The Real Reason Media Has Failed Us

What does education mean to you?

Seriously. 

What does it mean? 

I’ve been thinking about what it means to define myself as someone who is not just a creator, and storyteller, but an educator as well. 

In the wake of online courses a-plenty, books and academic readings made more accessible than ever before, and an understanding that Google is “Free.99,”  being self-taught is increasingly common, and the barriers between people and their education in the Western world is becoming drastically smaller. 

History will tell you that when it comes to social and racial injustices in the lives of Black & Brown folks, the majority of people who had access to be formally educated in these cultures and experiences are White folks who had access to education, rather than the people of the community that were being “studied.” 

In fact, if you look at the media that was created just over 100 years ago via film, photographs, and television, you'll see prime examples of this “subjectification”. From the first documentaries and cinema that “studied the uncivilized,” to publications like National Geographic that they themselves acknowledged was racist in their roots, Black & Brown experiences have been “studied” by our oppressors for decades. 

The result: our education through our media has historically been through a racist & privileged lens.

Rather than being active members of a discussion, or fully formed characters in our own narratives, Black & Brown folks around the world have been “subjected to” a colonial frame of study for centuries, which has led to one-sided narratives by people who only ever had one-sided educations (and yet won numerous awards, validations, and profits for their work). 

In the midst of this, I’ve been actively doing the readings from the syllabuses of Womxn’s Studies classes, curated by Black & Brown professors for the last few years now.

I’ve questioned whether a formal degree in Womxn’s studies and Literature is a necessary means of validation when it comes to being an educator, specifically in Decolonial, Anti-Racist Storytelling when it comes to Womxn & Femmes in Entrepreneurship. 

The answer is, is that it doesn't. Formal degrees by institutions that still fail to provide safe spaces for their Black & Brown students are not the answer. With no race-based data collected in Colleges and Universities across Canada, (see this 90 page PDF/study on the schooling of Black Students in the Greater Toronto Area by Dr. Carl James) it is clear that education itself is messy, biased, and is filled with systematically flawed institutions.  

Because there is finally an awareness of truly recognizing how important it is to recognize who our content producers and educators are, and asking ourselves: 

Are we consuming the news that is run by white producers and historically white institutions with political agendas? Or are we consuming media & news from Black & Brown folks who have autonomy over their content and platforms on social media? Are we sticking to learning only the curriculums deemed “appropriate” by conservative government leaders — or are we educating ourselves from thought-leaders like Rachel Cargle & Layla F Saad?  

In navigating all of this, I am giving myself the permission slip to step into the world of being an educator. 

My work will be an evolution, in the wake of a revolution.  

It will constantly be changing. 

So welcome to my world, and work, which will continue to be:  

↪ A study of Entrepreneurship, and Storytelling from the lens of Fourth & Fifth wave Feminism*. 

↪ A better look at how our media and stories need to be created in a time of unfiltered and authentic truths, free of gatekeepers. 

↪ An understanding of what true autonomy of our stories can really look like — and how this will shape the narratives of the children of our future. 

While I will always present my work through the lens of living in a Brown body and navigating the world as a Third Culture Kid, it will always hold Anti-Racist values, and honour the Black Femme Educators who have paved the way for me to take up my own space. 

My work will continue to centre the stories of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour Entrepreneurs and Brands.  

And throughout the process, there will be a lifetime of unlearning the things that are the byproduct of the systems and education around me.

And I hope you're ready to do the same.

With Love & Solidarity,

Jenny Jay

To help in the process of education and advocacy, I’ve decided to start including a Glossary of Terms, to better make these terms and ideas accessible and easier to understand. 

Third Culture: Refers to the mixed identity that a child assumes, influenced both by their parents' culture and the culture in which they are raised. Also expanded to include the children of refugee families and those displaced for political reasons, as well as anyone whose work or lifestyle causes a need to settle in another part of the world.

Fourth Wave Feminism: Arguably the phase of feminism that began around 2013 that is characterized by a focus on the empowerment of Womxn via the use of internet tools.

Fifth Wave Feminism: Not an official term but an expression of the next wave of feminism that will be defined by the current wave of feminism that truly has Anti-Racist values and is rooted in the movements that occur in 2020 and beyond.