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Rafik Zemokhol's avatar

Good piece Mr. Jivani. Just had this discussion with a friend of mine. We got to the conclusion that the most racist people we’ve met, being raised in Ontario Canada, was the woke leftists who, almost autonomically, racialize or categorize everybody they meet. Even if it is done with the purest of intents it is an inherently destructive mentality, or framing, which only leads to a kind of poisoning of the well of public conversation & individual thought.

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@maretjaks's avatar

Excellent piece. I am reminded of a time when at a swanky downtown Toronto condominium office, I watched (and then interceded) as a professional BIPOC man stood and challenged the young white woman behind the desk. Now, the BIPOC man was a bit tipsy that day and so I put my hand on his shoulder and cooled the conversation down in a friendly way (he was my neighbour so I knew him). After he left the office, I asked the woman what was happening.

Turns out he was telling her all about her "privilege". She kept trying to ask him how she was privileged when she grew up in Romania, stood in breadlines as a child with her mom in the 80s and early 90s, and was an immigrant to Canada. He, too, was an immigrant (as was my mother, so yeah, no problem with immigrants!!) but he came from a family who spoke English back in India, had maids and a cook, never wanted for food, got a great education and had a fabulous job in Canada.

Anyway, the man and I remain on good terms and I'm not sure he exactly remembers the tipsy argument he had with the Romanian-Canadian, but I thought, "Yeah, let's talk privilege now, shall we?" Most of us are lucky and unlucky in different ways. It's the clay we're given to shape our lives.

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