This past Saturday, I went to the annual conference at my university titled, “Racism and National Consciousness: White Supremacy and the Regulation of Identity.” I learned a lot, felt challenged by some of the ideas, and had a good time listening to other people. I even intend(ed) to write a few posts about some topics that came up.
On Monday morning, I checked my email, and lo and behold, one of the conference organizers sent attendees an email, informing us that Margaret Wente has said something atrociously racist yet again. I hope she’s happy now that other journalists are following suit.
Some time ago, Olympic official/McGill university chancellor Dick Pound decided to verbalize his years of colonial schooling and say that 400 years ago, Canada was a nation of savages. As he explained in his sorry excuse for an apology (oh, I can rest easy now that I know he didn’t intend it), he was speaking en Français and used the phrase “pays de savauge”, which is a part of French being a colonialist and racist language. I’m jaded enough to expect these kinds of comments, given the anti-Native riots that occurred during the Oka standoff, wherein Mohawk effigies were burned. Those sentiments still exist.
What I didn’t expect, was that not only Margaret Wente, who makes a living off of being an edgy bigot, argued that Dick Pound was right, but a bunch of other journalists and publications defended Pound and told Natives to get over it.
Excerpts from Wente’s article (emphasis mine):
The truth is different. North American native peoples had a neolithic culture based on subsistence living and small kinship groups. They had not developed broader laws or institutions, a written language, evidence-based science, mathematics or advanced technologies. The kinship groups in which they lived were very small, simply organized and not very productive. Other kinship groups were regarded as enemies, and the homicide rate was probably rather high. Until about 30 years ago, the anthropological term for this developmental stage was “savagery.”
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Today, however, it is simply not permissible to say that aboriginal culture was less evolved than European culture or Chinese culture – even though it’s true.
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Needless to say, Ms. Widdowson, who currently teaches at Calgary’s Mount Royal College, has been accused of hating aboriginals, and much else. “It doesn’t mean that you’re a racist or a colonialist if you recognize that there’s a culture gap,” she says. “But to say that aboriginal people were just as sophisticated as the Europeans – that’s just nonsense.”
“Culture gap”? Well, I guess if it isn’t European, it isn’t civilized.
Then we have Gary Mason’s article, also from the Globe and Mail:
Mr. Pound explained himself. The IOC seemed to be satisfied with his explanation and dismissed the matter. It suggested the group contact Mr. Pound directly to get his clarification. It didn’t. Instead, the aggrieved party sparked what amounted to a nationwide jihad, with native groups calling for his resignation and provincial politicians like B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell demanding Mr. Pound immediately make amends for “disgraceful” comments.
Apologize, Mr. Pound did. Over and over and over again. And when I talked to him the other day, the first thing out of his mouth was: “I am truly sorry for offending people. It was not my intention at all. But if somebody runs over your foot accidentally it hurts just as much as if someone ran over it deliberately.”
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I certainly wouldn’t want to minimize the discomfort his comments, however unintentional, caused some people in Canada. At the same time, those same people should not minimize the pain and grief this whole affair has caused someone who has spent decades fighting for good and representing the country with honour.
And someone, I will say right now, who doesn’t have a racist bone in his body.
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It’s a terrible thing, the lynch mob mentality we’ve developed in this country.
I don’t even know where to start with this one. All I hear is, “WAH YOU GUYS ARE BEING MEAN TO THE REALLY NICE WHITE GUY! IT’S JUST LIKE A JIHAD! LYNCH MOB!” I was half-expecting him to claim reverse racism. Are people supposed to hold Pound’s hand after he said something incredibly racist? Tell him “it’s okay, you apologized”? The guy seems sorry, I’ll give him that, but Native people don’t owe him a single thing. It is not their responsibility to teach him about his white privilege or to at least be aware of the type of colonial lies that Canadians are taught throughout their lives.
It doesn’t stop there, folks. If you look on Google News for “Dick Pound”, what’s the first article you’ll get? In defence of Dick Pound from The Vancouver Sun, basically saying Dick Pound can’t be racist because he’s served on the Olympic Committee (yay, diversity!), Europeans were basically opportunistic, and he has a right to free speech. Dick Pound’s free speech trumps the free speech of Natives, and colonialism is a thing of the past. In fact, most of the articles you’ll find will be either “matter of fact” reporting (Pound said this, people are outraged), or editorials and opinion pieces saying that he was sorry and Natives should move on after the apology.
Alas, white supremacy reigns, and we still need to hold annual conferences on racism and national consciousness.
Check out these posts from other blogs:
Shameless Magazine – Not just dumb, but racist
Racialicious – Open Season on Natives
