4 Comments

Vacillating about a definition of systemic racism is Erin O'Toole dodging the question and nothing more. If he answers "Yes," to "Is there systemic racism Canada?" he'll be asked for examples and how he'd address them. That would alienate much of the Conservative base. If O'Toole answers "No," he'll be presented with numerous examples of systemic racism, complete with videos. All the while, alienating voters who well understand that systemic racism is rife in Canada.

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I've moderated social media accounts on several mainstream Canadian news sites. They are always dumpster fires.

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Lastly, we want to do something anathema to most journalists: encourage readers to check out the comments section.

I had to laugh when I read that as it's so true!

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I suspect poor literacy exacerbates many political problems in Canada. As noted, the term structural racism describes a complex phenomenon. Too many people put all the focus on the word “racism.” Some reject the whole concept because they associate the word only with overt racism that’s largely disappeared. Others do the opposite, attributing the disparate impacts described by structural racism to pervasive overt racism because they see the word racism. A similar thing happens when people conflate the use of the word “nation” describing a people with a nation state, and let’s not even get started on “Defund the police” as a slogan for police reform.

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