Trinity College School had the privilege of virtually hosting the Get Real Movement on January 27th, for a workshop teaching the Senior School community about racism and ways to deal with it. As part of the Get Real Movement, presenters Saidat and Garrison opened up and shared their past experiences in order to educate the coming generations and help students distinguish what’s right and wrong. The workshop was part of the School’s ongoing efforts to stand against anti-Black racism.

The two speakers touched on racism, systemic racism, microaggressions, colorblind racism and white privilege. They reminded students that racism, unfortunately, continues to happen in Canada today, and shared that the best response is to speak up and speak out when you see something wrong, but doing so at the right time and in the right place.

Saidat and Garrison shared their stories and the difficult experiences they went through, but how that only made them stronger and tougher to face the world that we live in today. Saidat now runs her own children’s workshop series called the Saidat Show, while Garrison runs a basketball training program.

The overarching theme put out was to be mindful of racism and to strive to learn about it and support the people who are facing it, alongside leading life with kindness and following what makes your heart full.

Saidat and Garrison also put forth a reflective activity for the students that allowed us to interact with what they were teaching. They asked us to write out our experiences from the workshop, thinking about examples of what we knew was wrong and what we learned that was new to us.

The TCS community wants to sincerely thank Saidat and Garrison for taking the time out of their day to share their experiences with us and making sure the coming generations take away fruitful knowledge of racism and how to strive to make our country a better place.

- By Natasha Pinto, Grade 12 student and communications steward