I Had a Dream
But
Schools Stifle
Black Children
A documented testimony of systemic racism in Quebec’s school system.
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.
When local complaint processes failed to lead to meaningful recognition or redress, steps have been undertaken before the United Nations, underscoring the broader significance of the issues raised.
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 help this story be heard beyond linguistic boundaries and to support legal actions aimed at obtaining justice, securing redress, and ensuring recognition of these documented facts.
The books are available on the official website :
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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, 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 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:
« As I read this document, several questions imposed themselves upon me:
What intentions motivated the Solicitor General of Canada to authorize the circulation of such content within a space supposedly meant to protect the innocence of very young children?
What logic could possibly justify introducing such a stigmatizing message 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, without even realizing it, have internalized reflexes of exclusion or self-hatred through exposure to this document?
Unfortunately, I do not have the institutional answers to these questions. But I witnessed, with my own eyes, the insidious effects this document had on my son.»
« In a school where systemic racism lurks beneath the neatly pressed garments of educational policies, racialized children and Black children in particular, learn very early that their mere presence is perceived as a disturbance.
Their voice is 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 simply as one child among others. She was singled out, identified, and then struck, within a context where stereotypes operate silently yet with relentless precision. »
WHY WE NEED YOU
It represents the culmination of several years of work, documentation, and struggle in the face of a system that allowed these realities to persist without meaningful acknowledgment nor redress.
For this testimony to be fully heard and reach a wider audience, it must still go through additional stages, including professional translation into English, which requires further resources.
Today, your support is essential to help expand its reach and overcome language barriers.
WHAT YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL SUPPORT
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Funding the English translation
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Supporting legal efforts related to redress and the recognition of systemic racism in Quebec’s school system
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Expanding the reach and visibility of this testimony
THE IMPACT OF YOUR SUPPORT
Supporting this project is not just about funding a book, it means :
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Contributing to breaking the silence around realities that deeply affect children
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Helping make visible what has been made invisible
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Giving this testimony an international reach
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Ensuring these stories are heard, acknowledged, and lead to meaningful change
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About the Author
Asha K. is a Sudanese Canadian author whose work blends intimate testimony with critical political analysis.
A mother of two, she offers a narrative born out of urgency, driven by the need to have to have the harm they endured recognized and to seek justice.
She explains that she has faced not only with the school system, which she identifies as the source of the systemic racism experienced by her children, but also with institutions meant to protect victims’ rights, without obtaining redress.
Through her experience, she sheds light on institutional dynamics and the effects of systemic racism within Quebec’s public schools.
What began as a personal testimony has evolved into a political act, driven by the defense of her family’s dignity and contributing to the public interest
Her writing challenges silences, biases, and the mechanisms that suppress and marginalize the voices of Black victims, affirming the necessity of naming the facts when institutions keep them in the shadows.
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