Thread by @paulgknox

@navalang Thread:
Don’t mind taking this on. Several of us have noted that the reaction in Canada and by Canadians has been much stronger than it was when the Air India plane was bombed in 1985 with greater loss of life. The official response so far is also much more coherent. 1/x

@navalang 2 Those of us born in Canada haven’t eradicated the institutional and cultural racism we inherited, but we have diminished it. If the sense of a national tragedy and the outrage is stronger than it was in 1985, I believe that’s one reason. But there are others. 2/x

@navalang 3 A large number of those killed were connected to universities and colleges as faculty members, or students. They will have worked at close quarters with colleagues or classmates in labs and seminar rooms, creating personal and professional bonds beyond ethnic affinity. 3/x

@navalang 4 That’s not to diminish the ties and friendships roots of the Air India victims. It’s simply to say that the Iranian victims, whether or not they were 🇨🇦citizens, had links to spaces where pulling people together to mourn, and challenging the disaster narrative ... 4/x

@navalang 5 ... if necessary, was relatively easy to do. Also the established Iranian communities, including a significant proportion of business and professional people, are well integrated with other sectors of society. Those who died had a diversity of friends and acquaintances. 5/x

@navalang 6 On balance we've had decent leadership in this appalling tragedy from the Prime Minister. He has essentially one register in his public discourse, so emotions - anger, delight, etc. - can sound insincere. (His father, same.) But he was out in front and never dithered. 7/x

@navalang 7 It’s the middle of January. Many of the victims were from Alberta, probably the coldest province right now. Our country and our communities are decentralized. We don’t have a capital like Mexico City or Paris - no strong magnet to organize displays of national sentiment. 7/x

@navalang 8 But we had saturation media coverage. Not what everyone wanted but it was heavy on individual and family stories, and respectful (what I saw anyway). Some of the analysis was naive and as usual history lacking. But limits to 🇨🇦agency in this Trumpian dystopia were obvious. 8/x

@navalang 9 I could go into more detail on the foregoing, but too many rabbit holes. Last thing I want to tackle is delicate & difficult. We dislike talking about skin colour but in a discussion about whether national response is race-mediated it can’t be avoided. 9/x

@navalang 10 I don’t know how many Iranians would self-idenify as POC, but the people I know for the most part are light-skinned, and would be perceived as such by others in Canada. Is it possible that the sense of national tragedy, such as it is, would be less strong ... 10/x

@navalang 11 ... if the community were darker-skinned? Possibly. But as many have pointed out, being lighter-skinned doesn’t mean an immigrant or ethnic community doesn’t suffer racism. And the Iranian diaspora is not a monolith - it includes darker-skinned people as well. 11/x

@navalang 12 So I think what you’re seeing is pretty much typical of how Canada expresses solidarity right now. By some standards I guess it lacks volume but that’s us - decentralized and low-key, preferring action, not video stunts. Don’t underestimate the effect of being spread out. 12/x

@navalang 13 Here’s a link to the Ajam Media Collective with a thorough discussion of “people of colour” as it might apply to Iranian Americans right now. I suspect it would mostly be valid for those who’ve settled in Canada. 13/x

ajammc.com/2013/12/03/are…

@navalang 14 I don’t feel this mini-essay has been the most thorough look at the question raised, but I’ll leave it here for now and await comments. Thanks for the opportunity to organize thoughts. 14/14

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