And The Answer Is ...

Education. Well, it's part of the answer anyway. And the question? How does society mount a serious effort to combat racism in its many forms, be it directed against Muslims, Asians, Jews, Blacks, Indigenous or anyone else who falls within the sights of  the benighted and the evil?

The stakes are high. Elmira Eleghawaby writes:

Recent data from Statistics Canada paints a disturbing picture about who is involved in hate crimes. According to the agency, nearly a quarter of those accused of hate crimes between 2010 and 2019 were between the ages of 12 and 17, a majority of whom were male.

And the effects of racism are even higher:

Hate crimes, described as message crimes by the American Psychological Association, are a threat to the safety and well-being every person in Canada deserves to feel.

“Hate crimes send messages to members of the victim’s group that they are unwelcome and unsafe in the community, victimizing the entire group and decreasing feelings of safety and security,” reads an analysis by the association. “Furthermore, witnessing discrimination against one’s own group can lead to psychological distress and lower self-esteem.”

The role of education in all of this should be obvious. While many advocate teaching so that students have a better grasp of things like Islamophobia and how online hate is propagated, it seems to me that a better counter-strategy would be to establish a mandatory course, likely attached to the history department, in which students can learn from a Canadian perspective about the various cultures that are under attack, thereby, if you will, better 'humanizing' them. Such a course would include our own country's mistreatment of the Indigenous, the Asian, the Sikh, the Jewish and the Muslim, as well as stories of collaboration and easy co-existence. How many know, for example, that the first mosque in Canada was established in Edmonton in 1938?

Such an approach would not, of course, eradicate the stench of racism that will always linger. And my experience as a teacher, despite education's perceived role as an equalizer and answer to society's woes, is that we have limited impact in countering the home environment that sometimes fosters an array of attitudes that infect children, much to their detriment.

Education has often been described as shedding light on the darkness. Even if it has only limited impact in addressing all that ails us, it seems a good place to start.

Unflappable No More

As the world continues its devolution, it becomes clear that few things can be taken for granted anymore. One of the casualties of the times is the erstwhile British unflappability, as the following amply demonstrates. 

Tesco’s festive TV ad featuring Santa Claus bearing a Covid vaccine passport has prompted more than 1,500 complaints, making it the most complained-about advert of the year.

The advert, titled “This Christmas, Nothing’s Stopping Us”, shows the public determined to enjoy a proper Christmas with family and friends after lockdown restrictions prevented gatherings last year.

However, in one scene a reporter appears on TV with “breaking news” telling viewers that “Santa could be quarantined”. Father Christmas is then shown presenting his Covid pass at border control, proving he has been vaccinated to a customs officer so he can enter the country without restriction. Most of the complaints made to the UK advertising regulator state the scene is coercive and encourages medical discrimination.

 The scene sparked controversy on social media, attracting criticism from those in the anti-vaccination movement.

Before clicking on the offending ad, deliberate carefully on whether it might be too unsettling for your sensibilities. 

I Guess It Would Reduce Confusion

 

Change Of Pace Friday

A former colleague of my sent me this. I guess it has been around for a while, but it is new to me, and seems relevant given our current spate of dysfunctional Titans.

A Canadian Clown Show

 

My previous post dealt with the racism-tinged dismissal of a high school principal in Texas. Today's deals with malfeasance of another kind: the unjust treatment of a co-op student who was threatened with suspension and removed from her hospital placement due to her making the "okay' sign in a selfie group photo taken by her teacher. 

An anonymous complaint to  Hamilton Health Sciences netted this result:

After just a few days in the co-op program, her parents got a call from the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board saying she was not to go to the hospital, but should come in to the school for a meeting instead.

Her dad went with her for that meeting. They were told she was being removed from her placement because someone had complained about her hand sign. And she was in jeopardy of being suspended.

“They said it was a racist sign,” says Megan. “I didn’t know.”

Despite her protestations of ignorance, the Board ignored the opportunity for it to be, as they like to say, "a teachable moment." 

An email from school board spokesperson Shawn McKillop says: “A community member noticed an unacceptable symbol in a social media post and reported it to HWDSB and program partner, Hamilton Health Sciences. The symbol, which can be interpreted as promoting hate, does not align with HWDSB’s commitment to equity and inclusion. Symbols of hate that promote racism or white supremacy ideology are not tolerated in HWDSB or anywhere in our community. The image was immediately taken down.”

As you might imagine, the public has reacted with outrage, as a sampling of letters-to-the-editor demonstrate.:

No safety or respect for my daughter

First, I would like to say Susan Clairmont wrote an excellent column on my daughter and it raises a lot of issues (which was the point).

How can someone who is faceless, nameless, hiding behind a computer claim they are offended over something so innocently done invoke such a heavy handed outcome? Just like to point out a couple of more facts here, that neither HHSC or HWDSB spoke to my daughter, and that they said she “purposely” placed the hand sign in the pictures. Wendy Stewart from HHSC claims “everyone behaves in a manner that ensures everyone at HHSC feels respected, safe and welcome.” Yet they had no problem calling my daughter a racist, white supremacist. My daughter and my family sure feel respected and safe from these clowns.

Shawn Breeze, Hamilton

Punishment is over the top

This is completely unfair in my opinion. The student in question said she did not know that the OK sign was now considered offensive. I am a senior citizen, and I had no idea! So I accept that she did not. I thought people were innocent until proven guilty. This was a teachable moment, she was informed that it is considered unacceptable to use this sign, she expressed remorse, and that should have been the end of it. It is also a teachable moment for the HWDSB to make sure that when they assign placements, they should diligently go over the employment policies of the businesses they are sending students to. And also the responsibility of the businesses to clearly outline their HR policies to students (or any new hires) that they have. White supremacy is not something we should ever condone, but this was a very poor way of expressing that.

Sharon McKibbon, Hamilton

Put her back in the program

With regards to your article about the young girl being removed from her co-op, this is the first time that I heard the OK sign meant white power. I have been using it for the past 78 years to mean OK and I still use it to mean OK, and so do most of the people that I know. This young girl should be put back into her co-op program and receive an apology from whom ever removed her from it.

Ian Noble, Hamilton

We need a list of acceptable signs 

 Could The Spectator please provide us, who don’t see hate in a symbol like the “OK” sign, with a list of socially unacceptable signs? I understand the “Hitler salute” as being unacceptable because in our country, it has always been unacceptable, but the OK sign? If the picture had not been included in the article, I still wouldn’t have known how the “OK” sign would be considered racist.

The damage HHS and HWDSB have done to this young student is reprehensible! Instead of taking this opportunity to educate everyone (myself included) in a positive way, you made it punitive and the only one who suffered was the student. Shame on you! Hopefully, HHS and HWDSB will recognize the error of their ways and not only apologize for how you handled the situation but also reinstated the student back into the program; if they still choose to participate.

Kathi Howes-Jones, Hamilton

Am I absolutely positive the girl is innocent in this case? No one can know for certain, but it seems to me that the rush to judgement with no real opportunity for Megan Breeze to defend herself  is at the crux of the matter. Due process, it would seem, exists only when the political winds allow it.

Such are the times in which we live.

 

 

Then They Came For The Educators

As a longtime educator, I have always believed that whatever progress we can make as a species resides within the domain of knowledge and its concomitant, critical thinking. When both fall into societal disrespect, devolution seems to be the inevitable outcome.

Now that education has become one of the right's political footballs, what happened to Colleyville Grapevine principal, Dr. James Whitfield, should surprise few but dismay all fair-minded people.

Please advance to the 9:55 mark for the story:

It would seem that in Amerika, a little knowledge is, indeed, a dangerous thing.

Thought For The Day

Busy as I am these days performing outside maintenance chores before the storms inevitably start to fly, I offer this for today's reflection, as well as gratitude that Aaron Rodgers was not chosen to replace Alex Trebek on Jeopardy: