First, here is an article about this story, published lately in the Ottawa Citizen and entitled: “Profs, alumni urge Carleton to accept eight commitments to build “anti-racist university“:
Second, Bambi has the urge to reply to those so-called eight commitments to build “anti-racist university“, just for fun ?:
1. Reassess the school’s relationship with police to create “a campus community in which everyone has a sense of physical and psychological safety as well as a sense of belonging”;
What does this first point mean??
What is the link to anti-racism?
2. Commit to hiring, retaining and promoting Black faculty;
Why specifically a commitment to this minority?
Plus, what is a “black” faculty, according to those signing this letter?
For example, what does a black person from the Arab world (a Bedouin, etc.) have in common with a black person from Haiti or a black person from Toronto, etc.? Nothing. Bambi has more in common with each of them (e.g., language spoken or being urban/rural or being Canadian, etc.) than they have between each other.
Our commitment should be to merit only!
Plus, we do not do a service to this particular group by letting them think that they positioned themselves because of their skin colour or whatever other limited racial feature. We do not do them a service by letting us doubt one day that this what made them earn the position, instead of their merit.
3. Create a steering group to study racism and racialization that will enhance research, teaching, and program development in Black Studies and Critical Race Studies;
Don’t we have enough of such steering groups thus far?
By the way, what does “critical” race studies mean ??
4. Fund anti-racist and Black-led student and faculty research;
Oh so, this is what it’s all about then… funding.
What does anti-racist mean?
Aren’t we all anti-racism because we are pro-respect (to all, including ourselves)?
What does “black-led research mean”? This sounds like anything but scientific research. This sounds like ideological absurd language.
5. Address the “hostile culture and oppressive environments” that reproduce anti-Black racism on campus;
?. OK, seriously what does “hostile culture and oppressive environments” mean?
Our campuses are anything but hostile… they are rather perhaps getting unfair (at times literally, hostile or dismissive) to those who do not virtue signal with these fancy ideologies. Look what happened at UBC lately, with their former Chair of the Board of Governors.
6. Generate data on the racial backgrounds of students, faculty and other employees;
What?! Why?! To create a form of apartheid ??
Bambi thought the latter was not a good practice… or is it only when it is practiced elsewhere (e.g., South Africa, etc.).
Why are we doing this to ourselves, as public institutions and as a society?
Whom interests are we serving by creating freaky new policies or practices like that.
7. Support Black, Indigenous and people of colour who work in custodial and maintenance services with a liveable wage and safe working conditions;
Wonderful… but why only them? What about their other peers, who may be local or from other ethnolinguistic groups? Don’t they “matter” too?
8. Commit to evaluating the university’s investment portfolios and relationship to the military.
This reminds Bambi of the whole fossil fuel divestment saga ?.
How does this relate to the earlier points and to the topic/essence of the letter?
How will such divestment make the lives of everyone, including the specific group mentioned in the letter, more enriched?
End of the letter’s commitments.
To conclude this post, Bambi will say the following: Make no mistake, like you, she is against discrimination and racism to anyone.
We all want our society to be the most welcoming and fair to all.
Thus, we must keep aspiring to be respectful to all to ensure that our world is non-racist/anti-racist.
With all due respect to any noble intention, according to Bambi’s non-expert citizen’s opinion, this letter is not only silly. It is also dangerous, as it can eventually lead to the opposite of what it claims to be fighting against.
Is this what the signatories want their university to become?
