“Everything got serious with the coronavirus around St. Patrick’s Day, right? My daughter was born on St. Patrick’s Day.”

Justice is a new father this year and shared his experience with fatherhood and on racial inequality issues.
Published on July 15th, 2020

One of the hardest things about the pandemic has been finding the balance between being protective and not making my stepson scared.

But then I’ll remind him that he’s a strong individual and he’ll be able to do anything. I had to quickly learn how to be a stepdad when I met my girlfriend. After moving in together, she was pregnant again.

So now, I'm learning how to be a dad as well.

Arriving at the hospital we realized how intense things were with the pandemic. There was a giant screening process. We had to stand there for ten minutes while my girlfriend was in labour. 

I don’t know many people who can say this time off has been positive for them. I’m a server at a hotel and if the coronavirus wasn’t happening, I probably would’ve only been able to take a week off. I feel like one of the lucky ones.

It’s always a good time to learn.

People look at racial equality issues and say, ‘that happened a long time ago.' There have been five lynchings in the past two months that have been ruled as suicides. People know about this yet it’s still being swept under the rug.

The way systemic racism works is that there’s always a system to make sure it doesn’t appear racist.

For example, in high school my guidance counselors would suggest I go into applied classes. My mom actually had to go into the school and fight for me to be in the academic classes.

They don’t tell you that you’re closing doors for yourself when you switch to applied, but I do remember being told how much university costs and being asked how I’d put up that much money.

Guidance counselors shouldn’t look at a person's grades as their worth. With the grade 9 streaming eliminated, it’s a step in the right direction.

It’s an important time to have serious talks about race with those around us. We need people to be aware of what’s going on right now and we need people to act. It’s up to us to make change for our future generations.

We need all hands on deck.

2020: In your Words is a mini-series that shares genuine and candid conversations about 2020 has impacted our community members. From the pandemic, to social isolation, to the Black Lives Matter protests, 2020 has challenged us to grow in so many different ways.

Storytelling by Meris Kieller and The Community Company.

Click here to return to the project page, or keep scrolling for the arrows to jump to the next story.