racism

Tuesday February 28, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 28, 2023

Intolerable Ties

August 15, 2017

“Dilbert” creator Scott Adams continued to see his reach shrink Monday as dozens of newspapers and a major comic strip platform said they would no longer publish his long-running office workplace comic strip over his recent racist remarks.

Newspaper readers around the country were greeted by notes from publishers – and, in at least one instance, a blank space – alerting them to outlets’ decision to stop running the popular comic. Adams’ fate was effectively sealed Sunday evening when “Dilbert” distributor Andrews McMeel Universal said it was severing ties to the cartoonist. By Monday morning, “Dilbert” was gone from the GoComics site, which also features many top comic strips like “Peanuts” and “Calvin and Hobbes.”

In a Feb. 22 episode of his YouTube show, Adams described people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.” Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments as racist, hateful and discriminatory while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.

October 30, 2018

Readers of The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, Massachusetts, found a blank space in Monday’s edition where “Dilbert” would normally run. The paper said it would keep the space blank throughout March “as a reminder of the racism the pervades our society.”

Newspapers ranging from the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post to smaller papers like the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette have also said they would cease to publish “Dilbert.” The strip, which lampoons office culture, first appeared in 1989.

Two of Canada’s largest newspapers, The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, have also dropped the Dilbert comic strip over its creator’s remarks. (The Globe and Mail) 

Meanwhile, Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre is denying he ever spoke to a controversial German politician who recently claimed she spoke to him at least a “couple of times.”

August 26, 2022

Christine Anderson, a member of the European Parliament with the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AFD) or Alternative for Germany party, made the comments in a video posted to Twitter by the Western Standard media outlet.

In the video, Anderson is asked about her opinion of Poilievre, to which she responds, “I have spoken to him a couple of times, he seems to be a decent guy, and we need people that actually do think and go back to what democracy is all about and what elected representatives should do. It’s to be elected by the people and then represent and act in their best interests.”

Poilievre denounced Anderson last week after she met with three Conservative MPs during her recent tour of Canada in support of the “Freedom Convoy” movement.

Her tour included stops in Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Whitby, Ont.

The three Ontario MPs — Colin Carrie, Dean Allison and former Conservative leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis — were pictured with Anderson, a meeting the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said it was “deeply concerned” about.

July 11, 2019

The centre specifically pointed to the German AFD party Anderson belongs to as being “known for Islamophobic and anti-immigrant views.”

Skamski, Poilievre’s spokesperson, said in a previous statement that the MPs were unaware of her “vile” views and said they regret meeting with her.

Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University, says the meeting with Anderson shows “poor judgment” as the Conservatives look to court moderate voters ahead of the next federal election and disassociate themselves from radical views.

“Many people in the party, many of their supporters, many who voted Conservative Party, do not endorse (Anderson’s) views,” she told CTV National News last weekend. “But that association has been a problem for the Conservatives in the past, and you would think they’d be doubly careful about associations that could revive those concerns.”

November 5, 2022

During her tour, Anderson appeared with convoy organizer Tamara Lich and two of her lawyers. She also posed for a photo with the flag of Diagolon, an online protest movement considered by some to be an extremist group.

In a video posted to Twitter on Friday, People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier appeared with Anderson and called her an “honourary member” of the party. (CTV) 

Letter to the Editor – The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 3, 2023

Cartoon deeply offensive

Cartoon deeply offensive

The cartoon in Tuesday’s Spec which links the leader of the federal Conservative party with the KKK and with Dilbert is categorically unjustified and deeply offensive. Cartoons like contribute to growing cynicism toward political leaders.

Fred Spoelstra, Hamilton

 

Thursday May 19, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 19, 2022

‘Canada is not immune,’ leading Black voices say in response to Buffalo mass shooting

Members of the Black community in Canada on Monday are warning this country is also vulnerable to hate crime as they react with shock and horror to Saturday’s bloodshed in Buffalo that left 10 Black people dead.

October 30, 2018

“Canada is not immune to it,” Velma Morgan, the chair of Operation Black Vote Canada, told CBC News Monday. 

“We’ve seen what happened at different places of worship, we see what happens in London, Ont., we’re definitely not immune to it at all.”

Payton Gendron, 18, is accused of a racist rampage after he crossed the state to target people at the Tops Friendly Market in one of Buffalo’s predominantly Black neighbourhoods. He had talked about shooting up another store as well, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told CNN.

Authorities in Buffalo are working to confirm the authenticity of a 180-page manifesto posted online, which identifies the accused by name as the gunman. It cites the “great replacement theory,”‘ a racist ideology that has been linked to other mass shootings in the United States and around the world.

Friday March 25, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 25, 2022

Ukraine refugee crisis exposes racism and contradictions in the definition of human

May 9, 2019

Not only has the Russian invasion of Ukraine brought to light the awful tragedies that accompany armed conflict, but the subsequent refugee crisis has also uncovered deeply seated racism in the country.

Reporters have documented dehumanizing treatment against international students from Africa, South Asia and the Middle East in Ukraine. This treatment also extended to racialized permanent residents of Ukraine, including a long-time practising Nigerian doctor.

While white women and children were given priority on vehicles departing the country, African women were barred from trains leaving Kyiv even though there were empty seats.

These incidents demonstrate a racist logic that positions some people as vulnerable, and others as beyond the realm of moral obligation to receive protection. Black and racialized people, it seems, are not as deserving of care.

As Black Studies researchers in the field of education, we study how colonialism and anti-Blackness shape what we know. Although some have been shocked by these reports, we are not surprised.

Wednesday February 16, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 16, 2022

Ford’s pandemic timing is off

October 28, 2021

No question, on the COVID-19 front, things are looking up. Most, if not all, the signs and indicators point toward things brightening as spring arrives.

That said, the Ontario government’s timing on easing pandemic restrictions is, to say the least, questionable. It is not wrong for Premier Ford to declare the decline of COVID — the numbers bear him out on that. But timing is everything, and announcing the early lifting of many restrictions this week, while Ottawa is still in the grips of an illegal occupation, leaves a bad smell.

January 26, 2022

Ford insists that the timing has nothing to do with ongoing trucker protests. Maybe not, but the optics are far from good. You can bet that his haste to lift restrictions will be seen by many in the protest movement as a victory, as in, look what we’ve been able to accomplish — we’ve got the premier on the run.

In other words, the perception in many quarters will be that holding Ottawa citizens, and the Windsor Ambassador Bridge, hostage paid off.

The thing is, had Ford held off just another week, there is a good chance the Ottawa occupation would be over or nearly over. The premier’s timing, as well as the optics here, are not a good look for Ontarians. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

Tuesday February 8, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 8, 2022

How conspiracy theorists steered Canada’s anti-vaccine trucker protest

February 26, 2021

Thousands of demonstrators have successfully occupied Canada’s frigid capital for days, and say they plan on staying as long as it takes to thwart the country’s vaccine requirements.

The brazen occupation of Ottawa came as a result of unprecedented coordination between various anti-vaccine and anti-government organizations and activists, and has been seized on by similar groups around the world.

It may herald the revenge of the anti-vaxxers.

The so-called “freedom convoy” – which departed for Ottawa on 23 January – was the brainchild of James Bauder, an admitted conspiracy theorist who has endorsed the QAnon movement and called Covid-19 “the biggest political scam in history”. Bauder’s group, Canada Unity, contends that vaccine mandates and passports are illegal under Canada’s constitution, the Nuremberg Code and a host of other international conventions.