Handel Wright is a professor of educational studies and director of UBC's Centre for Culture, Identity and Education. (CBC)

This piece is part of On The Coast's Black History Month series, "Race, Roots and Relocation: Delving into B.C.'s Black History." Check back at cbc.ca/bc every day this week for more stories from B.C.'s black community.

An immigrant from Sierra Leone, Handel Wright is part of a small but growing population of people from all over Africa settling in the Lower Mainland.

Wright, a professor of educational studies and director of UBC's Centre for Culture, Identity and Education, says because those immigrants come from many different places, it's difficult to find a sense of unified black identity in B.C.

"We don't have black spaces as such. We don't have black geography, black neighbourhoods ... although some are emerging in the suburbs, New West, maybe, or Burnaby," Wright told On The Coast guest host Gloria Macarenko.

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He says in Vancouver, black identity is done differently than his home country, or even Toronto, where there are more black people. He says black online communities are relied upon more here, and black people are used to giving each other what he calls "a perfunctory nod" when they see each other.

"That nod simply says … I see you, I acknowledge your presence, I recognize you as someone similar to me," he said "We might not have exactly the same history, but I see you. And you nod back and say, I see you too."

Black History Month and black identity

Wright says that while there is a lack of black spaces, there are spaces...READ MORE...