Author: DivaRachel

The Adventures of Diva Rachel: Harper hacks federal election cycle and I think it’s great!

“An election is no time to discuss serious issues.” That is how a reporter summarized then-Prime Minister Kim Campbell‘s poorly-received pontification about the relatively short writ of Canadian elections. The Right Honourable PM Campbell’s observation was widely derided in 1993, but many political observers later reconsidered their knee-jerk dismissal of

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The Adventures of Diva Rachel: Don’t Break Out The Bubbly! Carding Continues Across Canada :-(

In Ontario (and elsewhere in Canada), race has been a factor in determining who rightfully belongs here, and who is, by default, an intruder to be wary of. Betraying Canada’s mantra of multiculturalism, a constant cloud of suspicion follows dark-skinned Canadian citizens every day. Whether they are walking while Black, driving while Black, flying while Black, banking while Black, bussing while black… People who look Aboriginal or Arab tell similar stories of being presumed risky guilty before being proven innocent.

All over Canada (not just in Toronto), police regularly stop law-abiding citizens in the hopes of finding a needle in a haystack gathering evidence or intelligence to supposedly reduce crime. There is no evidence to support this race-based targeting actually works, but the carding custom continues.

Carding is the practice by which law enforcement systematically stop, interrogate and document (mostly) dark-skinned citizens who are committing no crime and display no evidence of having committed a crime.

They coined the practice “stop-and-frisk” in the USA. Whatever the terminology employed, it’s called “racism”.

Notably, Ontario’s “activist” Premier Kathleen Wynne has sidestepped the issue. Wynne’s awkward silence follows a pattern of favouring her fetish demographics. Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau did one better: his cronies recruited former Toronto Police Chief and carding defender Bill Blair to run in the upcoming federal election. It will take tornado of spin for the “multiculturalism-inventing” Liberals to square that circle: Trudeau has been travelling the country while waving a banner of “fairness.”

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

One wonders when these elected leaders will frog-leap onto the right side of history.

Bravely breaking his counterparts’ deafening silence, deputy leader of the Ontario NDP Jagmeet Sing stood up and clearly verbalized his quest to quash carding, province-wide.

At first, former Progressive Conservative party leader and current Toronto Mayor John Tory didn’t seem bothered by bigotry behind the badge. In a stunning about-face enlightened evolution, Mayor Tory announced the end of carding in his city this week. As the congratulatory backslapping spread across the Center of the Universe Hogtown, the rest of the province and the rest of the country is left eating dust. For us, carding carries on.

Never put your hands up until the puck’s in the net and the goal light is on. Let’s see what happens in concrete terms with #carding #tps

— Anthony Morgan (@AnthonyNMorgan) June 7, 2015

Journalist Desmond Cole’s courageous and personal account of unrelenting and unwarranted police interrogations describes incidents in St. Catharines and Kingston. Neither are covered by this week’s partial victory.

THE DOMINO EFFECT

It was in 1956 that Ontario became the first province to enforce the Fairness Accommodation Practices Act, thus granting new equality rights to its Black and Asian residents. For the first time in Canadian history, racial equality was declared a civil right, and “racial discrimination in was confirmed as illegal“. Following Ontario’s lead, legislative civil rights flowed outward from coast to coast.

Today, since our provincial leaders are not willing to defend the most vulnerable citizens and uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, individuals have to band together to force the issue. Just as Rosa Parks Bromley Armstrong and Ruth Lor served as the test cases for racial equality 50 years ago, Rohan Roberts has stepped up to the plate to challenge carding in Ontario. In what could be a landmark case, Roberts filed Human Rights complaint against Toronto Police. The defendants have access to a bottomless till of taxpayer dollars to fund their retort. Roberts is a working class guy. In the pursuit of justice writ large, Mr. Roberts will sacrifice himself and his financial security in a bid to realign law enforcement with the values we hold dear. (I’ve launched a crowdfunding drive to help defray his legal bills.)

To eradicate carding in Canada, this case must be heard in the highest courts. Judges must remind all citizens, including mayors, premiers and prime-ministerial hopefuls that equality and fairness are more than filatures for flowery speeches. Mayor John Tory was pulled, prodded into doing the right thing. The first domino has fallen. But we’ve not yet reached the promise land.

The adventures of a Franco Ontarian Viz Min Woman in Ottawa.
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The Adventures of Diva Rachel: Beyond A Black James Bond: the Slippery Slope of Race Bending


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His name is Bond.

James Bond.

Or, how about Tyrone Bond?

The fictional Secret Service agent for the British MI6 has captivated audiences for half a century. Bond is also known by his code number, 007 (“double-oh-seven”).

Writer Ian Fleming  created a character in his own image: Caucasian, male, neutral-looking enough to blend into the décor as an international spy.

“I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, ‘James Bond’ was much better than something more interesting, like ‘Peregrine Carruthers’. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure–an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department.”
– Ian Fleming, James Bond creator

Fleming wrote a family background for Bond:  his parents were Andrew Bond of Scotland and a Swiss Monique Delacroix. Indeed, James Bond was white. All 23 Bond flicks have been loyal to the author’s vision: all 6 James Bond actors have been white.

Until now.

COMING SOON TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU: A BLACK BOND?

Rumours have been swirling   about a Black James Bond for years. If the leaked 2014 memo from Sony Entertainment  are accurate,  consummate Afro-British actor Idris Elba    is being considered for the role. There is no question that Elba has the talent required to incarnate the famous MI6 character. But there’s one intrinsic characteristic Elba will never acquire — a European extraction.

The mere suggestion  of a melanin   metamorphosis ‎drew the ire of former Bond actor Roger Moore,  James Bond purists‎  and well-known American bigots. (The ladder two are considered mutually exclusive). ‎

Some fans expressed discomfort with a blond Bond when Daniel Craig took on the role in 2005.   Unlike race, hair colour is a trait easily altered by colouring dye, thus rendering futile any comparisons between the blond Bond and a plausible Black Bond.

OFF-COLOUR CLOAK
RaceBending.com, an international grassroots organization which advocates for underrepresented groups in entertainment media, explores  racial alterations  in Hollywood films.  The term “race bending” refers to situations where a movie studio changes the race or ethnicity of a character – notably allowing a Caucasian actor to play a role which should have gone to a person of colour.

Over the 20th century, Hollywood executives deemed blackface, redface, brownface and yellowface   as legitimate substitutes for African-American, Amerindian, Latino and Asian actors, respectively. Even lucrative stunt-double jobs for minorities went to whites. Bill Cosby played a role in upending the blackface stunt double scheme in 1965.

In an upcoming documentary called Painted Down, Bill Cosby recounts his discomfort while watching his Caucasian stunt double being painted black. The I Spy actor persuaded the TV show’s producer: “You can save your money on makeup, because I know some guys I grew up with in the projects who will do that.”

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When Hollywood wasn’t wiping out work opportunities for non-white actors, they simply recast racial-minority characters as whites in blackface.‎
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That’s how John Wayne   won the role of   Asian Genghis Khan in “The Conqueror” (1956), why blue-eyed Elizabeth Taylor was cast as Afro-Egyptian pharaoh  Cleopatra (1963), and why Jesus Christ    always seems   to be portrayed with blue eyes, without regard to historical or ethnographic accuracy.
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In recent years, Angela Jolie played an Afro-European woman in “A Mighty Heart” (2007),   Latina Zoe Saldana blacked up  and donned a kinky wig to play the legendary singer Nina Simone (“Nina”, 2015). Ridley Scott’s latest film “Exodus: Gods and Kings” is set in Ancient Egypt, in an Africans empire. Irresponsible casting rendered all the lead roles to white actors whist delegating villain and servant roles to people of colour.   ‎

Apparently its ok to animate accurate looking Egyptians, but not ok to cast them live action. #BoycottExodusMovie pic.twitter.com/VIaO3kDaGh
— Marc Watkins (@Marcohtx) July 30, 2014

‎Closer to home in Montreal, where elites still publicly defend blackface, the Théâtre du Rideau Vert employed a white actor to play hockey star P.K. Subban in a 2014 end-of-year “revue” show.
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HOLLYWOOD’S BAD HABIT
Hollywood has a longstanding habit of whitewashing  people of colour and eliminating minorities’ screen time by allowing white actors to play their parts. The system invariably favours Caucasian actors. Would a  black James Bond  be the first times a role meant for a white actor is bestowed upon a person of colour?

Precedents such as these provide fodder for bigots to silence future dissenting voices.  Every Halloween,  “White Chicks” (2004) is cited to defend blackface. The comedic film depicts two African-American men  moonlighting as white women.  It has become the favourite “go to” excuse for 21st century blackface.
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Mike Le of RaceBending.com  believes people who think of themselves as “post-racial” will find a way to twist this theatrical racial reversal, arguing  “with this particular event, you’re no longer allowed to complain about  racism.”

After the Emancipation proclamation, people said “You’re not allowed to complain because we freed the slaves”.‎
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Le is not worried about a black James Bond  providing ammunition to racists and bigots. ‎

“Racist will always be racist,” Le asserts.‎

While Le’s point of view has merit, there is a contingent of concerned African-Americans who  recoil the idea of  giving autocrats a rope — until they can ascertain who will ultimately be hanging from it.
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The adventures of a Franco Ontarian Viz Min Woman in Ottawa.
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The Adventures of Diva Rachel: La langue de bois d’ébène: anatomie du mot ‘nègre’ en français

Le maire de Saguenay, Jean Tremblay, s’est livré à des propos navrants   une fois de plus cette semaine.   Mis à part sa lutte « contre Greenpeace et les intellectuels », le maire Tremblay a parlé des travailleurs de sa région:  

« Il y a des gens qui travaillent comme des nègres.  

Parce qu’un Noir, ça travaille fort, on le sait. Ils ont pas des gros salaires, pis ils travaillent fort ces gens-là. C’est dans ce sens-là que je veux le dire. Pis ces gens-là, ça fait pitié. Ils donnent leur vie au salaire minimum. Ils ont de la misère à boucler. »
~Le maire de Saguenay, Jean Tremblay

Ayoye.

La langue française que nous chérissons tous est bourrée d’expressions qui découlent de l’histoire peu reluisante des interactions entre le colon français et les peuples à peau basanée. 

Le mot « nègre » dérive de « negro » (portugais et espagnol). À l’origine descriptif, le terme ibérique  change de connotation en français pour désigner une population inférieure (et pendant 400 ans, en partie, condamnée à l’esclavage en Amérique, incluant le Québec).  L’emploi du mot nègre en tant que substantif – un nègre – apparaît vers la fin du 17e siècle.  Le caractère péjoratif du mot «  nègre  » dans la langue française s’est instauré depuis la mise en place du système esclavagiste dans les colonies françaises. 

Extrait du Dictionaire critique de la langue française (Marseille, Mossy 1787-1788)  

NÈGRE, ESSE, s. m. et f. NÈGRERIE, s. f.  On apèle Mores les Peuples de l’Afrique du côté de la Méditerranée: et Nègres, ceux qui sont du côté de l’Océan, et surtout, ceux qu’on transporte dans les Colonies Européennes, et qui y servent comme esclâves. 
Nègrerie, lieu où l’on enferme les Nègres, dont on fait comerce.  

Dictionnaire de L’Académie française (1832-5)

   Fam., Traiter quelqu’un comme un nègre, Le traiter avec beaucoup de dureté et de mépris.
Fam., Faire travailler quelqu’un comme un nègre, Exiger de lui un travail pénible, le faire travailler sans relâche.

1858_alexandre_dumas_caricature.jpg 
Caricature d’Alexandre Dumas par Cham, 1858.

Quand Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), écrivain français de renom, se fait rabaisser par ses ennemis et des jaloux, ceux-ci font de lui une caricature négrophobe, ou se lancent dans une dissertation sur les « nègres ».

-Mais au fait, mon cher maître, vous devez vous y connaître, en nègres, avec tout ce sang noir qui coule dans vos veines.
Dumas rétorque alors, sans avoir à élever la voix au milieu d’un profond silence du salon dévoré d’anxiété:  
-Mais très certainement. Mon père était un mulâtre, mon grand-père était un nègre et mon arrière grand-père un singe. Vous voyez, Monsieur: ma famille commence où la vôtre finit.

Un siècle plus tard, le sens négatif du mot demeure.   

Selon Montpetit, un Québécois en visite en Ontario vers la fin du 19e siècle, « Le nègre est singulièrement gai, et il oublie dans un éclat de rire facilement provoqué l’impression passagère qu’il a pu ressentir en pensant au rang inférieur qu’il occupe dans le monde. Mais l’infériorité évidente de l’homme noir de l’occupe pas beaucoup. »

2015-03-15-1426432764-3153927-1898_laminerve_blanchir_negre_quebec.jpg    
Source: Noirs du Québec (Les), 1629-1900.Daniel Gay. (2004)

Dans Terre d’ébène, Albert Londres raconte son périple en Afrique “française” de 1927:    

“Ce sont les nègres des nègres. Les maîtres n’ont plus le droit de les vendre. Ils les échangent. Surtout, ils leur font faire des fils. L’esclave ne s’achète plus, il se reproduit. C’est la couveuse à domicile.”  

C’est la déshumanisation progressive de l’Africain au fur et à mesure que la traite s’intensifiait qui a banalisé le substantif nègre, lequel est devenu synonyme d’esclave. Les historiens français parlent de traite négrière et non pas de trafic des Africains. D’où l’expression « travailler comme un nègre ». 

Cela signifie  travailler sans salaire, sous les coups de fouet, sans respect de la personne humaine.  

La locution qu’a laissée échapper le Maire Jean Tremblay fait partie des reliquats de moeurs  négrophobes qui ont persisté longtemps après l’abolition de l’esclavage…  des  rites désuets qui perdurent dans notre culture, nos écrits, et nos dires. 

2015-03-15-1426404215-7300952-1970CharlieHebdoraciste.jpg
Charlie Hebdo, années 1980.

Dans une société plurielle et cultivée qu’est le Québec moderne, il serait préférable de dire  « travailler très fort, travailler dur; travailler à sueur de front ». 

Autres tournures à raturer: 

« Parler petit nègre ».  Le “petit nègre” est défini comme un français incorrect, sommaire ou rudimentaire parlé par les indigènes des anciennes colonies françaises. Dans un contexte ou les colons ont imposé leur langue à des peuples mélanodermes qui, souvent, n’avaient pas droit à l’éducation dans la langue étrangère, on ne s’étonne pas que ceux-ci baragouinaient le français.  L’expression fait l’amalgame entre la race et l’impuissance linguistique, du quel relève la connotation raciste. 

Le « nègre littéraire » désigne un écrivain qui écrit pour le compte d’un autre.  La façon plus élégante de se référer à ce role: collaborateur littéraire,  ou écrivain fantôme (calque de l’anglais “ghost writer”).  

Y faut que ça change

Comme l’a dit l’écrivain Claude Ribbe,  au XXIe siècle, il est plus que temps de faire entrer dans la tête des amants de la langue française que le mot « nègre » ne peut plus, en aucun cas, être utilisé impunément pour désigner un être humain qu’on exploite d’une manière ou d’une autre et qui serait méprisé du fait de cette exploitation. En cetee décennie que l’ONU consacre aux personnes d’ascendance africaine, il est grand temps que l’on parle tous la langue du progrès.

The adventures of a Franco Ontarian Viz Min Woman in Ottawa.
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The Adventures of Diva Rachel: Compilation: 2014’s Most Racist Incidents in Canada


As the year winds down, news readers are treated with a feast of annual compilations. From fashion to finances, from movies to m…. it is a time to look back at the hits and misses.
In quintessential Canadian style, the subject of race relations is missing from the roster. Every year. Until now.
Here is a compilation of low-lights in racial discrimination the country that coined multiculturalism.

1. Subban’s Sochi Snub.
When the top defenseman of the NHLgets just a few minutes of play at the Winter Olympics, you’ve got to wonder… but when a Canadian fan flies half way across the world to “support ” the sole Afro-Canadian player on Team Canada in blackface, it boggles the mind. With 400 years of African presence, 200 years of slavery and another hundred years of legalized racial discrimination under our collective Canadian belts, you would think these PK Subban “fans” would know enough not to resort to a disgraceful practice to cheer him on. Finally, the Habs let their star player twist in the wind for far too long before ceding to public pressure and singing him for a long-term commitment. Since then, French-speaking TV commentators have scorched the lad repeatedly, despite his performance. Let’s hope the obsession with Subban’s salary subsides in 2015.
2. Brampton Bêtise.
The organization Immigration Watch Canada distributed a flyer entitled “The Changing Face of Brampton,” featuring two images — the top photo shows a group of “mainstream Canadians” (commonly known as white people), while the bottom photo shows the diversity that the Greater Toronto Area has incarnated. In such a rich part of Ontario, it seems the hate-filled group spent time and money denigrating their “non-mainstream” neighbours in Brampton and at York University. 
3. Odious Offences Towards Olivia Chow.
She soldiered on stoically in the wake of her husband Jack Layton’s passing. She aimed for the mayoral seat in Toronto, Canada’s “most multicultural city”. Despite the Hog Town’s slogan, Olivia Chow faced xenophobic remarks, racist cartoons, and an aide deriding her for “not speaking English at home”. Torontonians are waking up to the fact that multiculturalism alone is no antidote to racism.

4. Shame After Ottawa Shooting

In the hysteria and confusion of the “Ottawa shooting” that paralyzed Parliament Hill, the nearby University of Ottawa went on lock down. The campus coffee shop gave refuge to scared students – except the one who was tall and Black. In a blog, the ostracized student recounted his experience “Maybe to [the Second Cup café staff], my life doesn’t matter as much as that of the others, or worse, he thought I was the shooter.” When push comes to shove, one’s true character is revealed. 
5. Saguenay Saga
Following vandalism at a mosque in Chicoutimi, rural Quebec’s overt xenophobia did not settle in 2014. The Fédération des Québécois de souche‘s anti-Semitic and homophobic stickerslittered mailboxes and public signage in the Saguenay. No word on when the “investigation” will yield tangible results for fearful residents of colour and Jewish citizens. 
6. Wrongful Writing from Winnipeg
Winnipeg mayoral candidate Robert-Falcon Ouellette exposed the racism he faced during his campaign. The 18-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces was reduced to his racial heritage via abusive comments were posted online. He also received hateful emails about his aboriginal heritage.
“Go back to drinking. That’s where Indians belong,” said one.
It is amazing how citizens of a nation which borrowed an Aboriginal word to name itself, founded on Aboriginal land, send so much vitriol to an upstanding Canadian because of his Aboriginal heritage.

7. Blackface Blunders
Québec school plans a xmas play where kids appear in blackface. Not to be outdone, Montreal’s Rideau Verttheatre’s year end revue show includes a sketch in which a white comedian appears in blackface. Worse, the franco-Quebec pundits and TV producers defend it vehemently. Is there nothing more insulting than members of the dominant culture instructing minorities how to feel about their own depiction?

8. Kids Can be Cruel
An 11-year-old boy in Westport, Newfoundland had to transfer schools because of the extreme and racist bullying he has endured in his community. Torrence Collier is the only black child in the community. The bullying at his school was so bad that he was under constant supervision and had to use a separate washroom to avoid harassment from his classmates. One parent claimed that the real bully was Torrence: “He’s not the victim. He is instigating a lot of this to other children.” Is being black now a form of provocation in Newfoundland? Unfortunately, the same attitude prevailed in Georgina, Ontario, where students hurled racial slurs as they beat a black school mate. In both cases, there seemed to be no repercussions for this bad behaviour. 
10. Prejudice Made Public by Montreal Police Union Head
Montreal’s diversity is an asset, not a threat, says Mayor Denis Coderre. But the head of Montreal’s police brotherhood union doesn’t agree. Yves Francoeur was quoted as saying that Montreal police officers’ safety might be at risk because of the city’s “multi-ethnic character.” Asked why he thought Montreal police could be targeted in an attack like the Brooklyn shooting, Francoeur replied: “We worry in Montreal on account of its multi-ethnic character, on account of the (attacks) in Ottawa and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu.”
Both the cited tragedies were perpetrated by heritage Canadians, born and raised in Canada. So were the RCMP killings in Moncton. But that didn’t stop the perception that “multi-ethnics” are threatening. In an era of racial profiling, these statements smack of xenophobia.

9. Multiculturalism Minister’s Misadventure
Canada’s Minister of State for Multiculturalism,Tim Uppal, had a difficult experience at an Edmonton tennis club. The Minister and his family overheard a woman express disgust that the Sikh-Canadian family was allowed membership, using a racial slur. She went on to suggest that Uppal was probably unemployed. for Craig and Marc Kielburger, it was an ugly reminder that Canada may be the land of multiculturalism, but we are not immune to racism.
As we turn the page on 2014, one hopes Canadians can look forward to less chatter about racist incidents and more action to curb the assailants’ uncanadian behaviour.
 
The adventures of a Franco Ontarian Viz Min Woman in Ottawa.
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