A Vain Old Man

So how's that incrementalism working for you?

Blacks in Canada need to unite, rise up and address the deep racism in this country that keeps them out of positions of power, a Conservative senator says.

“What will it take for our collective Afro-Canadian family to unite — to rise up and claim our rightful place in Canadian society?” Conservative Sen. Don Oliver recently asked in keynote speech to black professionals.

Despite being the fourth largest visible minority group in Canada, blacks continue to be victims of racism and are under-represented in high-level positions including on Parliament Hill, Oliver said Monday, Canadian Multiculturalism Day.

He's a grandstanding fool. No one much cares what Senators have to say. Playing the race card gets you some decent headlines. What follows is such a stream of stale nonsense you'd be surprised to get it from the typical Dipper activist. He was a Mulroney appointee.

Yes, of course, there is racism in Canada. As there is where ever different racial groups are present. Some portion of the humanity will always insist on thinking in tribal terms. Of all the countries in the world where such attitudes are least persistent it is in Canada. Senator Oliver then goes onto make this utterly absurd statement:

Oliver blames Canada’s experience with slavery for much of the black community’s inability to support each other and for the stereotypes old-stock Canadians continue to show.

“It really flows from the days of slavery . . . because of the slave mentality,” he explained, when someone got ahead, they would get dragged down by the group.

The overwhelming majority of Canadians don't even know slavery existed in this country. The Senator even alludes to this in the interview. So you're influenced by something you thought happened elsewhere? To say nothing of the risible notion that old-stock Canadians are more bigoted than newer group. Seriously? Groups that spent generations slaughtering each other over trivial differences in physical appearance, religious beliefs and language are suppose to show up in Canada and have no problem with blacks? Is the Senator aware of the Indian caste system? Is he aware of the prejudice shown in many Caribbean countries for darker blacks by lighter skinned blacks? There is likely more systematic racism, if we can call it that, in Jamaica than Canada.

I suspect I've known more "new Canadians" than the Nova Scotian Oliver. There racial attitudes are typically far less enlightened than those of "old-stock Canadians." Recall, Senator, that it was an old stock Canadian (Brian Mulroney) who appointed you to the Senate. That it was old stock Canadians like Diefenbaker (thought he was not considered as such at the time), Pearson and Trudeau who dismantled this country's anti-black immigration policies. If racism is so systematic how have you had a successful legal and political career? 

The vast majority of Canadian blacks, or their parents, emigrated to Canada in the last forty years. They came here like most Canadians and there ancestors were never held as slaves on Canadian soil. Many of those who came to Canada before 1970 did so to escape the systematic racism of the American South. While this country was hardly a picture of tolerance by modern standards, it was far preferable to what else was on offer. How many American governors would have posed with a large number of blacks in the 1920s? 

As for blacks being excluded from positions of power? Well let's turn that issue around a bit. The black community accounts for about 2.5% of the country's population. Roughly the same percentage as the combined totals of Portuguese and and Spanish. How many Iberians do you see in positions of power in this country? Rather few. This isn't a product of bigotry. Most immigrant groups take time to climb up the socio-economic ladder. If those groups have persistently high drop out rates, like say Jamaicans and Portuguese, then it shouldn't be surprising that this process is slower than for other groups, like say the Poles.

Senator Oliver is trying to rally the black population of Canada. How is this more sensible, or rational, than yours truly attempting to rally the white population? Oh, but the white population is dominant and the black population is a minority. Minorities need to be protected from majorities. That is true in societies that identify people based on their race or ethnicity. Do we really want to go down that road? Do we really want American-style race baiting in this country?

Raced based politics has no place in Canada. Some have certain tried to introduce it, mostly with limited success. Senator Oliver is not trying to fight racism, he is trying to institutionalize it. You fight racism by treating people as individuals, not as members of a racial collective. Oliver is also importing an American conceptual approach to race relations.

Most American blacks are descendants of slaves. Most Canadian blacks are immigrants or children of immigrants. The experiences of the two groups are very different. What does the typical Barbadian have in common with the typical Somali? Or the ordinary Jamaican with a Nigerian? Their skin colour. The black world, the Caribbean, Latin American and Sub-Saharan Africa are more culturally and religiously diverse than Europe. Would anyone think of jumbling together Portuguese and Russians? Or even Germans and Italians? Simply because these groups are white? We recognize differences in culture among whites. Why not among blacks? 

If Senator Oliver succeeds with his race hustling it will be for one reason: Cowardice. The non-black population is terrified of criticizing race based rhetoric for fear of being called a racist. The black population of being called Uncle Toms or Oreos. The real victims will not be Canada's whites, Asians or Indians. It will the black population. There is nothing more pernicious to a group of people than to see themselves as victims, able to excuse every failure on some mythical "system" of racism. All this so an old man can grandstand to the media. Vanity.

 

Comments

[mikeg81]

What the hell is "Afro-Canadian"?

I've never heard that before.

[Publius]

I take it you're not from Toronto. It's a silly word borrowed from politically correct Americans. Most blacks in Canada are from the English speaking Caribbean. Culturally they are Caribbean not African.

[nomdeblog]

“So how's that incrementalism working for you?”

That’s the point, it’s not incrementalism, it’s an anachronism that should be incrementally improved by having an elected Senate with term and age limits.

Senator Oliver from Nova Scotia is a decendent from slaves. Halifax has a demographic segment of them who came to Canada from the US; so this issue is not surprisingly his shtick. But having faced Senator Oliver, now 73, on an enquiry committee a number of years ago, I actually found him back then to be very pragmatic on that particular issue.

[Ted High]

Remember Reverand Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. saying he wants his children to be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin. Throw this in the face of EVERYONE when they say there isn't enough of "MY' skim color represented.