Ontario Teacher's Union holds white privilege workshop

[RW]

Missed point is missed.  Ah well.

[Renee]

Missed point is missed.  Ah well.

Again, not "missed";.......avoided, dodged, strategically ignored.



He is not that dumb. At least I hope he isn't.

[Anonymous]

Of course, if Blizzard or Sun TV bothered to do a simple fact check before freaking out and making declarations about imaginary race wars breaking out in Ontario's grade school classrooms, they'd realize initiatives like these are really about making schools more inclusive and reducing barriers to academic success for tens of thousands of students.



The workshop in question is a voluntary service offered to ETFO locals as a part of its Equity and Women's Services. The program provides educators with resources and best-practices on dealing with issues relating to human rights, disabilities, violence against women, or discrimination towards GLBTQ and Muslim communities, issues that -- surprise, surprise -- some teachers in some schools in some communities in Ontario might encounter everyday in their classrooms.



Rather than encouraging elementary school teachers to chase white people out into the woods with pitchforks, the workshop, titled "re-thinking white privilege," is meant to encourage "dialogue and courageous conversations about white privilege and other professional forms of privilege."



Because, you know, just a wild guess here: maybe some teachers encounter issues of racial inequality in their day-to-day exchanges with students and parents?



So, despite what you may have read in the Toronto Sun or heard on Sun TV, you can relax: programs like these promote inclusion, not race wars.



http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/four-white-people-sun-tv-explain-myth-white-privilege-person-who-isnt-white">//http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/four-white-people-sun-tv-explain-myth-white-privilege-person-who-isnt-white

Oh noes! They're going to be discussing women and gays too! The horror!

This changes nothing!! Just a kinder, gentler way of demonizing small kiddies. I have no problem with some looney snivel serpent union holding workshops about their favourite boogeymen. However, if any single fucking teachers brings this divisive shit into the classroom, they are morally guilty of child abuse. Sick fucking assholes.

[Anonymous]

I wonder when the Ontario Elementary School Teacher's union will hold a workshop about Aboriginal privilege when it comes to sentencing. Where is Tom Mulcair's promise of a national enquiry. The kiddies really need to be made aware of these issues of unfairness.

What are the social and legal conditions that have led to the murder of more than 1,000 aboriginal women in the past 35 years?



A chorus of lawyers and bureaucrats have demanded a public inquiry into the question. An alternative would be to just listen to the case heard by the Supreme Court this week, R. v. Clifford Kokopenace.



Seven years ago, Kokopenace killed an aboriginal man named Taylor Assin, with a single stab wound from a knife. He was convicted of manslaughter.



He's a killer. He killed an aboriginal. But he's not in jail.



Which is not surprising - certainly not to Kokopenace. He has had a life of crime, and no one puts him in jail for long. He was a young offender. And then an adult criminal, with 12 violent convictions. All before he killed Taylor Assin.



It was just a matter of time before he killed someone.



In 2008, he was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years for this homicide. But he was given two-for-one credit for the time he was held in custody before his trial -- that lopped off more than two and a half years. So, he faced a sentence of five years. But of course this is Canada. We have mandatory release after a fraction of the sentence. And parole. And day parole.



Is that how little an aboriginal victim's life is worth?



Where do your sympathies lie? Do they lie with missing and murdered aboriginal people, like Taylor Assin? Or are they with Taylor Assin's killer?



Do you think it's a good idea to dump Kokopenace back into the community that he has been terrorizing for more than two decades?



The court obviously did, with their absurdly low sentence. The sentence sent a clear message: an aboriginal murder victim's life is worth less than a white murder victim's life.



But it gets crazier. Kokopenace, has appealed his sentence. He says it was unfair. It was too harsh. Because, you see, Kokopenace is aboriginal himself.



And he claims the trial wasn't fair because aboriginals were underrepresented in the jury pool.



One of the lawyers on appeal is Katherine Hensel, who is acting for the Advocates' Society as amicus. She's an activist for missing and murdered aboriginal women - she participated in British Columbia's inquiry into the subject.



So she's a highly paid lawyer, trying to figure out who's killing aboriginal people in this country. At the same time as she's trying to get a killer and serial assaulter of aboriginal people off the hook.



Incredibly, the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed with the grounds for appeal - they said the jury pool didn't have enough aboriginal people in it, so that was racist.



As if aboriginals can only be judged by aboriginals, white by whites, blacks by blacks, men by men, and women by women.



As proof of this discrimination, the court of appeal noted that about half of people off reserve ignore letters about being on a jury. But 90% of on-reserve Indians do. Despite constant efforts by the government to recruit them.



So obviously, the system is racist. And a killer shouldn't have been convicted, because his trial was obviously racist.



Racist, racist, racist. We're all racist. Except for the one guy who actually murdered an Indian - Clifford Kokopenace.



He's been dumped back into his community, after his 13th time. It won't be the last.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/10/06/justice-system-is-racist">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/10/06/j ... -is-racist">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2014/10/06/justice-system-is-racist

[Anonymous]

The Ontario elementary teacher's must have known how offended some people would become because of a workshop with white privilege as a theme..



I feel they did not want this workshop to become public knowledge.

[Romero]

The Ontario elementary teacher's must have known how offended some people would become because of a workshop with white privilege as a theme..



I feel they did not want this workshop to become public knowledge.

There's really no need to publicize any of the many workshops they have and there's no reason to hide it. I'm sure they're fine with it being public knowledge. It's a worthy discussion. The info for the workshop is here:

[Romero]

Sun News continued on its slow descent into a complete parody of itself with a "debate" about white privilege featuring four white people and one person of colour.



Author and broadcaster Tarek Fatah, born in Pakistan, started off the conversation with the simple question of whether or not white privilege exists.



Aside from brushing off white privilege as a "fluffy academic term," the other panelists try to debunk the concept of white privilege with such asinine examples as Chinese restaurants primarily staffed by Chinese workers.



"Isn't that the same thing?" asks host Jerry Agar. (It's not.)



Pundit J.J. McCullough also asserted that Muslims and woman have privilege because, when they encounter discrimination, McCullough believes they are more likely to gain sympathy — as if sympathy is the same as navigating the world free of oppression.



Which sounds like a good thing for teachers to work on, right? Unfortunately, like the columnist, most of the Sun News panel seemed to find this sort of talk divisive because it points out our differences. Problem is, those not among the most privileged don't get to ignore our differences because they live with them every day.



Perhaps it would be naive to expect a nuanced, intelligent conversation on racial politics from Sun News, but the concept of white privilege is one worth discussing. It's a term that acknowledges that the colour of our skin has an affect on how we experience the world and, in our society, those white white skin are afforded the most leeway. That doesn't mean white people don't face hardships or get a free ride, it just means that an undeniable history of racism and oppression has yet to evaporate.



http://o.canada.com/news/white-people-explain-white-privilege-to-tarek-fatah-on-sun-news-525382">//http://o.canada.com/news/white-people-explain-white-privilege-to-tarek-fatah-on-sun-news-525382

[RW]

So are black people or asian people who populate countries and have built their societies suffer from this privilege as well or is this an exclusive to white people thing?

[Romero]

That doesn't make sense. Our you saying white people built our society?

[Anonymous]

That doesn't make sense. Our you saying white people built our society?

She is saying is majority privilege or is white privilege. |Do Han Chinese or whites have privileges(if they exist at all) in say Singapore?



Anyway, what on earth are these sick fucking adults bring this divisive garbage into the classroom? There is no logical reason to excuse this kind of emotional abuse of children. Parents need to start standing up to these bullies.

[Anonymous]

Sun News continued on its slow descent into a complete parody of itself with a "debate" about white privilege featuring four white people and one person of colour.



Author and broadcaster Tarek Fatah, born in Pakistan, started off the conversation with the simple question of whether or not white privilege exists.



Aside from brushing off white privilege as a "fluffy academic term," the other panelists try to debunk the concept of white privilege with such asinine examples as Chinese restaurants primarily staffed by Chinese workers.



"Isn't that the same thing?" asks host Jerry Agar. (It's not.)



Pundit J.J. McCullough also asserted that Muslims and woman have privilege because, when they encounter discrimination, McCullough believes they are more likely to gain sympathy — as if sympathy is the same as navigating the world free of oppression.



Which sounds like a good thing for teachers to work on, right? Unfortunately, like the columnist, most of the Sun News panel seemed to find this sort of talk divisive because it points out our differences. Problem is, those not among the most privileged don't get to ignore our differences because they live with them every day.



Perhaps it would be naive to expect a nuanced, intelligent conversation on racial politics from Sun News, but the concept of white privilege is one worth discussing. It's a term that acknowledges that the colour of our skin has an affect on how we experience the world and, in our society, those white white skin are afforded the most leeway. That doesn't mean white people don't face hardships or get a free ride, it just means that an undeniable history of racism and oppression has yet to evaporate.



http://o.canada.com/news/white-people-explain-white-privilege-to-tarek-fatah-on-sun-news-525382">//http://o.canada.com/news/white-people-explain-white-privilege-to-tarek-fatah-on-sun-news-525382

Actually, I saw that discussion on SUN news and it was a pretty good discussion.  Lauren Strapagiel cherry-picked a couple of things for shock value, but the truth is she has no more knowledge of whether "white privilege" exists let alone defining it than you do.

[Anonymous]

There's really no need to publicize any of the many workshops they have and there's no reason to hide it. I'm sure they're fine with it being public knowledge. It's a worthy discussion. The info for the workshop is here:

Excuse me, you're not a fucking parent. We as parents have EVERY fucking right to know if adults are poisoning our kids' minds with divisive shit. Like I said, if I want my son to have a chip on his shoulder about whites, he will learn it from me rather than some white socialist who like yourself doesn't know if it exists let alone define it.

The ideal presenter will

possess:

Demonstrated commitment

and understanding of white

privilege and systemic

issues.

The ideal curriculum writer

will possess:

Demonstrated commitment

and understanding of white

privilege and systemic

issues.

Interest and commitment to

equity and social justice

Submit the following by

Friday, October 17, 2014:

They have to demonstrate they know about a topic that there is no consensus on. They get to judge not only if it exists, but they also get to define exactly what it is. Last step, force their divisive crap on kiddies.

Addressing Islamophobia: A Discussion for Educators

Islamophobia is prejudice against, hatred or fear of Islam or Muslims. This workshop is to build awareness relating to issues of Islamophobia and

critically examine personal and professional biases, explore resources to meet the diverse needs of schools, representing a multiplicity of perspectives and

to encourage members to take further actions relating to inclusion within their classrooms, schools, families and communities.

Will they be holding a discussion on Islamofascism?



"An Islamofascist can either be an Islamic fundamentalist, or someone who uses violence or bullying tactics to impose Islamic principles on others — or, more bluntly, a Muslim bigot whose religious beliefs are the source of his bigotry."

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Islamofascism.jpg/220px-Islamofascism.jpg">

[RW]

That doesn't make sense. Our you saying white people built our society?

I believe I am.

[Anonymous]

That doesn't make sense. Our you saying white people built our society?

I believe I am.

I totally misunderstood your post RW. I thought you were talking about majority privilege. Kinda like saying I have certain privileges over all others in China because I am Han Chinese.

[RW]

I'm just wondering if Chinese people in China have yellow privilege or if black people in Nigeria have black privilege.  Do native Mexicans have Mexican privilege in Mexico?  Do Muslims have Muslim privilege in Arabic countries?