I Had a Dream
But
Schools Stifle
Black Children
Beyond documenting lived experiences, this project seeks to contribute to public dialogue, institutional accountability and policy reforms aimed at ensuring that every child can learn in an educational environment free from systemic racism.
Sometimes, breaking the silence becomes a vital necessity.
This book documents a decade during which two young children were confronted with systemic racism within Quebec’s public school system.
Through the voice of their mother, Asha, a Sudanese Canadian author, this testimony reveals how institutional decisions and entrenched mechanisms can produce persistent discriminatory effects, often invisible, yet carrying serious and lasting consequences from the earliest years of schooling.
Drawing on lived experience, archives, official reports, and institutional correspondence, this work brings to light a reality that extends far beyond a single family. It exposes patterns that continue to shape the experiences of Black children, while too often remaining unacknowledged.
Unfortunately, the local actions undertaken did not lead to recognition of systemic racism in the school system, nor to compensation or remedies proportionate to the harm endured.
This is more than a personal story.
It is a call to confront what remains unseen.
It is a demand for dignity, accountability, and justice for all children.
This testimony therefore fully belongs within the public interest.
Your support is essential to enable the professional translation of this testimony and its dissemination beyond linguistic boundaries, while also supporting efforts to obtain justice, reparation, and recognition.
THE BOOKS :
WHY THIS BOOK MATTERS
In 2026, Quebec remains the only province in Canada where the recognition of systemic racism continues to be contested in the political sphere, and is reflected in segments of media discourse.
Yet, according to the author, the documented facts presented in this work, including racial violence against Black children, biased administrative decisions, abusive reporting, and unjustified sanctions, point to a reality that is difficult to ignore.
At its core, this book is grounded in a clear conviction that every child has the right to an educational environment free from racism.
It raises the alarm about the risk that certain life paths may be sacrificed in the name of institutional denial, while giving a voice to those who have long remained unheard.
For the author, this issue extends beyond the individual and concerns the public interest as well as the fundamental respect for children’s rights and dignity.
In this context, bearing witness becomes one of the last remaining accessible paths toward justice.
WHAT YOU WILL DISCOVER
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Real-life events documented over a ten-year period
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Official reports and administrative decisions with tangible consequences
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Institutional correspondence revealing the scale of the issue
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A deeply personal narrative at the intersection of the intimate and the political
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An analysis of systemic racism in schools and its impact on Black children
EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK:
« Upon reading this document, several questions arose for me:
What intentions led the Solicitor General of Canada to authorize the circulation of such content within a space meant to protect the innocence of very young children?
What logic could possibly justify the introduction of such a message, laden with stigmatization, into the world of five-year-old children?
For how many years has this booklet been poisoning the minds of our children in Canadian schools?
How many children have, without even realizing it, developed patterns of exclusion or self-hatred as a result of reading this document?
Unfortunately, I do not have institutional answers to these questions. But I have seen, with my own eyes, the insidious effects of this document on my son. »
« In a school where systemic racism lurks beneath the well-pressed appearance of educational policies, racialized children, and Black children in particular, learn very early on that their mere presence is perceived as a problem.
Their voices are treated as noise, their energy as disruption, and their response to injustice as insolence.
According to what my daughter told me that day, she was not seen as just another child. She was singled out, identified, and then struck, in a context where stereotypes operate silently, yet with relentless precision. »
The books are available now :
About the Author
Asha is a Sudanese Canadian author whose writing combines intimate testimony with political analysis.
A mother of two, she offers a narrative born out of urgency: to have the harm endured acknowledged, to raise awareness of systemic racism in schools affecting Black children, and to contribute to justice.
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