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.
Yes. I hate the fact that their rhetoric has seeped into my mind. It's caused me to imagine what they would think or say in different situations, which is disturbing.
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.
Excellent. There are so many dimensions of actual privilege and disadvantage that are completely ignored, as you brilliantly point out, while superficial and misleading ones are focused on to the exclusion of all else.
And the NYT's ( the Star / Andre Piccard) was critical in propagating the fear narrative that led to school closure policies which hurt the MOST vulnerable in our communities. It wasnt covid....it was the policies. Never forget.
Fantastic piece, Jamil Jivani. I intend to share this. You nailed several points that I had been intuiting, but had not even come close to mentally articulating. Well done.
I do like your comments on the things that are important to me. We need more like you with the common sense approach to tell the things that the media seems to twist to satisfy their comments. I do miss hearing you on radio and have not found someone like you on the top talk stations here in the city of Toronto.
My personal connection to the sentiment behind "defund the police" went beyond protesting police brutality. I wanted to see the money our governments spend on policing (more aptly the privatization of policing which is the true culprit of brutality) go into the social programs that lift people out of poverty. I wanted attention called to broken systems that offer nothing than revolving doors in and out of jails. You can't talk race without economics. So the "defund" was a way to say put the money into really helping people of color stop the violence within their own communities. Better yet let people of color decide for their own communities what to do with the money rather than allow the establishment to decide for them.
I do understand how you feel. In the late 80s/early 90s, so many programs for poor kids in Toronto were defunded, like pools and basketball courts and certain friendly community services. I worked on behalf of women in conflict with the law back then and it was disheartening to see. So I became a foster mom to 4 girls as "preventative" work .... and it helped the girls, I guess. But as a society, we need more than slogans. These very same people who are suffering also NEED the police because just going up and down in an elevator can be terrifying in some of those neighbourhoods (for the record - I used to visit relatives in similar neighbourhoods and remember the elevators).
I believe in the power of AND. We need police to protect us AND we need to fund community centres that help kids focus on more positive outcomes for their lives and have a place to go. For my foster girls, two of them were happy to have my home to go to from Thursday to Monday...when their step-father drank himself into oblivion. I suppose it takes each of us to move beyond the slogans and into small actions we can take.
Thank you for ur thoughtful reply. I frame the issue as more of an economic one, and historically PoC have been disproportionately affected. As more people fall into poverty, the danger I see comes when one group starts blaming the other for it rather than systems that don’t work for anyone but elite.
There is certainly validity to your point. So how does that become actionable without turning a city into lawless "autonomy zones"? BTW I actually like the idea of autonomous zones. Except for the fact that HUMANS won't behave well enough to be entrusted with them.
I suppose autonomy begins when wealth is equitably distributed which sounds like an ideal we can never achieve unless we exercise the collective power of working people to disrupt that wealth concentration of the elite. In practice terms, we need to instill more peer to peer systems that circumvent elite ownership and promote autonomy. These include internet and data privacy, voting purity, a repeal of the post 9/11 homeland security legislation and real currency that doesn’t require centralized banking. Other ideas?
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.
Yes. I hate the fact that their rhetoric has seeped into my mind. It's caused me to imagine what they would think or say in different situations, which is disturbing.
Unintended consequences of a horrific, myopic focus on race and identity politics. Anyone with a sane brain could se this happening. Terrible.
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.
Excellent. There are so many dimensions of actual privilege and disadvantage that are completely ignored, as you brilliantly point out, while superficial and misleading ones are focused on to the exclusion of all else.
Absolutely nailed it. Such hypocrisy is mind blowing. Very perceptive.
Like a surgeon with words! Beautifully said :)
Yes.
And the NYT's ( the Star / Andre Piccard) was critical in propagating the fear narrative that led to school closure policies which hurt the MOST vulnerable in our communities. It wasnt covid....it was the policies. Never forget.
Great article----I wonder if those who really NEED to read this will??????
No, they won't - it's up to us to remind them.
Fantastic piece, Jamil Jivani. I intend to share this. You nailed several points that I had been intuiting, but had not even come close to mentally articulating. Well done.
Another excellent commentary.
Mamma said Knock you out - and you did it, Mr Jivani, with this short piece.
I do like your comments on the things that are important to me. We need more like you with the common sense approach to tell the things that the media seems to twist to satisfy their comments. I do miss hearing you on radio and have not found someone like you on the top talk stations here in the city of Toronto.
Another excellent commentary.
My personal connection to the sentiment behind "defund the police" went beyond protesting police brutality. I wanted to see the money our governments spend on policing (more aptly the privatization of policing which is the true culprit of brutality) go into the social programs that lift people out of poverty. I wanted attention called to broken systems that offer nothing than revolving doors in and out of jails. You can't talk race without economics. So the "defund" was a way to say put the money into really helping people of color stop the violence within their own communities. Better yet let people of color decide for their own communities what to do with the money rather than allow the establishment to decide for them.
I do understand how you feel. In the late 80s/early 90s, so many programs for poor kids in Toronto were defunded, like pools and basketball courts and certain friendly community services. I worked on behalf of women in conflict with the law back then and it was disheartening to see. So I became a foster mom to 4 girls as "preventative" work .... and it helped the girls, I guess. But as a society, we need more than slogans. These very same people who are suffering also NEED the police because just going up and down in an elevator can be terrifying in some of those neighbourhoods (for the record - I used to visit relatives in similar neighbourhoods and remember the elevators).
I believe in the power of AND. We need police to protect us AND we need to fund community centres that help kids focus on more positive outcomes for their lives and have a place to go. For my foster girls, two of them were happy to have my home to go to from Thursday to Monday...when their step-father drank himself into oblivion. I suppose it takes each of us to move beyond the slogans and into small actions we can take.
Thank you for ur thoughtful reply. I frame the issue as more of an economic one, and historically PoC have been disproportionately affected. As more people fall into poverty, the danger I see comes when one group starts blaming the other for it rather than systems that don’t work for anyone but elite.
How is that possible without putting PoC into segregated communities? Are you advocating for ghettos?
Quite the contrary. Elites use race as one tool of keeping people divided. The real division is wealth disparity. See my reply to Benji
PS. Many PoC are currently in ghettos by default because of disparity in housing.
There is certainly validity to your point. So how does that become actionable without turning a city into lawless "autonomy zones"? BTW I actually like the idea of autonomous zones. Except for the fact that HUMANS won't behave well enough to be entrusted with them.
I suppose autonomy begins when wealth is equitably distributed which sounds like an ideal we can never achieve unless we exercise the collective power of working people to disrupt that wealth concentration of the elite. In practice terms, we need to instill more peer to peer systems that circumvent elite ownership and promote autonomy. These include internet and data privacy, voting purity, a repeal of the post 9/11 homeland security legislation and real currency that doesn’t require centralized banking. Other ideas?