Quebec needs to be aware – The issue of Racism will reappear. Cancellation is not equal to Annulation.
By Yvonne Sam
Denying racism is the new racism (Bill Maher) www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/10/07/bill_maher_denying_racism_is_the_new_racism.html
It is my sincere hope that there is no intent to sweep racism under the rug, as the emanating dust would be too much. My recent column Political Demission at the Quebec Human Rights Commission, enmeshed in Premier Couillard’s draconian decision to rename and reframe the Consultation on Systemic Discrimination and Racism is being revisited.
Because except for the efforts of Black Lives Matter, neither the community’s response to the cancellation of the consultation and police unjustly killing Black men have changed appreciably. The troubling implications must be faced. It is past time that the behavior of Blacks be reflective of their prolonged suffering from racism. Colorblindness is the social cataract that makes Quebec visionless to the reality of racism and discrimination, and thus, the possibility of pain — a pain that unleashes itself in structural circles, meanders through the docks of courtrooms ending in the unjustifiable deaths at the hands of law enforcers.
Coincidentally, I have also dealt with the need for unified action to offset what has become a stifling complacency born of silence and disunity among members of the Black community themselves. Politically speaking the pendulum has reached the limit of its swing, exposing once again the cold hard truth that the story of racism will never be told, especially since from the outset opposition parties had in no uncertain terms called on the government to scrap the consultation process altogether,claiming that it puts Quebec society on trial.
If the truth is to be known, a trial is not only needed, but long overdue as Quebec is known to be struggling with a pervasive and age old problem called racism, which adversely affects more than a million people in the province. The continued reluctance to forthrightly confront racism persists, even though it is responsible for the economic disparities that make it nearly impossible for real economic progress for racialized minorities, which is the only measurement for any so-called race relations gains.
The challenge lies in the fact that Premier Couillard, like so many others is covertly dismissing the fact that here in Quebec a certain group of people enjoy certain privileges that others do not, and discounts any relevance of past practices having a bearing today. To behave as if racism does not matter is to deny the absolute truth, and this again is part and parcel of how wide the divide is.
Plainly put the cancellation means that there will be no focus ever on understanding the perilous effects of interpersonal and institutional racism on both the psychological and physiological well-being of minorities. Let us not be misguided that institutional racism applies to a physical institution or building, for if so, such thinking needs to behalted in mid –formation. We are the institutionalized racism, and become part of the displayed institutionalized behavior each time we fail to stand up, turn a blind eye, walk away thinking that it is not our problem, hold our heads down or fail to intervene when we see someone being harassed or discriminated against.
Yes, the very racism whose presence Quebec has so long failed to acknowledge can psychologically affect the victims by allowing society to deny their value as individuals, and by compelling them to internalize the racist conceptions of them held by the dominant culture.
The price of our disunity is much too high and now compounded with seemingsilence on the cancellation issue makes us complicit in our own oppression. The odds notwithstanding, it is imperative that we see the cancellation as an opportunity to bring collective weight to bear.Sustained public pressure is the only way to make this happen, as Blacks along with other racialized minorities have been left out in the cold, and thestory must be told that we cannot afford to be put on hold. The overwhelming response of disbelief at the move made by Premier Couillard should herald the beginning of new commitments to sustain and transform righteous outrage into a collective resolve focusing on strategies that would unapologetically benefit all affected racialized minorities.
Racism is a major issue that cannot be ignored, the facts are undeniable and if Quebec continues on the path of disingenuousness, sadly a very painful confrontation will eventually ensue. According to Pope Francis, “Racism today is the ultimate evil in the world”.https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2014/08/15/resources-ferguson-racism-today-ultimate-evil-world/. Premier Couillard cannot have his say and his day also— putting in motion an independent process under the aegis of the Quebec Human Rights Commission, only to dabble at the rumblings of a rabble.
Sustaining righteous outrage is now more important than ever.
R-ally A-gainstC-ouillard’sI-nstinctivelyS-tupidM-ove.
