"Universities across Canada open lounges for Black students"

A "progressive" move that harks back to the heyday of Jim Crow

'A beautiful community': Universities across Canada open lounges for Black students

April 4, 2023

Spaces designated for students from marginalized backgrounds are spreading across Canadian universities, as officials say they are a necessary and overdue response to decades of racism on campus.

Toronto Metropolitan University officially opened a space late last month for students who self-identify as Black.

Cheryl Thompson, an associate professor at the university, said the need for such lounges became increasingly clear following the death of George Floyd, whose 2020 killing by a white Minneapolis Police Department officer sparked protests worldwide.

"Something did shift in 2020 institutionally ... when the world witnessed the inhumanity in that George Floyd video," Thompson said about the Black man who was seen in a video using his last few breaths telling the officer kneeling on his neck, "I can't breathe."

"The demands Black students have been making for decades have finally been heard."

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6800598