*Born in Rwanda, flew to Los Angeles, grew up in Texas, Georgia, and very very briefly New York, before I moved to Toronto, Canada to become a proud citizen.
Being black in the US more or less means that you’re African-American. And being black in Canada means that you’re just another immigrant, like everyone else in Canada.
If you’re black in the US there’s a general feeling of camaraderie against a common foe. Some attribute this to African-Americans not knowing where in Africa they’re truly from. And so you get this mish-mashed group of dark-skinned peoples banding together for a common cause like orphans realizing that you can make a family with the people around you. This creates a great solidarity amongst African-Americans, but you’ve also got to realize that lands that create orphans in the first place aren’t that great.
In Canada black people know their origins.
Western Canada has a lot of African immigrants. I’ve never heard anyone call themselves African-Canadian in everyday speech as a term to describe themselves. Everyone describes themselves using their lineages; “I’m Nigerian, I’m Ugandan, Moroccan, Kenyan, &c..”
Eastern Canada has more black people from the West Indies so you hear people calling themselves Jamaican, Haitian, and Trini. We have Caribana, a festival of Caribbean culture held each summer in Toronto. It’s North America’s largest street festival. And there’s almost always reggae, dancehall, or soca playing in some neighbourhood, a fun game of dominoes loudly accompanying the music. Drake’s whole demeanour was basically influenced by hanging around the Toronto music scene filled with black people who can trace most of their lineages to the island countries.
And Quebec is almost its own thing, as any Canadian will tell you (but it’s at its core 100% Canadian). Quebec feels more like France than Canada to me personally. From the architecture, to the generally more relaxed attitude, to the predominance of the Québécoise/Quebequack French language; Quebec feels like a land that held on to its past European-identity a lot more firmly than the rest of Canada even though it’s still filled with the same number of crazed hockey fans. And so too black people in Quebec generally remind me of black people from France and the like.
In Canada black people know their origins. If you’re black and I see you in the US I’ll give you the nod and wonder what state you’re from. If I see you in Canada I’ll give you the nod and wonder what country you’re from. This seems to be the difference.
Also, although racism still exists, there’s no overhanging fear over my head in Canada. One of the first things I had to learn after moving was how to not always be so on guard.