“Jackie Robinson represents hope. » In his documentary Dear Jackie, Henri Pardo summons the man who was the first black man to break the glass ceiling of Major League Baseball by joining the Montreal Royals more than 75 years ago. “It’s amazing what Jackie Robinson has done, but you quickly realize he’s not the only one. The others, however, remain unknown to the general public,” explains the filmmaker. Ivan Livingstone, this former teacher and athlete now retired, is one of them. Like all the characters who appear in Pardo’s film, the resident of Little Burgundy tells how he too had to overcome the pitfalls inherent in racism through a story punctuated by the history of his neighborhood.
The disintegration of the Little Burgundy district, inhabited by Afro-descendant communities for a long time, goes hand in hand with the urban renewal generated by the Universal Exhibition of 1967, in particular with the construction of the Ville-Marie motorway which was completed in 1972. “Montreal wanted to be open and celebrate difference, but that’s not really what we saw on the street with all these transformations. This is also what happened earlier in 1946, when Montreal said it was THE city to welcome Jackie Robinson, underlines Henri Pardo. We idolized Jackie Robinson, but he was the exception because ultimately the individuals who make up the Afro-descendant communities were left out. »
For the director, this exceptionalism still exists, and the issues related to systemic racism are only shifting. “Whether it’s Jackie Robinson, with segregation, or Barack Obama, and the overrepresentation of Afro-descendants in prisons, both in the United States and in Canada we must not forget that no one is expected them to succeed. Today, the situation is changing, and we are talking about gentrification,” continues Henri Pardo. With houses that are sold for more than 1 million dollars to the detriment of its historical populations, Little Burgundy is obviously no exception.
Light trauma
These social pressures, including racism and the displacement of black bodies, are, in fact, ubiquitous. “Things do not change, they are just veiled, camouflaged, under the appearance of a post-racial society, which Canada is not”, observes Henri Pardo. And both the economy and the culture of human exploitation still have a bright future, he said.
“As a filmmaker, however, I am less interested in trauma than in culture and life,” he finally confides. A statement that is frankly reflected in Dear Jackie, with the rock-solid resilience of the people heard in the film. “North American Afro-descendant societies have continued despite everything to prosper, to help each other and to cultivate their art. We don’t always take them seriously, but artists are observers of history,” warns Henri Pardo.
A solidarity which is also reflected, in the case of Little Burgundy, with the Union United Church (UCC) and to which the documentary pays tribute for its central role in the district. “There is a community that was built with nothing and personalities that emerged from it. The UCC quickly became a pillar for education and sharing, beyond religion, with an important place given to women. It’s very inspiring,” says Henri Pardo. And he insists: if what he says in Dear Jackie resembles the battle of David against Goliath, Little Burgundy should never be neglected.
Correction: Contrary to an earlier version of this article, the Union United Church (UCC) has not been disbanded.