Links for 2009-08-13
Compiled by Thea Lim and Andrea (AJ) Plaid
“The confrontation on Friday between Jay Phillips and three young men in Courtenay should have all of us re-evaluating the belief many Canadians have that racism is not an issue in Canada…we should look at this [country's] long history of racism, starting with the aboriginals who were here long before the first Spanish explorers sailed these waters…
This country has developed an entire federal ministry to deal with First Nations people, now called Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Billions have been spent over the years to treat one race of Canadians different from another. What could be more racist than that?”
“So it’s curious, then, that so many kids subjected to the harshest forms of discipline are dealing with problems they have no control over. And often, children targeted for violent punishment are burdened by another disadvantage: being of a certain color.”
“Barton and Phillips recommended that César Chavez (labor organizer and civil rights leader) and Thurgood Marshall (the nation’s first black US Supreme Court justice who, as a young attorney, successfully argued the public school desegregation case of Brown v. Board of Education) be removed from textbooks because they aren’t worthy role models for students.”
“Spearman, best known for his role as Chance on the Logo series Noah’s Arc, observes that when he came out in 1980, he was welcomed as ‘the kids of the 1960s and early ’70s — those that had created the gay movement — were still on the dance floors of America elbow to elbow with the people who’d marched in Vietnam protests and Black Power parades, and had been active participants in the original civil rights movement.’
“Spearman laments that this feeling of acceptance has evaporated with the existence of separate black gay pride and Latin gay pride festivals, which he claims ‘exist because a great many men and women feel unwelcome in mainstream gay communities.’” (Spearman’s original essay here.)
“Muslimah Media Watch, a sharply written critique site, takes apart a new instant-anthropologist fad: People, particularly journalists, who put on a burqua robe or a niqab headcover or hijab scarf and imagine they know, in a day or a week, what life is like for Muslim women.
“Unfortunately, they keep on the preconceptions that “veil” their minds, according to a Watch writer in an essay dismantling the patronizing and stereotyping of ‘dress like a Muslim’ escapades.”
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
jsb16 wrote:
Wait, on that first link… Weren’t the European explorers who poked around in what is now Canada largely French, Scandinavian, and English on the east and Russian on the west? I thought the Spanish explorers stuck to places south of the Mason-Dixon line…
(Not that I’m trying to argue that Canada doesn’t have a racism problem, but starting an argument with what looks like a blatant historical inaccuracy is, well, like starting an argument about health by claiming that Stephen Hawking would be dead under the British system of nationalized health care…)
Posted 13 Aug 2009 at 1:04 pm ¶
Jadey wrote:
@jsb16
Yeah, the whole article is pretty garbled and full of unsupported assertions. The statement about “Billions have been spent over the years to treat one race of Canadians different from another. What could be more racist than that?” with regards to the DIAND/INAC (they keep change the name) was really odd. It struck me as the author having issues with anything that isn’t “colourblind” as opposed to referring to the real issues of this paternalistic and racist government structure.
I’m all for the message that white Canadians confront the reality of racism, but it helps to be a bit better informed about what racism actually looks like and how it plays out in our society.
Also, language like “In the Cortenay incident, Phillips happened to be Black” (uh, no, it wasn’t accident) suggests to me that this journalist is not comfortable with or educated on how to discuss race-related issues whatsoever. Too bad.
For anyone interested in a more cogent (if somewhat less recent) discussion of racism and racial dynamics in Canada, I’d recommend a book I just finished: Lawrence Hill’s Black Berry Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada.
Posted 13 Aug 2009 at 2:19 pm ¶
Thea wrote:
@jsb16
I think the writer is referring to First Contact – which was with Spanish explorers. I don’t think they are implying that Spanish people were the ones who colonised Canada.
I really don’t think an apparently unclear reference at the beginning of an article is enough to turn off a discussion about how racist Canada really is.
I think the point of the article – which is made very clearly and bluntly – is that Canadians like to think of themselves as tolerant, and they are not; from things that happened recently, and from things that happened at the beginning.
Why quibble?
Posted 13 Aug 2009 at 3:25 pm ¶
Krista wrote:
@jsb16: The original quote about the Spanish said:
“Before Nanaimo residents think incidents like what happened in Courtenay couldn’t happen here, we should look at this city’s long history of racism, starting with the aboriginals who were here long before the first Spanish explorers sailed these waters.”
Although much of (what is now) Canada did have the English/French/etc. as the first Europeans to come, parts of the west coast (including Nanaimo, which the quote specifically refers to) were indeed first visited by the Spanish.
Posted 13 Aug 2009 at 3:57 pm ¶
Donna wrote:
Courtenay was my hometown, beautiful place but definitely has some racism problems, it brought a tear to my eye to see so many townspeople come together in support of Mr. Phillips, its not right for such ugly intolerance to exist in such a pretty town.
Posted 13 Aug 2009 at 5:15 pm ¶
Wendi Muse wrote:
re: the segregated pride events…
1. i <3 noah’s ark. such a great show!
2. that really does happen…and i think the biggest divide between the white lgbt groups/community and the black and latino lgbt community (the last two are to be viewed as separate) boils down to race. the wealthier whites do not want their sacred landmark areas (i.e. the west village) tainted by poor people…namle those of black and/or hispanic origin, namely caribbean hispanic origin if we are getting specific (people from pr, dr, as they are in the highest percentage/most visible in nyc). also coupled with gentrification, this issue gets even trickier, as more financially sound white gay couples move into poor latino and/or black neighborhoods and invest in property. there is a good movie about this called flag wars, fyi.
anyway, in my own experience, i see a lot of segregated scenes, but that’s reflected in the straight community a ton in nyc too, and i agree that it’s getting worse.
Posted 14 Aug 2009 at 10:21 am ¶
Monica Roberts wrote:
In the last ten years, I’ve had the n-word hurled at me more by white gays than I have by straight white people.
And lets not even get started discussing that Shirley Q. Liquor new jack minstrel show that white gays and RuPaul seem to think is humorous.
Posted 17 Aug 2009 at 1:05 am ¶