If you think keeping track of the myriad of think tanks and AstroTurf groups that prop up the neoconservative movement, is a challenge; try unravelling their Religious Right infrastructure.Just when you think you’ve nailed down the Republican, Conserva…
Continue readingTag: Racism
RedBedHead: Israel Attacks Free Speech To Defend Democracy
When is an attack on democracy not an attack on democracy? When the government says that they are defending democracy, of course. That seems to be the thinking in Israel’s higher circles in any case as a bill moves towards becoming law that will ban Is…
Continue readingArt Threat: Racist bottled water adverts pulled – Boycott against Quebec company Eska continues
Quebec bottled water company Eska has found out the hard way that racist advertising doesn’t sell. After one week of a small but scrappy boycott campaign, the company has decided to pull “Eska Warrior” adverts from print and television. The ads, like the one above, depict non-aboriginals dressed up in a melange of Hollywood Indian […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Bridge Builders: Cultural Survival in Bosnia
This is as close to a eulogy and an ode as I can write for a place with which I struggle every day. As I write this, a now yearly procession is making its way to the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The remains of hundreds of men of all ages are making their way […]
Continue readingArt Threat: New old school: bringing back NYC hip-hop – The story of the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective
“We want to politicize people organically. We want to do it internally. We want to do it in the ‘hood,”
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: On the Canucks Riot, Protest, and Division
I was saddened and disappointed to watch Vancouver burn last night. Disappointed because the Canucks played so poorly and lost a game that they didn’t deserve to win, saddened to watch how the people in the streets ‘reacted’ to the game and went on a rampage, and I’m disappointed and saddened to watch the online–and […]
Continue readingDrive-by Times: Dove Body Wash ad sends mixed message
A Dove ad for VisibleCare Creme Body Wash sends a mixed message. The models in the ad feature a curvy black woman, a Latina and a slim white woman. The weight/skin color transition is inferred – intentionally or not – with “before” and “after” referen…
Continue readingArt Threat: Remembering the Komagata Maru incident – Memorial walk and panel discussions to remember tragic history
The W2 Media Cafe (Vancouver) is hosting a day of remembering for the ill-fated Komagata Maru, a ship carrying 376 refugees from British India that arrived in Vancouver on May 23, 1914. After two months, the Komagata Maru was sent back to India where many of the survivors were arrested, beaten and 20 were shot […]
Continue readingArt Threat: New Orleans and the culture of resistance – Interview with Floodlines author Jordan Flaherty
Over five years since the catastrophe of hurricane Katrina, communities in New Orleans are still struggling to rebuild and return. Shocking images of Katrina broadcast globally continue to communicate the growing economic, social and racial fault lines in America. Beyond the headlines, community organizing and resistance to post-Katrina economic shock treatment of key public institutions, […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: A Snapshot of the Vulnerable Underclass of Foreign Workers in Canada
There are lots of ways to look at Canada’s checkered history with immigration. Europeans welcome, French to a lesser degree after they lost a war or something, Chinese railroad workers, the Komagata Maru, internment of Japanese-Canadians, residential schools and a variety of abuses of the First Nations who “we” tend to treat as lesser people, […]
Continue readinggay persons of color: CNN’s Don Lemon comes out
“It’s about the worst thing you can be in black culture. You’re taught you have to be a man; you have to be masculine. In the black community they think you can pray the gay away.” CNN Anchor Don LemonAlthough Don Lemon had not made a secret of his…
Continue readinggay persons of color: We Who Feel Differently
People are not provoked by those who are different. What is more provoking is our insecurity: When you say, “I am so sorry but I am different.” That’s much more provoking than saying “I am different,” or “I have something to tell you, I can…
Continue readingbastard.logic: Obama’s Citizenship & Race: Separated at Birth?
It never ceases to amaze me how eager some white liberals are to divorce race from political analysis when it comes to Obama. Bob Somerby of the Daily Howler (who seems to have settled nicely into his blogospheric role as … Continue reading →
Continue readingArt Threat: History reloaded and remixed – A review of The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Remixing the revolution: new doc resurrects archival footage of the Black Power movement.
Continue readingA lesson for those who think it’s possible to work with the Conservatives on anything
Winnipeg Free Press: First Nations’ water plight needs action: chiefsI’ve long maintained the Conservative government has no interest in working with First Nations. The stories coming out of Manitoba, from the Island Lakes reservations, provides anothe…
Continue readingCanadian Taxpayers Federation’s Racist Campaign?
This landed in my inbox today and I thought it best to share it out. Please note that in no way do I or have I ever supported the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Dear Supporter: How do you feel about a politician from a Native reserve of 304 people receiving a $978,468 tax free salary? […]
Continue readingSisters In Spirit Under Attack
The HarperCons have gone much too far now! Apparently, the Sisters In Spirit Campaign, organized by the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has been too successful in raising the awareness about murdered and missing Aboriginal women in Canada. Or something. They’ve done a lot, that’s for sure, including heightening awareness throughout the country, establishing […]
Continue readingStraight Outta Edmonton: Edmonton’s Racism Debate: Lacks Substance and Misses Point
The City of Edmonton has pulled controversial language from its Anti-Racism Campaign after public complaints over a statement on the the campaign’s website regarding “White Privilege.” For more background on the campaign and public uproar, read “City’s Anti-Racism Campaign Targets ‘White Privilege,’” “Race and Racism — Or Putting the ‘You’
Continue readingStraight Outta Edmonton: Edmonton’s Racism Debate: Lacks Substance and Misses Point
The City of Edmonton has pulled controversial language from its Anti-Racism Campaign after public complaints over a statement on the the campaign’s website regarding “White Privilege.” For more background on the campaign and public uproar, read “City’s Anti-Racism Campaign Targets ‘White Privilege,’” “Race and Racism — Or Putting the ‘You’
Continue readingStraight Outta Edmonton: Edmonton’s Racism Debate: Lacks Substance and Misses Point
The City of Edmonton has pulled controversial language from its Anti-Racism Campaign after public complaints over a statement on the the campaign’s website regarding “White Privilege.” For more background on the campaign and public uproar, read “City’s Anti-Racism Campaign Targets ‘White Privilege,'” “Race and Racism — Or Putting the ‘You’ in Yeg,'” “Anti-Racism Website Bizarre, Offensive to ‘Real’ Edmontonians,” Edmonton’s Centre for Race and Culture’s “Letter to the Editor,” or watch Alberta Primetime’s “Alberta’s New Anti-Racism Site” and “Indy Future?” segment.
Although I think the messaging should have been revised, I am disappointed at the lack of public debate on the issue. Not only did the media fail to fully represent the views of proponents, but they framed them to be outsiders, with no understanding of Edmonton or its history. In doing so, real, substantive discussion on what is racism, Edmonton’s unique cultural and racial history, how racism manifests in our city today, and how best to address racism, was prevented from happening.
Instead, we received assertions that Edmonton’s unique history made imported American theories on race inapplicable, with no real substantiation. We can all agree that Peggy McIntosh’s views on race were written with the United States’ racial experience in mind, but that does not prove that they have no relevancy in Edmonton today. In fact, many have applied similar notions as what McIntosh discusses to Canadian society (as well as Edmonton).
Further, limited supporting viewpoints were provided, indicating that Edmontonians as a whole were opposed to these ideas and that those who may subscribe to McIntosh are outsiders just like her. This is a false representation, which denies the diversity of views in our city and attempts to discredit opposing views not on substance, but by who expresses it. I don’t agree with the messaging because of who it targets, how it defines racism, how represents “visible minorities” like myself, and what it implies is the solution — not who is proposing it. The public would have been better served if they received all views on this issue, not the most popular.
However, the biggest problem was that though many were willing to condemn the campaign, few were able to recommend alternative policies. Obviously, many didn’t think it was appropriate, but we didn’t get any public discussion of what the campaign should look like. By failing to do so, we missed the real issue: racism is an issue in Edmonton and we need a strategy to address it.
Policy issues are decided by those who show up. In this particular case, those who showed up had views that differed from the majority of Edmontonians. Hopefully, those who were outraged will take initiatives like developing municipal anti-racism policy seriously and participate in the future.
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