Georgie Fagan used to organize with white supremacists. Now he condemns them. halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/georg… by El Jones. I want to say something about this 1/
It annoys me when people discount and/or attack El as "hating white people" or "hating me" or some such. It's such a misrepresentation of who she is. 2/
I see her time and again — and I mean, this is her actual life work — deal with people who are criminalized. White people, men, but also Black people and women, sure. But it doesn't matter to her 3/
She probably will not like that I'm revealing this, but she even worked with one very notorious racist prisoner, someone everyone would recognize, to try to help him get the psychological supports he needed. 4/
She regularly works with people who have committed rapes, or murder. Not because she is "soft on crime" or some such bullshit, but because she recognizes their humanity, and the dignity that all humans should be accorded 5/
I have no idea if El is religious or professes a particular faith, but she reminds me of the Catholic workers I so very much admire. (I am proudly atheist, but I recognize good work when I see it.) 6/
It's unfashionable to say so in today's climate, but if I read El correctly, she believes in *redemption*. This is not a phrase thrown out willy-nilly, and has nothing to do with letting people get away with ugly crimes. 7/
Rather, it's recognizing our shared humanity, and understanding that people come from particular places, are products of certain circumstances, and they can learn to learn about themselves, to understand their role in society 8/
The way I view it, no person should be solely defined by their worst deed, nor should we be defined solely by all best deeds. We are all — every last damn one of us — capable of doing horrific things and of doing exceptionally good things. 9/
I don't know... I'm tired and am probably not saying it well. But good dog in heaven, we must have it in our hearts to see the humanity in everyone. As the saying goes, a society should be judged by how it treats its prisoners and the least among us. 10/
And for having that view, El is demonized, ridiculed, attacked. But that's precisely why I'll keep publishing her. /end
