opening for someone as ignorant as I am of the challenges that other marginalized communities face. You hear about places like Regent Park, St. Jamestown, Jane and Finch and it's easy to forget how close we are geographically yet how we are seemingly worlds apart.

Sidenote: One particular scene that my friend and I talked about afterwards was when Kendell spoke with his guidance counselor about possibly moving from his current math class to a more advanced one, having received a 75 in his previous semester. She tells him that although he did well in the last class, she's not sure if he can make that jump to such an advanced class. In other words, no son, don't even bother trying harder because you WILL fail. Geez fuckin' louise. It reminded me of Malcolm X telling his grade school teacher that he wanted to be a lawyer, to which she replied, that wouldn't be "a realistic goal for a n*****." Malcolm wrote that he knew his teacher thought she was trying to be helpful by setting realistic goals for him but really, what all kids need in the least is someone that believes that they can do great things. Anyway, back to the point.

Regent park is one mile away from my apartment. Suddenly the "inner city" doesn't seem so far away. Issues like affordable housing, gentrification, social welfare, racial profiling, police/gang/youth related violence are a little more relevant and get uncomfortably close. As I sit here on my Mac, in my Ikea furnished apartment (paid for by my parents), getting ready to go to bed for another day of working in my bougie/borderline hipster office, I wonder, what am I really doing to make things 'better'?

I talk about social justice and probably mention the words civic engagement 15 times a week but really and truly, something like this just puts it all into perspective. We do what we can, for whichever communities we choose to engage in. We try to do our part. Our lives continue, we work, we play, we sleep. The days slip by and we lose ourselves in what matters in our lives. At the same time, those communities in our midst that are being demolished under the guise of "revitalization" begin to feel even more foreign, like it's in another city.

But once in a while, you remember they really aren't that far away. This is happening right next to us and we AREN'T worlds apart. These are our neighbours, the people we see on the street, the "thugs" we avoid sitting close to on the TTC, the news stories we read with our morning coffee.

And you realize...it's happening right here. Now that's real life.

It brings into perspective what needs to be changed in this city. It makes me think more about who will be the best leader to do that for this place we live in. This isn't just the Toronto I live in, it's the Toronto we all live in. ...Okay all this thinking is giving me a headache at 1:12am.

I should also mention, after all this gloom and doom, that throughout the documentary, there is also the underlying message of hope. Hope in a person's potential and hope that good things can and will happen, and that, I believe, is something we can all relate to.

Here's the trailer. I can't be bothered to try and make it fit but check it: