Justin Trudeau: Not just another Pretty Blackface
So first it was the Trans Mountain Pipeline controversy, then the SNC-Lavalin Affair and now the Brown/Blackface scandal. The first one was a pretty big deal as Mr. Trudeau had talked non-stop on the campaign trail about the environment and how much he cared about greenhouse gases and his disdain for the fossil fuel industry and also I think, how he owned this suit made from hemp that looked “pretty awesome on me”. So you can see how people were slightly confused then when he turned around and bought the 75 year old pipeline from Kinder Morgan at roughly 5 times what it was worth and said “this is getting built, period!” Equally as perplexing was how once elected as Prime Minister of Canada he immediately filled his cabinet with members of the opposite sex to let folks know that he was” totally a feminist”. Yet, when Jody Wilson Raybould, the then Attorney General and full time female and 1st ever Aboriginal female to hold that position refused to do his bidding by cutting the guys at SNC Lavalin a little slack and letting them off those nasty old corruption and bribery charges, nice guy Justin went full Johnny Depp on her. First he took away her position as AG and essentially demoted her to “minister of making the Starbucks run”, and then he fired her altogether. So Justin is a feminist as long as you “keep yer damn mouth shut woman!!”
That is why it came as no surprise to me when the pictures of him in brown face surfaced from 2001. Also no shock that he saw nothing wrong with it at the time. So let’s have a little context here. Justin at the time was 29 (actually quite young for privileged white people to leave the nest ) and as many of his supporters like to point out, “was a regular working class guy because we all know how much teacher’s make”. Let’s just clarify that shall we, he was a teacher at the time but it was at West Point Grey Academy, in West Vancouver: Home of White Privilege since 1912, a private school for Richy Rich type kids and children of drug cartel members,
influential money launderers and international arms dealers. This place was so exclusive, Lori Loughlin couldn’t even bribe her way in. Of course these people saw nothing wrong with it!!! These are the same people that consider themselves “Woke” because they have a Filipina nanny that they only made work half of Christmas Day last year because “they have families too you know”. The event in question happened at a “charity gala” (regular folks have fundraisers and bottle drives) that was being held at the Fairmont Hotel overlooking the harbour and the theme was Arabian Nights. He also made it even worse (I know right?) by having his picture taken with two Sikh guys wearing Turbans. This could also explain why the Prime Minister continues to do business with Saudi Arabia……they were holding this over his head the entire time. So that is the context of that one.
But then more evidence surfaced, high school Justin, this time in blackface and a video, also in blackface. The high school photo was of Justin in a talent show performing Day-O dressed up in what he probably thought was a Harry Belafonte outfit but more closely resembled Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch ( nuthin racist to see here folks….move it along now). When questioned about the video, he said he couldn’t recall how many times he wore blackface. Okay so once or twice might be blamed on youth and alcohol but when you lose count of how many times you wore blackface, it’s more like a hobby. Anyway, here’s the deal; a lot of people are upset about this and rightfully so. Conservatives on the other hand are already ordering new wallpaper for Justin’s office. What I hope will happen is that this will allow us as a nation to start having much needed conversations around racism in Canada. We should be discussing things like racial profiling in law enforcement, inter-sectional feminism, aboriginal land claims, Islamophobia and talking about the racist history of our country and not just concerning First Nations people but all people of color and what we can actually do to move forward. By the way, where we need to start is with this; WHITE PEOPLE DO NOT GET TO DECIDE WHAT IS AND IS NOT RACIST!
I see a lot of people posting on social media that our PM may have made a mistake; but he accepted thousands and thousands of Syrian refugees when other countries did not, so how could he be racist? Because, unintentional racism is still racism. Also, Trudeau loves that white savior stuff! He did it because it makes him look good. It’s not like any Syrian refugees were coming to stay at his house. He basically just needs to say, come on in…and then never has to see them again. In other words, having such privilege that you think because it wasn’t intended as malicious or that it was just a joke, that it wasn’t actually racist, is a huge problem in this country. It’s a bit like your older brother punching you hard in the face and when you burst into tears he says; “oh come on….that didn’t hurt”. The reason we do this is because we are pretty damn uncomfortable with our own colonial racist attitudes, that, by the way, we didn’t even know we had! Trudeau is not only racist, he’s also an idiot! He’s gotten away for so many years with using his boyish good looks and charming smile that he doesn’t actually know when to quit. He says things like; “I will continue to do the work that is necessary to keep us moving forward in the right way”. It’s true, this is an opportunity for the country to have a proper conversation regarding racism, but what’s more likely is that people will either accept his apology or not and those that like him will continue to vote for him and those that hate him won’t. I have heard things like; “this is a teachable moment”. Yes it is, however, what I haven’t heard any white politicians saying is that this country has its roots in racism and settler colonialism, aboriginal people and people of color, whether they are born here or immigrated, are and have traditionally been second class citizens. Author, activist and educator Robyn Maynard has this to say: “Racism has historically allowed for a massive pillaging of public and social wealth in the name of “safety”. Politicians use racist tropes to malign Black, Indigenous and/or Muslim community members, and use manufactured racial crises to pass “tough on crime” and “tough on immigration” measures. This works to justify — and distract from — the gutting of social, health and education services, alongside the massive investment — of public money — into police, military, and border controls. In this current moment, it is necessary to take a stand against racism in all of its forms.” excerpt from Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard.
Once again, let’s recap. Canada’s history with people of color:
-Stole aboriginal land
-Reserve system
-Residential Schools ( last residential school closed in Canada in 1996)
-60's Scoop
-28 percent of the prison population is Aboriginal while they comprise only 4.1 percent of the population of Canada
-Chinatown race riots
-Chinese Head Tax
-Komagata Maru incident
-racial segregation in schools, theaters, restaurants (last segregated school in Canada closed in 1983)
-Japanese Internment, including not returning any land or property to the Japanese community after the war
-KKK
-Oka
-Colton Boushie and Tina Fontaine trials
-Missing and Murdered women
-Rebel Media
-The Quebec Mosque shooting
And…..so on and so forth. Let’s not kid ourselves. Canada is an extremely polite, beer drinking, hockey watching nation with lots of good old fashioned racism as well. The aforementioned topics are only now being taught in schools, so the majority of the older generations don’t have a clue about this country’s history of discrimination and unjust laws. For many Canadians, what’s most upsetting is not that Justin has committed racist acts, it’s that he got caught. Their beautiful blue eyed boy is looking more and more like a hypocrite every day.
Now guys like Andrew Scheer, the leader of the Conservatives, we expect it from. Seriously, if a photo of Scheer wearing a white hood and roasting marshmallows over a burning cross surfaced tomorrow, no one would bat an eye. Maxime Bernier, same goes for him. He is actually crazier than Scheer if that’s possible. This is a guy whose own racist party (The Conservatives) wasn’t racist enough so he went and started his own party, The People’s Party. Now unless the people in question happen to be the Aryan Nation, it’s not very representative of the people. The other two candidates running this election are Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party…..a woman (in case you hadn’t guessed) and Jagmeet (hello…..I’m in the room!) Singh a South Asian and practicing Sikh and leader of the New Democrat Party. So for most of Canada Justin was their Obi Wan, their only hope. It says a lot about a nation that even for those who consider themselves progressive they are asking the question, are we ready for a woman or a visible minority?
Other than the obvious reasons, we need this to be a national conversation because Canada, like many western nations is slowly but surely becoming more multicultural by the minute and for many that reads as ……less white. When the privileged begin to feel threatened, it only takes a Trump, a Sheer or Bernier to divide them. That is a story as old as North America itself. After abolition occurred in America in 1865 and a couple of decades before that in Canada in 1834, wealthy white British and Europeans have been convincing poor white people that; “you may be poor but you’re still better than them”.
The sooner we start the conversation about tolerance, white privilege, and how to be allies to people of color, people of other faiths and the LGTBQ community the better. I say this because Halloween is just around the corner and God only knows who or what our Prime Minister might dress up as this year.
