Sheldon Parathundyil is a fourth-year public affairs and policy management student who says the blackface scandal exposed the ongoing reality of racism in Canada.
A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became a global laughing-stock after numerous photos and videos emerged of him in blackface.
Canadians largely reacted in one of three ways. Some said blackface and brownface have always been wrong, and it is unacceptable for a grown man in a position of authority to engage in black or brownface.
Many others insist that blackface was once far more socially acceptable and Trudeau should be forgiven as long as he apologizes; some plainly demand that minorities quit complaining about “microaggressions” and just “get over it.”
I am a dark-skinned Indo-African who, despite being Canadian-born, law-abiding, and working for and representing Canada for years, has been stopped, harassed, questioned, “randomly selected,” and accosted on the street more times than I can count.
I live in this skin, and it colours every aspect of my daily circumstances. I don’t get to take it off whenever I like. I am fed up of being told to accept the sympathy and turn the other cheek. I want to know that my fellow citizens are willing to stand up.
“Truly, Trudeau’s fall from grace as the world’s “Woke Wonderboy” to a common racist is perhaps the most fitting depiction of racism in this country.” – Sheldon Parathundyil, fourth-year public affairs and policy management student.
The assertion of our Canadian identity born from our proximity to the United States and deep-seated hatred of American exceptionalism has ironically turned into a form of exceptionalism ourselves.
We prize Canada as the cultural mosaic to America’s melting pot, bound by the grout of tolerance and colourfully-enlightened capitalist democracy as opposed to their grotesque stew of vitriol, violence, and vengeance. We’re the goodies, never not full of benevolence.
Our lily-white-and-red Canadian sensibilities lead us to pat ourselves on the back when we point out more explicit discrimination.
The indignant reactions to Conservative leader Andrew Scheer’s marginalizing economic and patronizing social policies come to mind.
Or, People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier’s xenophobic immigration rhetoric and goal to eradicate First Nations as distinct peoples by unilaterally terminating the Indian Act and Treaties and forcibly assimilating them and their lands into the Canadian body politic.
But when “Trudeau-ism” walks in and dresses these same insidious stances in the warmly-idealistic progressive-Canadian veneer, it suddenly becomes tolerable.
Truly, Trudeau’s fall from grace as the world’s “Woke Wonderboy” to a common racist is perhaps the most fitting depiction of racism in this country.
It’s not racist that he bought a single pipeline with $4.5 billion taxpayer dollars, yet barely allocates half of that amount to ensure clean water for Indigenous communities.
It’s not racist that he gives empty apologies and tears to Indigenous communities, while destroying residential school survivor testimonies and using brute force to railroad destructive corporate projects through unceded Indigenous lands and grassroots communities.
It’s not racist that he proclaims to the world that Canada is a post-national, pro-weed safe haven for immigrants and refugees, but domestically did next to nothing to address police brutality, anti-minority immigration and security abuses, or the life-ruining convictions of thousands of disproportionately-Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) for non-violent drug offences.
It’s not racist that he claims Canada advocates a feminist and pro-peace foreign policy, while selling weapons to totalitarian, religious fundamentalist regimes, and actively supporting the senseless bombing of developing nations who dare to reject Western hegemony on the slightest of pretences.
It’s not racist, because we’re not uncomfortable. But, when the stigma of black paint gets slapped on our public face, we suddenly become incredibly defensive about our concocted image.
So, when I’m told I should be thankful—that Trudeau is not a racist today because of his problematic social justice rhetoric, but also that this ephemeral behaviour should be forgotten—it’s really no comfort. Both he and Canadian society haven’t done the work to address the real issues of Canadian racism.
File photo.
