Ontario Teacher's Union holds white privilege workshop

[Gary Oak]

TORONTO - The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is offering their members a workshop on "white privilege."



That's right. It doesn't question whether white privilege exists.



That's a given. No debate about whether all white people have special status. They just do.



And the union representing more than 76,000 teachers is teaching its membership how to deal with it.



White privilege exists, therefore ETFO will have a workshop on it.



Frankly, as a white person who's struggled all my life to become privileged, I really wish I knew what white privilege is, because I'd like a heaping helping.



If I'd had a chunk of white privilege, I wouldn't have had to bust my butt every day working to make a living. I could be eating bonbons on a yacht in the Mediterranean.



A note on the ETFO website says the union is looking for people to put on the workshops.



The "ideal presenter" will have "demonstrated commitment and understanding of white privilege and systemic issues."



Interested in the job? Then you should submit a cover letter that outlines "your understanding of white privilege."



Well, here's my understanding of white privilege.



It doesn't exist.



This is a racist notion put forward by ETFO and it is as dangerous as it is corrosive.



I don't know what "systemic issues" they're talking about, but it's presupposing a whole bunch of false assumptions.



By their very nature and label, these workshops are aimed at creating resentment of one race by all others.



What on earth is a union doing giving workshops on something that's so alien to Canadian society?



The purpose is clearly to indoctrinate teachers into believing it exists.



The next step is for them to brainwash the children in their classrooms.



Do you really want that? Should white parents allow their children to be guilted by their teachers into believing they're privileged because they're white?



This has no place in our society.



We don't have a problem with "white privilege."



We have a society built on successive waves of immigration. We have no deep-rooted aristocracy that inherits wealth.



Just living in this great country that rewards hard work, ingenuity and initiative is a privilege — no matter what your colour.



Most people who consider themselves "privileged," do so because either they, their parents or their grandparents made incredible sacrifices to give them the way of life they enjoy.



A teacher forwarded the information on the workshops to the Toronto Sun. His question was why the union is putting on toxic workshops like this when they should be dealing with education issues.



The teacher, who didn't want to be identified, says his union should be fighting for more up-to-date textbooks and better classroom materials. The ones he's working with now are old, decrepit and inadequate.



Shouldn't teachers be taking workshops that refresh their teaching skills in subjects such as math, French, English and geography?



ETFO turned down my request for a comment Thursday.



"The decision is that at this point in time we do not wish to comment on that," said spokesman Jennifer Drope, wishing me "good luck with your story."



Well, thank you for that.



Other topics for workshops include "Islamophobia" and "homophobia."



Hmm. Wonder if they've checked what Islam's view on homosexuality is.



"Dated resources and teachers spending their own money on supplementing the elementary school system in Ontario impacts teachers more than 'Islamophobia' or 'white privilege,'" said the teacher, by e-mail. I suspect most teachers agree.



Their union should stick to doing what their members pay dues for — representing them at the bargaining table, supporting them in the classroom and helping them in disputes with school boards.



Stirring up hatred, resentment and division in a society that does its best to promote tolerance, equity and understanding is stunning in its stupidity.

[Anonymous]

^I actually believe that white privilege exists. Not in the way this trouble-making union does. I mean afterall, it is not 1925 ffs. In Canada, I can(and have) achieve an above average living standard. Any glass ceiling I may face has nothing to do with my race or gender....it would be my own personal ambitions that limit me. In fact, in some measures Asians have surpassed whites.



The type of white privilege that minorities MIGHT face nowadays would have to do with the mass media. However, even there, it is hard to say it exists let alone systemic. No, what this union is doing seems really toxic.

[Romero]

White privilege

I speak Cantonese and Mandarin Real Welching Woman. You should hear what they say about us. They hate us and these Canadascams are only here for a passport and sell our country to their bosses in Beijing. They all have connections to the triads too.

Islamophobia

The evil that is Islam

Homophobia

Then I suppose everybody else is a latent homo too

[Renee]

It's all leftard sociological bunk use to perpetuate the more twisted elements of their social agenda. The people who believe that "white privilege" exists are the same kind of fools that believe only white people can be racist.  It's prog nonsense of the most socially damaging and ridiculous kind.

[Anonymous]

It's all leftard sociological bunk use to perpetuate the more twisted elements of their social agenda. The people who believe that "white privilege" exists are the same kind of fools that believe only white people can be racist.  It's prog nonsense of the most socially damaging and ridiculous kind.

The scary thing is that these race-baiting slimebags have access to impressionable children. Another reason why my son will never sit in a public school classroom. If he's going to hate whites, I want it to be because of my brainwashing, not the teacher's union.  ac_sothere

[Romero]

Cop Who Oversaw Torture Of 118 Black Men Freed After Less Than 4 Years



An ex-police commander who oversaw the torture of more than 100 black men in Chicago police custody walked out of federal prison Thursday, after serving just three and a half years of his sentence.



Jon Burge left the minimum-security prison in North Carolina to report to a halfway house in Florida until his sentence officially runs out in February of 2015, the Chicago Tribune reports.



After the 66-year-old was convicted in 2011 of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying about police torture, several members of the Chicago City Council called for a reparations fund of $20 million -- roughly the amount Burge and his "midnight crew" of detectives have cost Chicago taxpayers over the years in legal defense fees and settlements alone. Aldermen renewed those calls on Thursday, saying it's time for the city to "make amends."



Anthony Holmes was one of the victims Burge personally tortured -- with methods including electric shock -- into giving a confession to a murder he says he didn't commit. Holmes, who is now pushing 70, spent 30 years behind bars as a result and has yet to see any compensation because the statute of limitations on the torture has run out.



"At least he's got a pension," Holmes said of Burge, according to DNAinfo Chicago. "We came out of there with nothing."



Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan tried to strip Burge of his $4,000-a-month police pension, but couldn't overrule a police pension board vote.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/02/jon-burge-released_n_5923784.html">//http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/02/jon-burge-released_n_5923784.html

Good thing he wasn't a black man caught with a little bag of weed.

[Anonymous]

^I don't know where you are going with this Romero. It doesn't seem to tie in with teachers stirring up racial tension in the minds of children.



If you are talking about cops abusing their position, then yeah I agree. They are rarely held accountable when they use force either. Suspended with pay is what you get when they investigate themselves. Remember the Polish guy at Vancouver airport or how about this guy in Terrace, BC who was beaten senseless by a cop on seroids.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rob-wright-alleges-takedown-by-officer-on-steroids-caused-brain-damage-1.2785623">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.2785623">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rob-wright-alleges-takedown-by-officer-on-steroids-caused-brain-damage-1.2785623

[Romero]

That article is just another recent example of the white privilege Gary and Renee believe doesn't exist.

[RW]

I have to agree that we need to stop pandering to this bullshit.  It's like we look for reasons to cry foul.

[Anonymous]

That article is just another recent example of the white privilege Gary and Renee believe doesn't exist.

It is? I read an article about a brutal racist thug with a badge. Wasn't one of the cops in the Dziekanski(spelling) murder(yes I use that word) Aboriginal?



Most cops are professional, but when they are not they do not face the same consequences for their actions as the rest of us. It doesn't matter the cop's race either. Isn't that true Detective Sgt. Toy?

[Anonymous]

I have to agree that we need to stop pandering to this bullshit.  It's like we look for reasons to cry foul.

Agreed and just so you know, I feel bad for people like urself and Renee with white little ones who may have to listen to this brainwarping.

[Romero]

That article is just another recent example of the white privilege Gary and Renee believe doesn't exist.

It is? I read an article about a brutal racist thug with a badge.

White cop gets less than four years for torturing over 100 black men. If he was a black man caught with a small amount of drugs, he may have received a life sentence.

[Anonymous]

That article is just another recent example of the white privilege Gary and Renee believe doesn't exist.

It is? I read an article about a brutal racist thug with a badge.

White cop gets less than four years for torturing over 100 black men. If he was a black man caught with a small amount of drugs, he may have received a life sentence.

Yeah, I agree about cops literally get away with murder. Even here in Canada, this happens. Cops in North America are not subject to the same punishments as the rest of us. However, you are conflating the lack of accountability on the American police forces with white privilege in Canada. Maybe you should start a thread about violent American cops.

[Romero]

That article was mainly meant for Renee, who's American. If she ever catches the news she would know that white privilege does exist.



It's much worse in the US than it is here!

[RW]

Ro, how do you turn a crew of asshole cops into "white privilege"?  Can you maybe explain how this translates to seminars in Canada on the subject?