{"id":7016,"date":"2020-10-06T20:37:42","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T23:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/?p=7016"},"modified":"2020-10-06T22:27:27","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T01:27:27","slug":"is-a-mindset-of-acute-victimitis-a-wise-way-to-a-just-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2020\/10\/06\/is-a-mindset-of-acute-victimitis-a-wise-way-to-a-just-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a mindset of acute victimitis a wise way to a just world?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In its section entitled \u201cBeing black in Canada<\/em>\u201d,\nthe CBC<\/em> is once again giving visibility to select students whose\nstatements are not representative of the majority of their peers (of all\ncolours, and especially of theirs). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article in question is about the University of Windsor<\/em>. It is entitled \u201cSome students dissatisfied with UWindsor’s anti-Black racism initiatives<\/em>\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/windsor\/university-of-windsor-anti-black-racism-1.5751061<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we read a statement by the former\nPresident of this school\u2019s student union, Mr. Jeremiah Bowers who is\nco-developing, with Mr. Tolson-Murtty, \u201ca task force that is representative\nof the broad range of racialized communities on campus<\/em>\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at one of his statements, cited verbatim:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re also bringing lived experiences. We’re bringing the trauma of\nbeing a Black body in a world that doesn’t want us in an institution that wasn’t\nbuilt for us”. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t it sad when words as serious as \u201ctrauma\u201d are\nemptied of their meaning?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can Mr. Bower, a former President of the University of Windsor<\/em>\u2019s student union, and current student in one of our great schools be \u201ca Black body in<\/em> world that doesn’t want him\u201d?<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what does he mean by \u201ca Black body<\/em>\u201d by the\nway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Didn\u2019t one of his national parties just elect Ms.\nAnnamie Paul who also has a black-skin like him (she also played the race\/identity\ncard, mind you)? She told us in her victory speech that she is the \u201cdirect\ndescendant of slaves<\/em>\u201d, as a reminder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wasn\u2019t our former Governor General of Haitian origins\n(with a black-skin too)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about our numerous Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois former and current Ministers, in the Party Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois<\/em> and the CAQ <\/em>too? Of course also across all the other provincial parties, from the Liberals<\/em> to Qu\u00e9bec Solidaire<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about Dr. Lewis who got many votes within her federal Conservative party<\/em> (even if she did not win)? She did not play the race card, if Bambi is not mistaken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we have much work to keep doing for true equality\nof opportunities for all Canadians? SURE we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is a mindset of acute victimitis a healthy and wise\nway to a more just world? Bambi is not too sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had Mr. Bowers been Indigenous perhaps we could have understood\nhis statement more in the Canadian context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had he been Jewish in a certain historic era at the University of Toronto<\/em> (U of T), we would have understood more. It is not for nothing that York University<\/em> was created by Jewish scholars who were not welcomed at U of T.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had he or his parents been of Chinese origins, we would have understood too. Chinese Canadian citizens were not treated greatly either, as we know, even if we owe them much (e.g. building our railways and our economy). Did this group of Canadians fall for the acute victimitis trap (of our current times)? No, they did not. They simply worked hard and even harder than the rest of us to co-build our beautiful Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When M. Bowers mentions the institutions that are not\nbuilt for him, what does he mean? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps he meant to denounce elitism or classism rather\nthan racism. Could it be? If so, Bambi agrees with him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good example would be our political elites (Bambi is\nnot sure that elitism is not always that much better than so-called populism, but\nthat\u2019s a different story).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyhow, Bambi wishes him and his institution the best.\nMay we all remain lucid and wise, even when we think that we are making our\nworld a better place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In its section entitled \u201cBeing black in Canada\u201d, the CBC is once again giving visibility to select students whose statements are not representative of the majority of their peers (of all colours, and especially of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7016"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7022,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7016\/revisions\/7022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}