Do new Canadians leave old conflicts behind? – The Globe and Mail

2014/03/19 1 Comment

Good report from Mosaic Institute on imported conflicts and some of the factors that increase and decrease the likelihood and impact:

Social inclusion is the single biggest factor in encouraging that change to happen; respondents spoke over and over about the importance of meeting, speaking with, living and working alongside people who are different from them in affecting that change of perspective. That is Canadian multiculturalism living up to its full potential.

Conversely, racism and exclusion can undermine that process of reframing conflict, and can impede new Canadians’ attachment to Canada. Sadly, all across the country, the darker our skin and the more we are visibly identifiable as a member of a racialized community, the more likely we are to experience racism and other forms of social exclusion at school, at work, and on the street.

Do new Canadians leave old conflicts behind? – The Globe and Mail.

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Can Virtual “Racism” Evoke Empathy? | There’s an App for That

2014/02/10 Leave a comment

Interesting concept, poor execution.

The app creators seemingly hope to reach people who discriminate against others, and to encourage these users to change their ways — after virtually experiencing “racism.” This limits their target audience to conscientious racists. And if there are such self-aware racists, are they really so oblivious to what needs to change?

Perhaps this app could better achieve its goals if it chose a name that didn’t perpetrate misconceptions and stereotypes, and if it marketed itself as a resource for multicultural education programs, practical diversity trainings or even sensitivity workshops.

Imagine if the app were renamed to reflect reality: Being Different Is Normal — But It Ain’t Easy.

Can Virtual “Racism” Evoke Empathy? | Re/code.

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Why Himmler letters deserve closer study: Mallick | Toronto Star

2014/01/30 Leave a comment

Heather Mallick, who usually writes to the left on issues, has a good column on the Himmler letters and the nature of evil:

The truth is that evil exists, that it has to be confronted, and people will do anything not to. We don’t like hard truths. When I hear about murder, I’m curious about what built the killer. Tell me about child abuse, blows to the head, adolescent shocks and adult lies. Don’t tell me we can treat conditions that we can’t even yet identify because psychology is still a young science. What makes a person evil?

If there’s a thread that runs through all these histories, it’s a bizarre attachment to family. We see it all the time, mothers speaking kindly of their serial-killer sons, siblings defending the indefensible, the idea that everyone has something lovable in them and only families can see it. But is it true, even if Heinrich had pet names for Marga and Hedwig, even if evil has its apologists?

Here is the verdict of Katrin and her co-author in a new book about Heinrich: “These letters show the deformation of normality, violence masquerading as harmlessness, cold-bloodedness that goes along with ostensible care, and the unswerving moral certitude even while committing mass murder.”

Why Himmler letters deserve closer study: Mallick | Toronto Star.

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Blood by Lawrence Hill

2014/01/21 3 Comments

I finally got around to reading Blood: The Stuff of Life by Lawrence Hill (author of The Book of Negroes among other books). An incredible read, both in terms of the science and history of the science of blood (and as someone with blood cancer, I thought I knew this stuff!), and how blood plays into our language, culture and identity. Fascinating just how much a drop of blood could determine whether you were deemed white or black (and the range of terms used to describe mixed parentage (e.g., quadroon, octoroon). But the most powerful is his discussion on identity, as per this wonderful excerpt:

If we were not so wedded to the arcane notions of blood, we would be freer to celebrate our various, complex and divergent identities relating to family and notions of talent and ability, citizenship and race. We would be more whole, self-accepting people, and less judgmental of others. In this day and age, who among us is not all mixed up?

…. Let’s drop the idea of what you are not allowed to be, or to do, because of who you are, but encourage each other to look for the good in our blood, and in our ancestry. We should let hatred and divisiveness spill from us as if it were bad blood, and search for more genuine and caring ways to imagine human identity and human relations.

Lawrence Hill on the power of blood – Life – Macleans.ca.

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Column: Here’s your pipe bomb, son; carry on

2014/01/20 Leave a comment

Mohammed Adam of The Ottawa Citizen asks a valid question about the Edmonton teenager found at the airport with a pipe bomb and who was allowed to fly nonetheless. Did reverse racial profiling play a role?:

In our post-9/11 world, very little common sense is often applied when it comes to security. Once bitten, twice shy, the saying goes, and one can understand why the screws are always turned tight. However, it is heartening to see that in the Murphy case, both the Crown and the courts did not go overboard. Murphy deserves not to be in jail, but I can’t help wondering how an 18-year-old Rehan or Ali from suburban Ottawa or Calgary, who is caught in similar circumstances would have fared. Would the law have been truly equal and blind? We will probably never know.

Column: Here’s your pipe bomb, son; carry on.

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Dutch holiday trickster, Zwarte Piet, helps reignite culture war over racial symbolism | National Post

2013/12/17 Leave a comment

A good balanced discussion of cultural traditions and contemporary values, and just how difficult it is for people to be aware of how some of these, like Zwarte Piet, do embed historical racism, and thus will be challenged:

“A tradition like Black Pete comes from a time when whites didn’t need to consider what non-whites thought of it, partly because the racial balance of power was more uneven and partly because the mass media didn’t carry its images as readily or vividly from contexts where they were ‘comfortable’ to ones where they were not. So now people can try to do what seems like the same thing, but it brings forth a different response.”

Dutch holiday trickster, Zwarte Piet, helps reignite culture war over racial symbolism | National Post.

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Counter-extremism is getting smarter

2013/12/05 Leave a comment

Commentary on the new UK counter-terrorism strategy, praising the broadening of focus to tackle extremism of all kinds, not just radical Islam, and ongoing serious effort to reduce anti-Muslim prejudice:

no counter-extremism strategy will unite us all. Such work lies at the notoriously fragile intersection that separates civil liberties from national security. But for the first time in a long while there are signs that we are moving in a better direction, and have acknowledged some failings in the past. While this week’s recommendations provide us with a foundation rather than a coherent strategy, they are a useful starting point for us all.

Counter-extremism is getting smarter | Matthew Goodwin | Comment is free | The Guardian.

And from the other side of the political spectrum, The Daily Mail takes this tack, which reads it into a broader critique of multiculturalism, defined in UK terms as promoting separateness:

David Cameron: Mistake of multiculturalism aided extremists | Mail Online

For the actual report, well-thought out and written as most UK strategies, link below:

Link to UK counter-extremism strategy

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Nova Scotia Liberal breaks down in discussing photo of blackface character

2013/12/03 Leave a comment

Another example of a provincial politician getting into trouble over lack of sensitivity and understanding, in this case a politician of Dutch origin, Joachim Stroink, attending a Dutch Canadian christmas event.

Has been treated as a “learning opportunity” by all, it would appear, starting with awareness, in a province with a significant Black population, of the racism implicit in the development of the Zwarte Piet character.

Nova Scotia Liberal breaks down in discussing photo of blackface character.

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The curse of a foreign-sounding name in today’s job market

2013/12/02 Leave a comment

Complementing some of the research we did at Citizenship and Immigration, and the citing of the blind cv test of Professor Oreopoulos (Right résumé, wrong name, The Globe and Mail, 20 May 2009), a personal anecdote of similar experience in the workplace by Priya Ramsingh):

The curse of a foreign-sounding name in today’s job market | Toronto Star.

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Racism is prevalent, persisting and perpetually growing, experts warn

2013/11/23 Leave a comment

Interesting piece of perceived racism in the 905 communities of Bramptom and Mississauga (Toronto area), some of the most diverse communities in Canada. Bit long, and I think reality is a bit more nuanced than some of the results and commentary would indicate (Globe did a series on Brampton a number of months ago):

Racism is prevalent, persisting and perpetually growing, experts warn.

Filed under Hate crimes, Multiculturalism, Racism Tagged with ,

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