From the Block to Bliss
Unsinkable Storyteller: Shemar Barnett
I grew up in the most notorious neighbourhood in Toronto: Jane and Finch.
My story didn’t start in a classroom or on a court—it started in survival mode. I was 12. At 12, most kids were learning how to shoot a basketball, playing football, perfecting their karate moves, playing piano...
I was learning how to survive.
That might sound dramatic, but that was my reality. One week, I’m playing outside with my boys, hooping after school, having sleepovers, clowning around doing regular kid shit. The next week they’re gone. No explanations. No goodbyes. Gone.
And that loss never leaves you
Let me be clear — Jane and Finch isn’t big. It’s a couple square blocks. So when something happens to someone, you feel it. We all felt it.
We lost four friends in six months.
How do you process that at 12 years old?
You don’t.
You just… survive.
I had to grow up quick. I learned how to read people before they even said a word. Emotional intelligence wasn’t something I studied—it was something I depended on. Because in my neighbourhood, misreading someone could be the difference between life and death. That’s not paranoia, that’s reality.
And somehow, I made it through — through the violence, the loss, the uncertainty.
Fast forward to 2018 — I graduated high school. And for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was on the right track. It was a moment I was proud of. My family was proud. My community was proud. But life didn’t wait to test me again.
Just one week later — I got arrested.
And let me tell you something, I’ve seen guns in my life — I’m from Jane and Finch — but I’d never seen that many guns pointed at me all at once. It felt like the whole force was there.
That’s when I realized the full weight of the system.
The same system that underfunded my school…
…And had no problem overfunding the police.
I was in the back of a cruiser, hands cuffed. I remember glancing over at the screen on the dashboard. My whole life, everything about me, it was already there. My photo. My name. My neighbourhood. Like it was my limo ride to prom.
That's when I came face-to-face with the school-to-prison pipeline. It's real. The school-to-prison pipeline is an ideology that youth are funneled from system to system. For me, this looked like high school hallways filled with cops instead of counselors and police stations down the street from classrooms. The funnel is intentional. The ideology is systemic.
I didn’t go to jail to find my freedom…
But I did.
Following this, I made a 180. I turned my pain into purpose.
The same energy I once poured into surviving I began pouring into thriving, into transformation. Going from the school to prison pipeline, aligned with the notorious Jane Finch, to a pipeline filled with love, positivity…BLISS.
I returned to my home Jane Finch. Not to blend in with the pain, but to build something different. Something rooted in healing.
I started working with grassroots organizations like Generation Chosen and The Community Healing Project — organizations that provide youth with the tools necessary to navigate life and mental health challenges in marginalized communities. I became the Vice President of the City of Toronto’s Youth Council in Ward 7. We advocated for real change. And guess what? We got it.
Our team convinced Toronto City Council to install more streetlights in our neighbourhood. That might not sound like a big deal to some but for us, it’s lifesaving.
That’s a safer walk home.
That’s one less mother fearing for her child’s return.
And while I was doing all this I went back to school. I pursued higher education.
And through all this, I found bliss — and I founded BLISS. My company. “Black Life Is So Sweet” is a reminder that we are more than our trauma.
Despite trials and tribulations, we triumph.
When they gave us scraps, we made gumbo.
We are culture.
We are resilience.
We are beauty.
We are powerful.
That’s post-traumatic Growth. When I look back, I don’t just see the moments that almost broke me, I see building blocks that shaped me
They all became building blocks.
I’m not just a product of Jane & Finch. I’m proof that something beautiful can grow from the hardest soil.
Bliss is what happens when we don’t just survive the fire — it’s what happens when we come out of it with something to offer the world.
Something healing.
Something sweet.
Black Life Is So Sweet.
