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I've got some things to say about @TorontoComics. The screenshots I’ve included are from their recent statements
Statement 1: https://tinyurl.com/ydb6gbep
Statement 2 : https://tinyurl.com/yazzzws4
#TCAFdobetter
Statement 1: https://tinyurl.com/ydb6gbep
Statement 2 : https://tinyurl.com/yazzzws4
#TCAFdobetter
It sucks to hear “we’ll do better” from TCAF. BIPOC people, disabled people, trans people have been talking to TCAF about the work it needs to do to actually “support diversity” for years, and they have not been listened to. They have not been treated well, supported, or included
Disclaimer - I don’t mean to in any way speak to Black or Indigenous peoples’ experience with TCAF. I’m speaking about my experiences with TCAF, and the experiences of other marginalized friends and fellow staff members.
I’ve had no conversations with Black or Indigenous people on TCAF staff about the specific challenges they face because there *are* no Black or Indigenous people on TCAF staff.
In the whole TCAF organization, there’s only one Black person ( @cleopatriia), who is employed as a retailer for TCAF’s comics shop.
There are also no Black or Indigenous people on the TCAF board. These “commitments” really worry me, because, with the way things are right now, I don’t believe TCAF has the capability to do anything other than tokenize, mistreat and burn out any marginalized people they bring in
Background: I started volunteering with TCAF the year I came to Canada. I made fast friends with someone who’d been volunteering with TCAF for much longer than me, and, when they were asked to be a part of the weekly TCAF planning meetings, they invited me to come along.
My friend explicitly mentioned wanting to get more people of colour in the room. I appreciated it, was happy to be asked, and started attending these meetings.
I’d commute two hours each way once a week to sit in a small room, and watch Christopher Butcher ignore, talk over, or dismiss my friends. The atmosphere was so hostile, I started having anxiety attacks on my way to the meetings.
I’d be sitting on the train, shaking, trying not to vomit. I’d be sitting in that room, shaking, trying not to vomit. I was still so grateful and happy that they *allowed* me to be a part of those meetings.
We’d get assigned tasks, not be given the materials or direction we needed to complete them, and then be made to feel like incompetent, worthless garbage when we failed to complete these tasks.
We’d be in the room while the people at the top of the TCAF hierarchy went on long, self-congratulatory tangents about TCAF’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity. We’d be there as, again and again, TCAF failed to meet the barest standards of that commitment.
After the meetings, I’d hang out with the friend who brought me on, and we’d debrief. Getting to speak to another person who felt like shit after TCAF meetings was the only thing that kept me from thinking I was going completely insane.
TCAF burns through marginalized people looking to contribute to the festival like they’re NOTHING. Over the years, I’ve watched my friends, excellent, capable people, be passed over again and again for opportunities they mentioned explicit interest in.
I’ve watched so many people come in, loving the festival and excited to help, and then leave because there is no room for them. Magically, there always seems to be a way to make room for another cis abled white person.
There are people of colour who have been sticking it out at TCAF for eleven years and are still at the bottom of the hierarchical ladder. I have a hard time believing that that’s not because they’ve been purposefully kept there.
TCAF is also *appalling* at crediting these people.
Every year, at the TCAF afterparty, Christopher Butcher goes on stage and thanks people for their contributions. Every year, it's a toss-up whether POC and marginalized staffers' names will get mentioned at all
This includes even the one (1) person who was, for years, in charge of TCAF’s professional development stream, a whole day of programming with its own dedicated space!
Again, magically, cis abled white people we’d never heard about or even met prior to the festival are always thanked for all their help.
In 2018, TCAF included a space called Zineland Terrace, which was created to make room at TCAF for people who make zines that aren’t comics. One of the very few people of colour on TCAF staff was part of the group of people who founded this space.
They’re still one of the people running it, doing programming, running workshops, designing materials, figuring out the layout for the space, literally there on the day at seven in the morning setting up tables.
On the TCAF website, the two cis white people who do the same job my friend does are listed as Programme Coordinators. My friend is listed under Additional Support.
TCAF staff *has* gone through Anti-Racism/Anti Oppression training, at the request of the marginalized people at the bottom of the hierarchical ladder. The bosses didn’t take it seriously, didn’t engage w/ the training, didn’t use any of the skills + strategies they were taught
The people at the top of the TCAF hierarchy don’t need more resources and materials. They need to learn to share the resources and materials they’ve been hoarding, they need to learn to cede power and make space and listen. Otherwise, nothing is going to change,
Otherwise, marginalized people are going to continue contributing their passion and expertise for free, at the expense of their mental and emotional well-being, while white man who treat them like crap get to make a career out of TCAF
I recognize my privilege as a white-passing POC and as someone who’s been treated better and better the further along I got in my transition and the closer I came to looking like a cis man. I want to use this privilege to effect meaningful change.
I’m bringing these things up in the hopes that people who love TCAF will see what’s happening and pressure them to do better. I’m bringing these things up in the hopes that TCAF will do better.
I don’t want anyone else to have to weigh being close to this thing they love with being in an environment that’s hostile to their humanity.
