Anti-racism educator is expanding the circle
By the time he was 30, Shakil Choudhury had managed community projects in Costa Rican rain forests, co-ordinated an oral history project between young leaders in Pakistan and Canada, and spearheaded economic and political literacy workshops for low-income communities in Toronto.
Recognized as an anti-racism educator who developed an anti-bias curriculum, he has helped organizations work through their differences to nurture environments where all people feel like they matter and belong. He has led intercultural dialogues between communities in conflict in Europe and South America.
Choudhury launched Anima Leadership 13 years ago with his wife and business partner Annahid Dashtgard. His team is called in to train staff and students when a school has a racist incident. They are consulted when a human rights settlement requires an intervention. They have developed measurement tools for federal and provincial governments to help improve diversity outcomes.
In his book, Deep Diversity, he writes that the model he teaches is “a culmination of twenty years in the field of diversity and inclusion, one emotional burnout in my early thirties and a childhood pretending I was white”. It is steeped in his identity as a “middle-class, heterosexual, able-bodied-university-educated Canadian male of South Asian ethnicity... We went through the immigrant shuffle of the 1970s Canada before my family landed on its feet in the 1980s.”
Born in Pakistan, he comes from a family with Hindu and Muslim roots in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. “I have experienced both the love and the tensions of this context, they reside within me. That is perhaps partly why I do the work I do. It informs why I am so committed to building relationships.”
Growing up, he avoided other brown kids and felt a distorted sense of pride at being mistaken for being Italian or Spanish.
“Parents who are new immigrants may be going through a culture shock themselves,” he says.
“Even those who have been here a while may underestimate the drive to belong. Adults and children adapt in different ways and some of the things we do to adapt are healthy, others not so much. Which of the strategies we adopt promote our self-esteem and which are damaging? It is important to have that conversation.”
He gives the example of anglicising one’s name. It is not a bad thing in and of itself, but parents who allow that to happen for the sake of ease then send mixed messages when they tell their kids to be proud of who they are, to stay true to their identities.
He tells newcomers to cultivate self-awareness. “The more clarity we get about who we are, the more we learn about the world around us. Knowing what’s best for this situation comes from a deep inner place. Seeing our strengths and weaknesses, that is foundational to our success. It helps us to build on our strengths and work on our weaknesses.”