Thread by @RitikaGoelTO

We are missing the point if this story becomes about Justin Trudeau being unveiled as "a racist". Here is an opportunity to think more deeply about the situation and what allows it to be so. I'm not in any way surprised by the image that has been circulated. /1

North American society is quite focused on identifying people as 'racists' or 'not racists'. Being called racist is considered one of the worst labels you could apply to someone. And yet, we all live, breathe and swim in a soup of structural racism reinforcing racist beliefs. /2

The reason for the crisis is that @JustinTrudeau's image is one of being a 'good person' who identifies as feminist, welcomes immigrants, and reconciliation. So his defenders rush to say, he's not 'a racist' because this is impossible for someone who is a 'good person'. /3

@JustinTrudeau The problem is that this dichotomization of racist and not racist with good and bad causes huge barriers to very important conversations that must happen about how our whole society is racist, and we have all been taught and likely think and express racist feelings and ideas. /4

@JustinTrudeau We are constantly exposed to films, shows, books, ads, magazines etc that portray racialized people in 2-dimensional ways (usually because people in positions of power in those institutions are unlikely to be themselves racialized). /5

@JustinTrudeau And growing up as a cisgender, straight, able-bodied, white male who was the son of a prime minister is pretty much the epitome of privilege. This by definition means Justin Trudeau is probably the least surprising person to have engaged in something so insensitive. /6

@JustinTrudeau This is not a means to excuse Trudeau's white privilege or ignorance. But rather an important reflection of the society we live in and has been intentionally created by those people in positions of power. Trudeau's action is a symptom of the much more dangerous disease. /7

@JustinTrudeau Talking about Trudeau being exposed as a racist completely misses the point. Instead, a conversation about the structural and interpersonal racism that exists in this country impacting the lives of racialized, especially black and indigenous people, is what we need. /8

And while we’re at it, let’s talk about the flip side which is structural white privilege, which allows such actions, as it holds implicit in it an entitlement to the lives, culture, land and bodies of racialized people. (See: all of history). /9 #elxn43 #brownface #blackface

In case it’s unclear where to begin, here are some things we can start to address to support the approx 20% of the Canadian population that is racialized.
1. Disproportionate policing of racialized communities leading to criminalization. /10

2. Disproportionately harsh sentencing for black and indigenous ppl.
3. Disproportionate rates of black and indigenous children apprehended from their families.
- The last two contribute to ongoing intergenerational trauma through family separation. /11

4. Immigration policies that keep especially Latinx, black and Filipino migrants working in low wage precarious jobs with limited pathways to permanent immigration status and therefore 'membership rights' in our country. /12 #cdnpoli

5. Political spaces that continue to be disproportionately white and male, thereby shaping policies impacting the lives of racialized people through privileged lenses that don't actually reflect our country.
/13 #elxn43

6. Media spaces that continue to be disproportionately white and male, especially in management, shaping the narratives we hear, often reinforcing harmful stereotypes thereby perpetuating interpersonal and structural biases. /14 #brownface

7. Barriers to employment such as a lower likelihood of being interviewed if you have an 'ethnic' sounding name, requirements of 'Canadian experience', or barriers to career advancement because you don't look like or sound like the people at the top. /15 #cdnpoli

8. Corporate boardrooms that are disproportionately white and male, and powerful special interest groups that lobby to maintain status quo or further entrench economic systems that disproportionately benefit white people due to a history of who has wealth. /16 #elxn43

9. Healthcare spaces rampant with implicit bias that endangers the lives of racialized people (among various groups) who may not feel they can trust providers or systems to heal or care for them as it does for others. /17 #cdnpoli

10. Economic policies that continue to worsen income inequality through corporate and personal tax policies that benefit the wealthiest among us, who due to the history of this country, are disproportionately white. /18 #elxn43

11. Relationships with indigenous communities that continue to claim intents of reconciliation while not engaging with them as equal partners deserving of rights over their land and lives with dignity and basic services like clean water. /19 #cdnpoli

12. Barriers to higher education due to increasing tuition rates that disproportionately exclude racialized people from entering halls of power and professions such as medicine and law, continuing the cycle. /20 #brownface

Power begets power. Structural racism in our society is not an accident. Any cursory look at the history of colonization, cultural genocide of indigenous ppl, restriction of immigration for 'certain groups', active efforts to criminalize certain communities demonstrate this. /21

What we need is not more 'good intentions' and learning the rules of what 'is and is not offensive', but for all people, especially white people, to understand the history and structures on which this country (and others like it) are built. /22

Those structures continue to exist and marginalize many among us - whether racialized ppl, immigrants, women, LGBTQ folks, ppl w disabilities, or ppl living in poverty. Until we lift the veil of these power structures and work to fight them, nothing can change. /23 #cdnpoli

If you take one thing from this incident, let it be a commitment to examine our history, reflect on the ways you benefit from the current systems, and commit to working with those marginalized by them to break them down. /24 #cdnpoli #elxn43 #brownface #BlackfaceTrudeau