We Honour the Life of Lincoln Alexander
January 21 is Lincoln Alexander Day. It’s a day to remember the life and legacy of Lincoln Alexander as a Black lawyer, politician and advocate, who came of age in a community that was marginalized, isolated and dominated by a largely white, Anglo-Saxon society.
Lincoln Alexander is remembered in part for his drive to challenge the discriminatory attitudes of those with power and privilege, that gate-kept the institutions and professional fields he and other Black Canadians sought to enter.
In a changing province and country, Alexander was a face of Black empowerment and a tireless advocate for equal opportunity and advancement through education, inclusion and dignity for Black Canadians.
A life lived, committed to standing up and being counted:
On this day, we remember the late Alexander through three quotes taken from his 2006 memoir: Go to School, You’re a Little Black Boy: The Honourable Lincoln M. Alexander. These quotes capture the essence of what the Human Rights Code was created to protect in Ontario. From Alexander’s personal and organizational battles for the rights of Black Ontarians to live and work with dignity and respect, we see a reflection of our mandate at the Human Rights Legal Support Centre.
On his tireless anti-racism work:
“I’ve been required to take whatever means were necessary to assert my dignity and my right to respect— from scrapping in the schoolyard to calling out the dean of my law school for a public racial slur. Like it or not, confronting racism is a lifelong enterprise from which I have been engaged both personally and at the organizational level.”
On confronting systemic discrimination:
“I had talked by phone with a representative of [a leading Hamilton law firm] and it had gone exceptionally well. As we were wrapping up our discussion, I asked somewhat casually, “Would it matter to you sir, if I told you I was black?” The simple question was greeted with dead silence. To his credit, the lawyer did agree to meet with me, but in the end he said the firm’s clients were English, Irish and Scottish and would not accept me. That angered me, and it occurred to me that his was the easy answer of a coward, unwilling to make an honourable, bold statement for social justice, all for the sake of commerce.”
On the importance of access to education and equality of opportunity:
“My determination was fueled by my recognition from a very early age that education was the path to limitless possibility… I have seen constant reinforcement of the grandness of education, from bright and enthusiastic students— the future— to committed educators and administrators that deliver the greatest gift.”