Don't believe in stereotypes, they're not worth anything! If anyone tells you different, don't believe him or her. Just ask me. My name is Kelvin Monpoint, and I'm a brother with a story to share with you. I hear a lot of trash talk about bisexual men in the Black Community. As an openly bisexual man of Haitian descent, I find all that crap ridiculous. Seriously. I'm twenty seven years old, and hold a Master's degree in Sociology from Carleton University, a fine school located in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. I presently work for the City of Ottawa Department of Social Services as a special interest counselor for at-risk people.
I've only been on the job for two years but after interacting with Arabs, Africans, Asians and others, as well as Caucasian folks of all stripes, I can tell you that everyone is unique. No two people who have ever lived are exactly alike, that just doesn't happen. According to statistics, being Black and male in the continent of North America should mean having a predisposition towards criminal activities, irresponsibility and being generally unproductive. I don't know where these idiots get their facts. Seriously. I come from a stable, loving, two-parent household. My father Eugene Monpoint moved to the Confederation of Canada from the island of Haiti in 1979 as a twenty-year-old man. He studied Law at the University of Manitoba, and eventually moved to the region of Ontario, where he met my mother, Alexandra Jeunesse, a French Canadian woman. They got married and had little old me.
In the eyes of the world, I am seen as biracial because I'm light-skinned with curly hair and hazel eyes but I consider myself Black. Both of my parents are educated, and they're happily married. Mom is a graduate of the University of Ottawa and has taught Mathematics at Saint Guillaume Academy for the past twenty years. My folks are in their fifties, and still going strong both as a married couple and as working professionals. My parents taught me that I could accomplish anything as long as I set my mind to it. It's something for which I am eternally thankful. After graduating from Carleton University, I traveled quite a bit. I lived in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, for about eleven months. I found it a really fun place to live in, but the City of Ottawa is the place of my birth. It's home, pure and simple.
I began looking for work, and although I once said I would never work for the Canadian government, I had student loans to pay back. I began working for the Department of Social Services. They say you're not supposed to mix business with pleasure, your personal life with your work. However, I have never believed in following the rules set by others, no matter how well-intentioned. I've always had a rebellious streak and I like to live close to the edge. How many Black male social workers do you know of? Also, how many openly bisexual Black male social workers can you think? If you're drawing up a blank, that's okay. I am proud of who I am and I happen to love the work I do. I help a lot of people. The City of Ottawa is one of the top destinations for newcomers and immigrants coming into Canada. Especially the ones from outside the European Union. I speak French, English, Spanish, Tunisian Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and a bit of Portuguese. Being fluent in so many languages really helps when you're dealing with a truly diverse population that needs a lot of help settling down into a new country.